The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-08

Commercial club, spoke briefly in
introducing President George E. Vim.
cent of the Minnesota university
who was the guest of honor at the
banquet last night. When President
Vincent arose, there was a stimuli.
taneous applause from everyone pres.
ent and Mr.. Vincent was given an
enthusiastic reception.
In beginning his address Mr. Vim.
cent first of all paid his gratitude
and respects to the ladies who did
the serving. He said he had come to
the banquet with the idea of eating
but very little, but he fell victim 10
the conspiracy of the women and
when he finished, he was in a con-
dition which made speaking a diff
Guilty. The food and the despatch
with which 1t was served proved
that Mankato was a city and not a
little town, for in small town, the
people would want to serve an elab-
crate dinner just to show what they
could do. He was in humorous
mood last night and soon had the
audience with him.
Knows City Fairly Well.
Then turning to another strain he
said: 81 know this city fairly well,
time that / have been her, and each
time l have been here, and each
hospitality of the citizens. A number
of years ago, before you had these
splendid roads, / was the guest of
President c. H. Cooper of the nor
NAL school and l used to take horse
back rides about the country; that
was when the roads were soft. So l
| feel grateful to Mr.. Cooper and also
to the governor of the commonwealth
for introducing me to this splendid
city,"
He said that he spent five hours
in Mankato few days ago, when a
delayed train for Sleepy Eye kept
him here. During that time he walk
ed about the streets incognito and
received an idea of what the city
was like at the present time.
Then Mr.. Vincent told of what
he would like to and might speak
of. He might talk about the uni
versity and the work being done
there, but it would suffice to say
that the university was living with
in its means. They are laying
stress on two things especially at
the university; first, on men, and
second, on buildings. He said that
the university is not local in.
stitution for the benefit of the two
cities, but genuine state univer-
| sity that was part of the entire
commonwealth and at the service
of all; it was, in fact, building up
| the commonwealth in every way.
Referred to the University.
AS he is the head of the greatest
educational institution in the state
and one of the largest in the United
States, Mr. Vincent could not re-
frain from making few remarks
about the university. He spoke of
the industrial efficiency of the dis
! trict schools and the university. He
said he might talk about the agricul-
tural school, or the cooperation
of the towns and country. And here
! he paused several moments and
INDUCED in a few remarks about
his experiences in a number of small
! Minnesota towns, where the farmers
and business men worked in har-
mony, belonged to the same clubs,
and were on the same business
! standing. . -
! At Morris last week, fifty dele
gates of the business men and farm
ers met About eight or nine speak
ers were listened to, each one of
them a model for conciseness and
precision of ideas. Among these were
| farmers and business men all en-
thusiastic in their commercial work,
and all working for common good.
| The state is alive with all kinds
of interesting things. Then he began
gently to lead up to his subject. He
said that the college man is prone to
reason in the abstract and finds
much enjoyment out of it, while
in the concrete things. He defined
his subject a number of ways.
The Sense of the City.
From merely hearing it, "The
Sense of the City," which was his
topic was an equivocal term with
three or four meanings. 1t might mean
sagacity when consulting some def
mite purpose, or it might have some
relation to fiscal affairs, or the odors
of city referring particularly to
the sewage or garbage.
| H. G. Wells, the popular English
author recently made a tour through
this country and at that time origi.
mated the phrase, 1.-THE Sense of the
City," From the material gained
through this hurried tour he wrote
book called "The Future in Amer
lea"
"Mr. Wells declares that Americans
are lacking in what he calls a
sense of the state" He means by
this that we are deficient in feel
ing of corporate unity, that we do
not have a vivid consciousness of
the common life. There is a measure
of truth in this assertion although
the situation is changing rapidly"
| he said.
ut follows also that the av-
erage American is less aware
of his city than was the an
cient Athenian, the Roman of
imperial days, the Venetian of the
fifteenth century, or the Partisan or
the Londoner of today. Now why
should this be so. These older coun-
tries and cities dominated the citi-
zens as they can not do in America.
One reason is the traditions of
the countries, another because the
people are accustomed to the rule of
the few"
There Is Reason.
L