Omaha daily bee., 1919-10-03
College Reconstruction
From the New York Times.

Now it is the colleges that are entering upon
their period of reconstruction" They are ths
sources of our future light and leading, and
the spirit in which they take up the task has
an import usually far-reaching. II call upon
you young men and teachers" said Chancellor
Brown at the opening of New York university,
ito enter with me into the solemn vow that
our life shall be lived for our country and for
mankind, no less than was the life of those who
gave themselves in the supreme devotion OF
as we once thought all the world would heed;
but even these first months since the armstice
have brought rude disillusionment. There
are times when the world seems not only
again what it was" but infinitely more blinded
by self-nterest and responsibility. The chan
cellor seems aware of danger. The he
proposes means shat you turn your backs or
even your best of other days, that you put al
sordidness and all cheap bargaining behind you
that you put frivolity and snobbery and
gance behind you that you put and keep the
life this campus on such plane that it shall
compel the respect and admiration of all right
thinking men,"
Is this counsel too difficult? Chancellor
Brown seems to fear that it is "The sense of
fun is strong in men and | cannot help putting
this appeal alongside of college dance, col
lege election, dormitory or fraternity. or a
car full of student commuters. | cannot help
seeing how ingloriouslv the most heroic utter
ance will be laughed down by the triumphant
actuaties of the situation" There in word
is the crux of the problem. For our soldiers
in France the "actuality' of the situation was
the dull roar of\the German guns; for the rest
of us it was the increasing toll Of the sub
marine and the specter of starvation which
meant defeat. Today the nearer actually
presses upon us--an actually which is smaller
more personal. There times when the rest
of the world seems to have surrendered to it.
to have embraced it again with a fondness
uyhJc he nf cfrpn 10 ho1yo np1y
enhanced
The defect, obviously. is defect of magma
ton. The war of liberation" brought respon-
sbities that were imminent; unacceptable; with
the Hun pressing down upon us we felt wildly
enough the defects of our republican slackness
that had made his early triumphs possible But
in victory we easily for get the narrowness of
the margin by which we escaped in "the i'm
minent actuaties" of the old familiar life Of
peace the far horizon is clouded Who shall
keep the vision alive and present among us if
not our college and universities? The men in
them have years of leisure in which to think
of the things that lie beyond the present actual
ity-vears OF youth when passions burn warm
and thought is edged with fire They are form
ing the habits of mind which will give sub
stance and direction to their whole lives In
France, even when the pressure was strongest,
men in the trenches found courage to laugh;
the men behind the lines found strength for
sport and lest. Is it too much to expect that
in times of peace we shall remember, beneath
our happier "actualties." the great task which
thew gave US to be fulfilled?
These are the thoughts that confront every
school and college and university throughout
the land. At Columbia Prof. John Erskne
pointed out, in his opening address, that the
war was won by intellect, and that it indicated
once again the supremacy of the man who is
rightly trained. Out of the seeming chaos of
the present there is still hope that our institu-
Ntlons of learning opening their doors upon
future of genuine reconstruction