The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-11-11

& The students and professors of st
Nary's college, Oakland, Cal, on Mon
day of last week had the pleasure Of
listening to an interesting address by
Bourke Cochran before his departure
for the east.
Mr.. Cochran was introduced to the
students and brothers by Brother Vel.
lesian, president of st. Mary's college
who said:
Friends and Students: 1t us with
pleasure we welcome our guest, 6
pleasure that is shared in by all here
present. AS educators we realize the
Importance of using every opportunity
tc raise your ideal Of life, of Chris
.ian life. both by word and example
and to bringing good men, who have
demonstrated that moral success II
life is the highest goal to which mer
can reach. Our friend is man among
men, statesman whose power is fell
not only in the councils Of the nation
but in the world at large. Without
any further introduction, we will have
the pleasure and advantage Of hearing
the Honorable Bourke Cochran"
Mr.. Cochran spoke as follows:
Brother Director, Christian Broth
ers, and-I don't know whether
should call you fellow students or not;
I have not ceased studying yet and
in that sense suppose may call you
fellow students.
"You are at one end of the line and
I at the other, and it seems to me like
returning to first principles to find
myself in this presence today. 1t was
as q teacher of a Christian Brothers
school that began my career, 1t was
my first occupation, the first work
which attempted, and may say the
beginning of my active life was as
academy, New York. Some of the boys
were younger than you-most of them
They were all preparing for the stage
which you have reached-the collegiate
STAGE To talk to you here now at
the other side of the continent-you
at the threshold of llfe-is one Of the
most impressive and interesting oc-
casions which can be presented to a
man in this life. You are enjoying
enormous advantages, and you are to
become bearers of very grave respon-
sibilities.
There Is nothing more common now
than education-of certain sort. The
undertaking of the state to educate
youth, as your history will tell you.
is nothing more than the adoption, as
a matter Of public policy, and for rea-
sons touching its own security and
its own preservation, or n system
which the churchmen followed during
the ages Of darkness. at a time, when
the possession Of education by any
man was enough to disqualify him
from the respect of the whole world
The only man worth considering was
the man who welded the sword. who
could fight, who could destroy; and
during those years the church, more
than all the other powers of the world
maintained the lamp of learning alight
in the monasteries. She alone MAIN
tanned schools. She alone kept educa-
ton alive. To her is due all the edu-
cation and all the learning and all
the progress which have been accom-
plished by all the nations of Christen-
dom. Yet we are told now that the
Church is hostile to education. If the
Church were so, she had but to leave
1t alone, and it would have persisted.
Nov. when the world recognizes the
necessity of instructing the youth as q
means of preserving society from the
dangers inherent In every organiza-
ton of human beings. we are told that
the Church which laid the foundations
of it. is hostile to 1t. My friends,
mention this to you now because the
removal and dispersion of that preju-
dice is. In my judgment your work
your chief duty. and in performing
1t you will not only vindicate the wis
dom of this system of instruction pur-
sued by these Catholic schools. but
you will render a service Of SURPRISING
value to the whole of society. How
are you to do that? I never tire re-
peating, and with great satisfaction
of speaking with much enthusiasm OF
what the late Pope Leo XIII considered
to be. or what he hoped would be. the
great feature Of this dawning century
when had my last Interview with
him. the very last, I think-which oc.
CURED some weeks before his death
He spoke of himself as workman who
was straining his eyes toward the
western sky in the hope that a few
: more minutes Of light might be spare<
to him-not that he might finish hi.
task, since he did not expect to d.
that; but that he might add something
to It before he was summoned away
to that repose which God Almight!
reserves as the last, the supreme re-
ward of those who have labored faith
, fully in his vineyard. The one thing
that he hoped this century would brin,