The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-03

Carolina. 1t is as much so as other publ,
functionaries the President and Directors
Iof a Literary Board and the Board oil
Public Works. ="
Those of you who have been to that
little burying ground by the roadside, a.
you go toward the valley from the old
home of Thomas jefferson, and have seer
the words cut into the marble there, EAU
thor of the Declaration of American indie
pendence, of the Statute of Virginia fol
Religious Freedom, and Father of the
University" can follow the grand sequence
of ideas, and tell why the patriots oil
North Carolina gave us a university. II
is said of the University of Virginia that
| it is the heightened shadow of one man
JEFFERSON" The University of North
Carolina is the heightened shadow, not OF
one man but OF a whole people, "freest
OF hte free, united in a grand struggle
for civil and religious liberty. 1t repre-.
sents their sublime confidence in the JUS
tice of their cause as well as their abid
ing hope in its eternal usefulness. In
those days, as it should now, the right OF
private judgment presupposed sufficient
intelligence in the individual to arrive at
an intelligent judgment Educated citi
zenship, therefore, was the rock on which
the whole structure of their new demo
cratic government rested. Hence, it was
the first duty of the State to secure an
educated citizenship and provide for its
maintenance and support.
Our fathers regarded this University as
public trust just as much as the common
schools Look behind the clamor of the
crowd for public schools today, and you
viii find, for or near, the brains and the
labors of such men as Battle, Craven.
Morrison, Winston Alderman, Venable
No principle in educational science is bet
ter established than the fact that the de
sire for education starts from the top and
travels downward, and not from the bot
tom upwards. Says United States Com
missioner Dawson, who during his term of
office made a most extensive study of
education in the United States, I'm every
instance the foremost desire of the peo-
pie has been for colleges and universities,
rather than for schools of a lower grade.
1t was the opinion of the colonsts and of
the early settlers of the West and the
South, that primary and secondary schools
were essentially dependent for their ex-
istence upon higher institutions, This
principle is borne out by the facts. :
The necessity for higher education for the
support of the primary schools is now re-
garded as a fundamental truth" 1t is sig
nificant that in both Pennsylvania and
North Carolina, the first two States in the
Union to take bold stands in their consti-
buttons for education, the University and
the common schools are placed on the same
footing, and the demand for the university
came forty years before the demand for the
public schools The first school establish
ed in New England was not a primary
school. but a college.
One has but to look around him in our
state today to see the splendid examples
Of the effective fruitfulness and public ser
vice of this institution. Closed for nearly
ten years during the dark days of recon
struction. out Of the first three classes af-
ter the reopening came those peerless ex-
amples of public service, Charles B. Ay-
cock, James Y. Joyner and Charles D.
McIver What a splendid fulfillment of
the sublime hopes of those great hearted
self sacrificing men, who, thirty years ago
plucked this University from the weeds, !"
and gave back to our poverty stricken
people the best means of preserving their
liberties and of upholding their fortunes
A comparison of its records with those
Of other institutions shows that it has al
ways been able to make dollar go farther
and bring back more than any other insti-
tuition in the country.
NEEDS OF THE UNIVERSITY.
Is it not the paramount duty of this
body to give to our University the oppor-
tunity of keeping pace with the progress
fthe times of moving on to its greater
of the times, of moving on to its greater
of usefulness? Is il not time for us to
begin the work of making this institu-
ton a great Southern States University,
a modern direct force, commensurate with
the demands of our people and alert to
all their growing needs? President Ven
able has already answered the question in
the affirmative, and with hope and enthus-
lam is devoting his brains and his energies
to the Herculean task. The greatness of
his sacrifice. for without doubt. his sal
airy can no more than pay his living ex-
penses, the nobility of his effort, the Won
derful fruitfulness of his labors, the num-
Der and the magnitude of his pressing
needs enlist our deepest sympathy, invoke
the highest admiration, and cali for our
most earnest and intelligent cooperation
This work viii require the best men and
we want from them the best service. Let
us not beat down the market that we
may purchase mediocrity cheap But let
us stand shoulder to shoulder behind our
splendid standard bearer and give him the
support that he demands. I figured up the
first eight needs enumerated in DR.. Ven
able's report, under the head of Teaching
force" and they call for about $4,000 a
year The remaining pressing needs men
toned under the head of Equipment"
call for about 100000. In the light of
the foregoing discussion it seems to me
that the Legislature is the proper place
to look for help in providing for an in
creased teaching force, and that today we
need not turn the energies of this body
IN that direction.
With a clear understanding of the bless
ings of democratic liberty, and with a
deeper consciousness that today there are
ominous signs on the horizon, more or
less distant in the South hut red and