The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1914-05-22
SCHOLARLY SERMON
BY DR.. W.B. CAPERS
UPOl EDUCATION
PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE
DELIVERS MASTERLY AD-
DRESS AT COMMENCEMENT.
RIDICULEs MODERN PANACEAs
Declares There Is No Royal Road
To An Education, and That the
Only Route is Through Hard,
Consistent Application to Work.


At the commencement exercises of
the Columbia Institute, held Monday
morning, DR.. Walter Branham
Capers, the president, delivered the
following scholarly address to a
large audience of friends and stu
dents.
"My apology for making the ad
dress this morning is that after
having been associated with this
school for thirteen years and having
been in charge of its affairs for the
past eight, feel, that as a result of
observation and experience, l would
like to say some things to you, my
friends and patrons, on the very
vital subject Of education.
Today we are living in what might
be termed an experimental age, an
age in which the hungry appetite for
the experimental creates ready
market for the huxter of panaceas
and cure-alls to dispose OF his wares
to a credulous, self-indulgent and
restless public Many near-Quacks
are eager for the opportunity to
demonstrate to you how their sys-
tenn, idea or plan of life will make
this monotonous old world an Eden
of delight, and every phase Of your
existence one unbroken Joy. It does
not infrequently occur that such ped
dlers Of new ideas get your money,
you get the experiment, and all the
while the world moves on apace in
obedience to the established laws OF
nature and of life, "as it was in the
beginning, world without end,
Amen" Now from this statement
you will probably conclude that in
regard to the innovations in society,
and the new ideas in regard to
health, education, the equal rights
of the sex, etc, I am conservative.
But | do not claim to be such. A con-
servative is one the cardinal dogma
of whose creed is: Nothing has a
right to exist outside the established
order; that all institutions, social
and religious customs to have au-
thority, must have the prestige of
antiquity. Neither am I radical
progressive in my attitude toward
such phases of life and development.
With such radical, the mere fact
that an institution, whether social,
religious or economic, is established
and can speak with the authority OF
long life, is sufficient to damn it as
a menace to freedom. With the
radical, whatever is, is wrong! /
subscribe to no such creed. THAT
which has received the approval Of
the good and worthy for long time
must have merit" And so today In
the field of education conservative
and radical forces are active, and
the vender of panaceas is abroad in
the land. To catch the fancy of the
popular mind an immense variety OF
half baked truths and great bill Of
fare of green diet is generously serv-
ed thro the Sunday press, and by
sensational magazine writer's, who
frequently lack experience in the
practical application Of their theories.
They are in a sense what Gen. Lee
called the war editors, "Fire-side
generals However, they have sue
ceeded in filling the public mind with
a vision of an Arcadia thro which a
royal road leads to learning;
kind of intellectual eutopia, which
the youth of the country are to find
education ready to wear"
But review of the development
OF the educational idea and ideal re.
veals these facts very definitely.
~ "a peoples civilization finds its
record mainly in its religious, intel
lectual moral and aesthetic products,
and only in a subordinate and sec
ondary sense has any civilization
rested its highest claims upon mat
erial successes and It's achievements
In war;" (a) And when we con-
template the forces at work among
people who have won the right to
De regarded as enlightened, we find
educaScn to be the foremost force
promoting the welfare Of the whole
as an organized, ethical community"
(2) Another conclusion from such
review as have suggested, is
nat from time immemorial, among
all intelligent peoples, there have
'een established and well organized
EDUCATIONAL systems. But to deter
mine which we're the most effective
means used for the education OF a
people, we must discover how their
ideals Of national and civil life, per.
Sonal character and political Justice
nave been expressed In that peoples
men, thoughts, deeds and art.
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