Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-11-21
The Four.Square Man.

The address of President Hyde OF
Bowdoin at the dedication Of the Rum
ford Mechanics Institute presents GER
tain views of man 90 we'll, and is of 30
good general as we'll as local application,
that it Ia published below in full.
"If Jesus, with that clear eye which
saw through the simple life of the farm.
ers and fishermen of Galilee, could
look on our complex industrial life to-
day, l think know one text which be
would add to the Gospel. 1t would be
this: "Industry is made for man; not
man for industry" At any rate that is
the truth for which this Rumford Me-
chanics' Institute stands. 1t means that
plant, product and profits are not every
thing; that the worker is more than his
work; that the man is more than hand
that a corporation has obligations be-
yond the payment of wages to its en-
ployes, and that the true success OF an
Industrial enterprise is to be measured
not alone in the dividends paid to the
at ock holders; but also in the life and
health, the intelligence and happiness OF
the men in its employ.
Those of us who are mere thinkers,
and writer's, and speakers, have been
thinking this in our studies, teaching II
to our classes, writing it in our books
for a good many years. But It has been
reserved for Mr.. Chisholm and his asso-
ciatiates in these three companies to
think that thought in the brick and NOR
tar; write that sentiment on the floors
and walls, and proclaim that Gospel
from the housetop OF this splendid build
ing where all the world can see and hear
and admire.
Industry is made for man, and in dedi.
eating this Rumford Mechanics Institute
we dedicate it to the men of Rumford
who are engaged in the paper industry.
What then is man? What are the essen.
tails of that manhood which this insti-
tute is built to serve? Man, like this
building, should have four sides; and
stand four. square. Not to mention home
and church, which to-day We may take
for granted, these four sides are: mutual
good will; wholesome recreation; fell
lowship with comrades, and citizenship
in the outside world. If you leave
either one of these four sides out of a
man you leave him. dwarfed, stunted,
undeveloped, opened to the ravages OF
wind and weather and wild beasts. To
these four sides of the developed man
then we dedicate the four walls OF the
Rumford Mechanics Institute.
First: We dedicate it to good will IN
work. While this building is gift, 1t
ia not charity. 1t is given not to men
in general; but to the men who work in
the paper industry, in grateful recogni-
ton of the value of their work, and a
desire to promote their welfare. The
planning, construction and financing of
this building express the interest Mr..
Chisholm and his associates in the Inter.
national Paper Company, the Oxford
Paper Company and the Continental
Paper Bag Company take In the men in
their employ; and you who use and en-
ioy it am sure will find sprnging up in
YOU a sense of partnership in these in
dustrial enterprises, loyalty to your
employers, a devotion to the peace and
prosperity of the town. First, then, we
dedicate this institute to the mutual
good will of employers and employees.
The second need of man is whole
some recreation. While 10 large way
we can and ought to take an interest in
our work, yet since the invention OF ma
chinery and the organization of industry
on large scale, a great deal OF every
mans work is mOnotonous drudgery.
The end is too remote, the process too
mechanical, to give the pleasure that
comes from seeing the close connection
between means and ends, effort aud re-
ward. Now recreation or play brings
these two things close together. The end
NAV be trivial and intrinsically worth
less; but at any rate it ia close at hand,
and directly and obviously connected
with our efforts to secure it. Hence we
can put our whole selves into play as
we cannot into most kinds of mechanical
work. In good game we are intent on
the end sought at every moment, and
incidentally we get that frightening OF
respiration, circulation, nutrition and
elimination which We call health; and
that glow of eager pursuit on an end
within reach which we call pleasure.
The leading authority on play, DR.. Luz
Their Gulick, defines 1t as 1.-THE sponta-
neous enlistment of the entire personality
in the pursuit of coveted end" No
man can be healthy. happy man in the
best sense of the word without the &C.
casionsl enlistment of the entire person
atty in the pursuit OF some OF these
! ends. Besides increasing health and hap.
piness it adds to power of work and
length of life. This side of man is am
DIV provided for in the Rumford Me-
chanics' Institute; and We dedicate it to
healthy, happy, power-increasing, life
prolonging recreation.
The third side of man is good fellow.
ship. The Latin proverb tells US "Unus
homo, nullus homo" zone man alone
ia no man at ALL" What we are and
what we are worth depends on our re-
lations to others; the friends we have,
the time we spend and the interests we
share with them. This natural craving
for fellowship on free and easy terms
much more than the craving for liquor
gives the saloon its hold. A building
like this where good fellowship can be
had without liquor is the best possible
ally to temperance. Inhibition, which
removes the necessity for the saloon, Is
much more effective than prohibition
If we had an institute like this In every
manufacturing center, the temperance
question, though it would not be entirely
solved, would be greatly helped toward
solution. We dedicate this building
then, to good fellowship and elevatinf
surroundings, and to the inhibition Of
those tendencies to gambling, drunken
ness and debauchery which spring w
and flourish wherever some adequate
provision for good fellowship is lacking
The fourth wall of the building: tht
fourth side of man: Is citizenship in th'
outside world through the spoken wore
and the printed page. The lecture room
and the reading room stand for men wht
shall know what has been said and dom
in the past; what is going on arount
them in the present; and who can taxi
an intelligent part In the formation o
that public opinion which determine
what the future shall be. We dedicate
this building to such reading, study ant
discussion az shall make its members in
telligent, effective, influential, public
spirited citizens Of town, state and ma
tion.
| Such are the four sides of man; tc
which we dedicate to-day the four wall
of this building. With gratitude to tn
generous founder and the associated
supporting corporations, with congratu
latious to the men who are to enjoy 1t
liberal privileges, we dedicate it to th'
principle: Industry Is man for man
: that man may stand, like its own sub
stantial walls, four-square in mutua
good will, wholesome recreation, health
good fellowship, and enlightened Cit