The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-17

may have wisdom, with sincerity
and courtesy. The University exists
for you. in the belief that here you
may gain the power and the desire to
strengthen yourself. and to serve So
ciety. Your contribution to UniVer-
sity power and reputation in under
graduate days is in abstinence from
shiftlessness, self-in diligence and dis
order. Your gratitude to it and love
for it when youth has cooled will
come through a knowledge that such
abstinence enabled you to gain the
scholarly efficiency necessary to power
in a Democratic life.
1.-The South has something, believe
me, precious and distinctive in man
hood and character to contribute to
American life. 1t shall be a subtle
blend of the old spirit which did not
know how to compromise and did
know how to die for a faith, and the
new spirit which looks at life with
wide, clear, steady eyes and which has
been beaten by freer civic forces into
finer and more efficient form. In the
sweet justice of God, you and those
like you in our sister colleges, shall
become of this mould, and it is for you
to help us to make Of this noble foun-
dation the place of central importance
in the historic outworking of this new
type of personal culture and social eff
ficiency.
"A thousand schemes for social
amelioration are afoot in the South,
ranging from suffrage questions to the
establishment of Libraries. Let us
make no patchwork job of it. a new
kind of social spirit and social knowi-
edge are needed to guide self-conscious
and tolerant of criticism. 1t perceive1
society as an organism to be under
stood and taught the laws of growth.
81 have come to make my home in
Virginia and to spend by life here.
One may do that with calm pride and
confidence for the past of Virginia
stands clear and steadfast, and the
present is an earnest and hopeful
time. This University is the supreme
intellectual achievement of this Com
monwealth. 1t has contributed to its
progress, unity, patriotism, righteous
ness and culture. 1t should be and it
will be the highest satisfaction of the
State to understand it, to sympathize
with and to strengthen it, not as IL II
doled out charity, but as one increases
his nobleSt investment. This is not the
State that once lay beaten with the
stripes of war and misrule. Wealth
and power are here, and our great
need as a people is to invest in educa-
ton, not to scrimp and save.
This world will surely be COM
manded by those races and communl-
ties which bring to their work the
resources of education plus native en-
ergy and capacity. Universities, there
fore, are at the heart of the move
ment for contro! of the leadership of
the world. This Southern land, for
the republics sake, needs a great ma
jestic, powerful university-above all
should come the industrial power and
patriotic scholarly mindednesS when
our life demands, Democracy un-
Steadied by such forces is a generous
fantasy. The great region south or
the Potomac has not its share OF such
power, and it's lack of it is impair
ing the homogeneity of the nation:
The great movement of individual
beneficence has al but passed us by.
This is the spot for such university,
and the building of such a great
institution here would mean more 10
our social structure than any event
since the passing of slavery.
'"The University does not belong L"
the board or to the faculty or 10 the
president. 1t belongs to the people
of this State and nation, hlgh ana
low, rich and poor. 1t is NOT caste
a fraternity, or a brotherhood, put an
agent of society, as completely puoilC
as the State capitol. The gifts OF
founders and donors pass from lnelll
to the people as completely as
thrown stone leaves the throWer
hand It's glory is service TO soc!ety'
It's strength is sustenance by society
We who administer govern and teach
are the servants of the people. me
university, therefore, cannot De
dreamer or a seer but must use CON- olI5
mon sense as men do in business anu
be a social regenerate force reacnills
out into every hamlet anu t tootii tte
home the village, the field. the shop
NAV see the university for what it is
an Intellectual lighthouse , use n,,n not
alone for the few who trim its Wlcks
and fill it's lamps. but for a. me uii@ =
charted craft adrift upon the sea. =.
"You have summoned me, ar no' u =
mark time, but to go lol "oiu