Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-05-04

n MA q, 1JI1.
George Wyllys Benedict, PHI D.. of Brown
lniversity, 1899. Mr.. Benedict said:
Tho force OF habit is as yet hard
~ sufficient reason for the recur-
renee OF this feast of high so1emnity
~ Is not. I am sure. mere inertia OF
momentum that brings us together
We think II profitable to hear tho
deeds and virtues of our FOUNDER re
counted. or TO listen to the recital OF
the early history of the University and
its brave fight for existence In the lean
years OF its youth However great
the debt we owe to the memory Of the
Founder and his successors. to those
courageous souls who fed and trimmed
the beacon in the storms of adversely,
we have debt to discharge to our
selves also; and we should pay It from
our hearts, I am convinced, If we met
only to follow set form, or liturgy,
of commemoration. For we perform
this ceremony as matter of piety.
and piety Is a duty that we owe our
selves. IT is we'll to refresh our know
ledge Of what we have inherited from
the generations that before us have
walked these academic groves: and 1t
is equally to our own good that we
should gather to give formal express
sion TO our sentiments of gratitude
and reverence.
The lack of n reverent regard for things
md days gone by is sometimes made a re-
proach against us by other nations. But
Is It fair to say that we lack this sense of
the past? DO not our Historical Societies,
our Societies OF Colonial Wars and all the
rest, show the existence In us of at least
the capacity for remembrance? So far
from undertaking our Inheritance, 40 far
from despising this sense Of the part we
are doing a great deal to stimulate It.
In fact we have so much OF the his
toric sense that, feeling tho comparative
baroness of our short history, we are
tempted ut times to conceal our grief at
tho want of an immcmorial American
past under an affectation of disregard and
irreverence. mo good American wants
the old forgotten Miss Scudder
has recently said. No sensible
American, either, thinks that any
phase Of our life can be static; no one can
wish to see In this country any torpid
content to do only as the fathers have
done. But we do turn our eyes backward
with instructive regret because the old
order changes even though we may see
70 possibility of happiness and usefulness
open to former generations that we can
not seize and enjoy.
We are as we'll on, on t..e whole. as was
ever any age before us: yet we, like every
preceding age. can mourn the passing OF
1t
can, and believe we do. cherish a salu-
ts.ry feeling that there is lack Of some
thing 'ne In our present culture. some
thing, 1t seems to us, that our GRANDPA
Tiers must have had, which we must try
10 supply in our day by n countervaiing
openness OF mind and spirit.
I ask you this morning to consider what
occasions such as this may mean to us
who take part IN them, and particularly
what effect the fostering Of traditions
may have upon our academic ideals, up
on our attitude toward the things for
which college should stand.
The operation of tradition is to make
us at once like and unlike others 1t
makes us like those who share our ira
ditions. and It separates us from those
who DO not share them. It depends on
the size OF the group that follows a
given tradition whether the effect will
be chiefly to smooth out distinctions from
the mass or to aocentuate differences.
The same is true of the force of fashion;
but there is this difference. at least. be-
tween fashion and tradition: one is chief
~ n matter of externals. of temporary
form: and there is in II q notion of un-
easy rivalry and an implied partial or
total surrender of private judgment. The
other has in It something generous. a
syrnpathy, a respect for what has been
tried and proved. something Of Wholesome
modesty, too. The connotation Of fash
ion ia flightiness; OF tradition, steadiness.
The effect of it In college life IL the pro-
duction of a steady class consciousncss.
Misc Scudder's essay on class conscious
ness in the March Atlantic, from which
quoted a moment ago. dwells upon the
usefulness Of this force in the settlement
Of social problems It IA n weapon. she
rnaintains. that socialism must use I'm It's
battle for the abolition of privilege and the
emancipation of the people. But the ain
Of socialism Is the destruction of class dis
tinctions. and the movement has thus
for it's object the humiliation of that
sense of separateness which as a weapon
It must temporarily use" She Is speak
Ing, of course of distinctions that now
exist as the result OF differences in wealth
Of birth But 1t Is question whether We
can look forward to the wtping out of dis
tinctions as the contamination of the
process. as a possibility, as desirable
end. even in the social order.
Is there not a growing distrust OF
democracy Was II not the more or less
accidental uniformity OF the population
Of this country hundred and forty years
ago that made the success Of democratic
government so confident n hope? And
have not the increasing diversity Of our
population. and the sense that this diver
slhcation is inevitable, brought democ-
racy to the bar OF intelligent discussion
and doubt: Is democracy n failure? We
ask ourselves.
| recent article in the outlook an
swers. No: SEQ how the great corpora
tons have conducted their affairs sue
cesafuly by electlng good men to office
and keeping them there
Great stock companies are in effect
democracies. and II democracy works
we'll with them. we have only to do in
the management of public business what
they have done In private administra-
ton, and we shall find no failure in dem