The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-03
JUDGE THOMAS ID GRADUATING GLASS Delivers Baocalaureate At Bir-
 mingham College WAS SCHOLARLY ADDRESS Chairman Munger Announces Faculty For Coming Year-Degrees Are
 Conferred On 13 Graduates
 of Institution.
WAS SCHOLARLY ADDRESS

sisted of the baccalaureate address by Judge William T. Thomas of Montgomery, orations by representatives of the grad uating class and faculty, the speech of the valedictorian and the awarding of medals and conferring of degrees upon some 18 young men. The programme rem dered was as follows:
 Invocation.
 Music
 "The Emancipation of Women" George Frederick Cooper, class representative.
 Shall the Solid South Be Broken?" William Timmons Howard, faculty repre- sentative.
 Music
 Valedictory, John Milton Malone
 Bacealaureate address, Judge William i H. Thomas
 Music
 Awarding of medals, diplomas and de- | grees.
 Degrees were conferred upon IS mem- bers of the senior class as follows:
 Bachelor of Arts-Robert Edgar Led better, George Frederick Cooper, Roy Ed ward Perkins, William Perry Crump, Ma thaniel McWhorter Banks, Samuel Lee Prickett. Willis Timmons Howard. | Bachelor of Science-Claude Tillman | Schrieber Balsam. Charles Wesley Price, Charles Joseph Nail, John Milton Malone.
 At the conclusion of the exercises R. S. Munger, chairman of the board of trus- tees, reported the election of the faculty for the ensuing year. The following were elected;
 The Rev. James H. Mccoy, A. M.. D. D., l president
 Edward Laughton Coleback, A. M, an- cient languages.
 | Lucien Pinckard Giddens A. B., math- ematics.
 Hugh Wylie Puckett A. M, modern ! languages.
 w. H. Wood, A. B., A. M., B. D., Ph. D., history, philosophy, Bible. 1 J. T. Nuttall, M. S., science. Clyde H. Vann, A. B., principal of the training school.
 J. Osceola Debb, A. B., principal of the | training school
 | Two of the names added to the faculty are prominent as educators throughout the country, pr. Wood being formerly of Yale college, and J. T. Nuttall of the | Northwestern university.\ | and scholarly address to the young men. The theme of his speech was "A Nation in the Making" The speaker made an 1 eloquent plea for that self-control and constancy without which neither citf- zen nor government can maintain sta bility." He dealt with all the dangers that beset governments, brought about | by decadence of authority, avarice and other evils.
 | He dealt separately with the govern mental systems of Greece, Rome, Chal dea, Egypt and China, showing the ele- ments wherein each lacked the qualities l of permanency Part of his address was as follows:
 | What I shall say cannot be more than | suggestive. For of nation in the making | barest outlines are discernible. The im- agination must give aid if we hear the ! silent steps of marching millions, patient | ly doing the work of each day, hoping l for quiet on the morrow, asking to be spared the lash of the unsatisfied spirit and praying to be compelled on the way of truth by higher power.
 ''Is the home being attacked in Amer ica? A question difficult to answer, if not answered from the tendencies of the people to drift from the farm to cities, from separate dwellings to boarding houses and tenements, in the 72,oOO d. vorces of S75OO0 annual marriages; in I the extravagant tastes and luxurious manners of the people, and their ready adoption of fads and slavsh adherence ! tn ctxrla in ha cin ci1rn nd winter resorts ideal, making home transi- tory; in the restless running here and there by easy transportations; in the expenditure for tobacco and strong drink of 1$,933, 100000, and only $257,OO0,0OO for home and foreign church work; in jew elry, millinery, confectionery and chew | ing gum bill of S969, ,000, ,000 and the sum i of $S3S ,216000 for education; in the in- | vasion of the home by modern industry; the diminishing birth rate that is shown by the 10 per cent decrease of the rate 1 of increase of population in the last three decades in spite of the large in increas- ing amount of foreign immigration and | diminishing death rate and the decreas- | ing size of American families of an aver age number of members in a family from 5.1 in 1870 to Al in 1900; (S. Greasy L.. Wilbur, chief statistcan) and in the story that is told in the marriage each | year of only per cent of the unmarried population 15 years of age and over; in a rate of divorce increased in each five year period by about 30 per cent. which in the last decade is more than three times the increase of population; when it is noted that the rate of marriage | and of divorce is decreased In time of commercial depression, the far-reachng l effect of commercialism is seen on moral- 1 ity and home life in the United States. | Marriages and Divorce Bulletin 96 pages s-11) This is emphasized when we fur | ther consider that the larger rates of | divorce come from the most independent class where there Is a large irresponsible ity because of property privilege and from | the most dependent class where there Is responsibility to ordinary property ! rights and social opinions.