Evening star., 1909-06-08
URGES A BASIS OF CULTURE
ATTORNEY GENERAL WICKER
SHAM SPEAKS AT LEHIGH.
Points Out the Defects in a Merely
Technical Education - Favors
Study of the Humanities.

SOUTH BETHLEHEM. Pa, June s.
Attorney General George w. Wicker
sham Of the class of - today delivered
tha alumni address at the fortieth an
nual commencement of Lehch University.
at which degrees were conferred upon
loo members of the class of 1909 by Pres
ident II. s Drinker. The honorary degree
of doctor of laws was conferred on Mr..
Wickersham.
Mr.. Wickersham suggested that the
mere students of technical knowledge
have not taken quite the rank in Ameri-
can social and political life commensurate
with their accomplishments in their own
professions I ascrthe this to the fact
that their training has been too purely
technical; they have specialized too early
in life and without that broad and cath
olic foundation upon which special train
ing should be based. All educated men
concede the full value OF the technical
education: but the defects IN a merely
technical education also are ea-iy per-
ceived. The requirements OF ctviliza-
ton that Is not purely materialistic have
not dispensed with art and literature nor
ignored the tremendous Importance OF
the ina gina ation-the value of poetry and
song in inspiring that impulse which
nor can ii minimize the Importance OF
the study Of the past history of man. for
contrast and example, for warning and
for emulation.
The Best Superstructure.
''The best superstructure of special
technical knowledge is built on the broad
foundation of general intellectual and
moral culture. In an age of great tech
nical and industrial development the
tendency Is toward pure materialsm-
the exalting of practical accomplishment
in the production of wealth over Ine
less tangible result of the study of his
tory. literature and art, and there is
on the part of many men who have at
tanned success in business life or In tho
practical sciences a disposition to extol
such accomplishments beyond all 9th
ers, and to undervalue or not at all to
realize the value of mental culture in any
other than purely technical lines.
Educated Gentlemen.
"a combination of the ideals of pureiy
technical study with broad university cul-
ture offers to students the opportunity
Of becoming not merely engineers, but
educated gentlemen. l have thus far
dwelt only upon the practical advantage
of this broader than merely technical edu-
cation But the refining influence and the
intellectual pleasures opened by such
study should not be lost sight of. James
Russell Lowell once exclaimed, out of the
fulness of his scholarly mind:
Neither would / have you neglect the
humanities. | would wish that every one
of YOU could enjoy in the originals Homer
and Virgil and Dante and Rabelais and
Goethe
In an essay written shortly before his
death he revised this list somewhat, and
characterized Homer, Dante, Shakespeare.
Cervantes and Goethe as the five in
<dispensifle authors Certainly, if the
work of any one of them were eliminated
from our literature and speech there
would be ragged spaces in the fabric.
rs it not then, well worth the time
and effort of an engineer or a chemist,
as we'll as of a lawyer or doctor, to study
and know the words of these great-these
spensable-authors? From them each
of us may catch something of their
knowledge their insight, their inspira ton I;
and with quickened imagination and
sharpened perceptions may more clearly
see the solution of problems which have
baf1ed us. AS the prophet of Israel long
ago declared:
Wisdom is the principal thing; there
fore, get wisdom, and with all thy getting.
get understanding. Take fast hold of in
struction, let her not go, keep her; for
she is thy life"