The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-07
Diplomas Given Eager
 Graduates.
ssventy-two Young Men Hear Parting words of President in Pictur- esque Graduating Exercises
 pr. Smiths Address.
By Will T. sheehan.


 Auburn. June 6.-(Special Corre- spondent .)-what does Auburn stand for?
 Seventy-two young men. trim ath- letes and well poised. came forward and lined up about President Thach. 1t was the largest class that ever grad uatsd from the great mechanical school.
 But each of the seventy-two as they stood there on an ideal June morning, with his heart stirred by a strange mingling of hope and purpose. was more than college student-his col 1ege days ended and his diploma at hand. He was an exhibit. He was to show what Auburn stood for. Not so much in youthful manly appearance; not so much in an envfable scholastic record and not so much In a wfdened mind, but by what he did in the fu- ture; he was to show 1t by deeds, as yet undone, by victories as yet un- achieved.
 It is the purpose. the effort of Au- burn to turn out Men. Thirty-four years old the school Is now. It has a history and a record. This latest class. this class of 1906, and Auburn's largest class. has examples before 1t and the way has been pointed out. The college is proud of it's graduates, proud of
 
 among them. maay men. some of whom lived on high ground. dreamed dreams and saw visions, some who set them selves to do mighty tasks. with the dogged pluck and trained skill to great and difficult tasks men who imbued with that spirit which has made the American engineer, perhaps the great est engineer of the world. and made his fame for pluck and endurance world wide.
 Upbuilding State Materially.
 A small army of her graduates are doing the greatest thing they can do to repay their debt to Auburn and to the State of Alabama. They are agen- cies and instrumentalities for the up- building of the States great material wealth. agencies at work in mining in manufacturing, in commerce in trans portation and in every field of in- dustria1 endeavor
 The State is a generous contributor to the education of every man who leaves Auburn's walls diploma armed For his great opportunity the Auburn man stands in debt to the State. The surest and fullest way in which this debt may be discharged Is in his debot- ing his skill and training to the deve- lopment and the upbuilding of States natural resources. This is not a new educational thought. but because of the vastness and the richness of Ala bama's resources, its application here signifies more for this State perhaps than for any other.
 What Auburin men have accomplish ed in this, what their records in me- chanical industry have been. Auburn holds with pride. They are held up to the undergraduates. the diploma seek CTS as examples well worthy of emula- tion.
 xlaN Ar,At ed out, they were evidences that the machinery working annually away at Auburn was turning out a most sdtis- factory product. a product of men This has been Auburn's purpose. first last and always. It will be the pur- pose of the institution in the future. This much was made clear by Presi- dent Thach at the annual alumni ban quet. Tn responding to the toast "Au- burns Hopes" Upon such subject the remarks of President Thach natur- ally turned upon the plans for Au- burns Improvement and extension. He was free to say that the policy of the State towards Auburn had not been illiberal in the past While the col lege had outgrown its present accom- modations and facilities. its equipment and in buildings, in mechanical ap- pliances had been satisfactory and its growth had been steady.
 "Are we Making Menf"
 "Rut that after all." said President Thach. "is not the main thing. It is not our equipment, not our buildings that should concern us so much as the question: what of our product. Are we making men. here at Auburn. men oi firm purpose, of clean lives. of trained hands and educated minds?'
 The Auburn man does not lose sight of this underlying purpose, in Auburn scheme of things.
 The graduates as they stood today in a silent intent row to receive their diplomas, no doubt had it in mind al that great hour In their nfe's history Before them as they all stood there in their Confederate grey uniforms, to listen to the final words of President Thach, were the flowers, ferns and vines that had been set there to deck the stage for their honor. Behind them were their friends and school mates and their parents. Not far away were their friends. preceptors and guides