Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1911-12-01
THE ELEMENTS
OF CULTURE
Address Of Dr.. {. G. Hirsch te
the Faculty and Students
Of Tuskegee Institute.

~, l9sls. 7ets Ely ~.
Or. E. q. HiRscH, WHO WAS A
MEMBER OF THE RosENWALD
PARTY THAT RECENTLY Wis.
TIED TusKEoEE INSTITUTE
MADE AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS
BEFORE THE STUDENTS AND
FACULTY or THE SCHOOL.
Tuskegee, Ala.-Dr. Hirsch was born
in Luxembourg. and was educated IN
Germany and in this country. He holds
honorary degrees from several col
leges, and has been rabbi at the head
OF jewish congregations In Baltimore
;IG .@,..s,ille. He is at present OF the
-. ao.. q cation, Chicago. He ha"
"a pro.e.sor of rabbanical Literature
id philosophy at the University u
( ..laago since 1892, and Is an editor
and the author Of several books and
monographs on biblical and religious
subjects
Doctor Hirsch's address follows:
Doctor Washington. Ladies' and Cen
tlemen:
Like Mr.. Rosenwald, l am under
obligations to you. Our visit here has
been veritable inspiration. The great
German poet, Goethe, remarked some
where that what you desire In your
younger days. you, generally attain
only when old age Is upon you. have
desired to see your institution from
the very day ! heard Of its existence.
In the meantime have grown old and
what desired in the younger days has
come to me in its rich fulness here
when am standing at the threshold
of my life's evening tide. Therefore, |
am personally under more obligations
to you. You are solving problem.
Most Of those In your race believe that
you are solving a problem, that OF
your race alone and for your race
alone. A narrow view Of this to take!
You are solving a problem of Ameri.
can life for all Of US, and who knows
but that you are solving it for the
world at the same time?
I'VE have often In our churches
read the opening chapter Of Genesis,
and dare say, If ! may Judge by the
general attitude mentally and morally
of the world, we have failed to under
stand its essential message That
opening chapter tells US that God
made man in his image and we have
not understood what that old Hebrew
story may have intended when it
placed upon men the crown Of likeness
with the great creator Of the world.
The Greeks had stories about the gods.
but none Of the Greek gods were ever
pictured as working. They drank am
brosia, Quaffed nectar; engaged in all
sorts of intrigues and committed acts
that the better civilization Of later
years refuses to mention in a society
like this. That was the occupation of
the Greek gods and many Of our Amer
leans today are much like the Greeks.
Their ideal of life Is to drink and not
always ambrosia at that, to Quaff, not
always nectar, to engage In all sorts Of
intrigues, and because they cannot car
ry on that life without having money,
they have ceased to be monotheists,
believers in one God, and have become
moneytheists. That Is, they deity
money and they do not know what the
use Of money is; once in while, how.
ever, man arises who is able to teach
the world what you can do with
money; that it Is not given to men for
the purpose Of drinking nectar and
quaffing ambrosia, but that it is given
as a trust to an individual that through
1t he might bring hope and light to his
fellow men cropping upward and on
ward along the path of life.
"The Hebrew civilization begins
with the story of God as worker. He
creates a conception, that no other
civilization ever. advanced. God
worked, and when he created man in
his image he meant that man should
work as God had worked The Bibles
proclamation is the sanctity of human
labor, and 1t is not true that the hu-
man labor is a curse, It is the express
sion of mans likeness to God. God
worked and he placed man on earth
to work as God had. worked before
him, and the sanctitys of work is the
gift. the sacred benediction with which
this noble Institution anoints your
head. You came here to be conse-
Grated priests ii the temple of work
and 60 out from here. into the world
as messengers OF this the gospel Of all
religion; the gospel that famed forth
from Sinai and found, sweeter and
newer conservation on the lips of an
other son Of Palestine, the gospel Of
labor. Have you ever thought Of it.
that great Son of Palestine was a car
penter's son. He did not have a class
ical education, but he learned the les.
son Of life In his fathers carpenter
shop; he did not 60 to academies, but
he heard his divine fathers call. What
ever message he had, he clothed 1t In
the phraseology, not Of the counting
room, and not of the drawing.room,
but into the impressive vocabulary Of
the farmer and the artisan. In prac-
ticing and learning to practice the re-
ligion Of labor, you become Christian
lied, in the spirit Of the Great Teach
er. and Judaized, in the spirit Of the
great Jewish prophets. Az perhaps no
other group Of young women and
young men In this our country, you
have the opportunity to become conse-
Grated. to be uplifted and to be en-
powered.
Culture, yes, culture, can come
from the anvil and the hoe. from the
shoemaker's bench, more potently
than 1t ever came from the twaddle Of
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