Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-22

 BREAKS All.
 PRECfDENTS
University, For First Time in History, Confers Hon orary Degree, By Honor ing Wilson.

1llS w l1oOlI.
 Paris, Dec. 1-(Havas) )-In the great amphitheater of the University of Paris the SOrbOnne), President Wilson this afternoon received the de- gree of Doctor. Honoris Causa, confer red upon him in recognition of his work as a iurist and historian. This is the first time in the history of the University that an honorary degree has been bestowed. authorization for it's granting haivng been given by 6 recent decree.
 President Poincare, the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Depu. ties. the Diplomatic corps. members of the government and highest civil and military authorities were present at the ceremony.
 Alfred Croiset, dean of the faculty of letters. welcomed President Will son in a short address and presented 1 to him the diploma of Doctor as q testimonial to his work as an histor- j ian and his writings on historical subjects. Ferdinand Larnaude, dean of the faculty of Law then bestowed up on the President the degree cf Doctor
 for his works on Jurisprudence and political science
 Lucien Poincare, vice Rector of the
 University. and brother of the Presi- dent of the Republic, paid an elo- guent tribute to President Wilson's
 ability as professor before he enter ed upon his political career, and told of the Presidents part in the war
 In conclusion. M. Poncare said:
 Tn the name of the University of
 Paris, l have the honor to award the
 insignia and diploma of Doctor to one
 of whom posterity will salute with the
 surname The Righteous-Presiden
 Wilson,
 President Wilson, in acknowledging
 the honor bestowed upon him today
 by the University of Paris, in the form
 of Doctors degree, said:
 ''i feel very keenly the distinguished
 honor which has been conferred upon
 and it is very delightful to me also
 to have the honor of being inducted
 into the great company of scholars
 whose life and fame have made the
 history of the University of Paris a
 thing admirable among men of cultf-
 vatiOn in all parts of the world.
 ny WHdC you nave DIT, UI lLc
 theory of education which has been
 followed in France and which I have tried to promote in the United States,
 l am tempted to venture upon a fa- vorite theme. I have always thought
 that the chief object of education was to awaken the spirit, and that, inas- much as a literature whenever it has touched it's great and higher notes was an expression of the spirit of mankind the best induction into edu- cation was to feel the pulses of hu- manity which had beaten from age to age through the Universities of men who had penetrated to the secrets of
 the human spirit.
 And 1 agree with the intimation
 which has been conveyed today that the terrible war through which we have just passed has not been only a
 war between nations, but that it has been also a war between systems of
 culture-the one system, the a,ggres- sive system, using science without con- science, stripping learning of all mor- al restraints and using every faculty ,, , of the human mind to do wrong to the whole race; the other system re- ,, miniscent of the high tradition of men, reminiscent of all their struggles some of them obscure, but others closely revealed to history, of men of indOmi- table spirit everywhere struggling to-
 wards the right and seeking above all things else to be free.
 \ "The triumph of freedom in this war
 means that that spirit shall now dom- Q mate the world There is great wave of moral force moving through 5 the world and every man who opposes himself to that wave will go down in 5 disgrace.
 'The task of those who are gathered |, here, or will presently be gathered
 here to nave the settlements of this
 peace is greatly simplified by the fact , that they are the masters Of no one:
 they are the servants of mankind. And if we do not heed the mandates of mankind we shall make ourselves the most conspicuous and deserved failures in the history of the world. "My conception of the league of na-
 tions is just this-that it shall oper- ate as the organized morale force. Shall operate as the organized
 moral force of men throughout the y world and that whenever, or wherever n wrong and aggression are planned or = contemplated, the searching light of conscience will be turned upon them, }, and men everywhere will ask: "'What are the purposes that you : hold in your heart against the for t tunes of the world?'
 Just little exposure will settle r most questions. If the central powers :. had dared to- discuss the purposes of this war for a single fortnight, 1t new : ar wo1ld. have hannanad And if. as