The sun., 1919-06-08
Columbia's Head Calls Attack
on Property Right Rever-
sion to Savagery.
ALL EXPERIENCE IGNORED
Speaks at Installation of Pres
ident Sykes of st.
Lawrence.


Murray Butler, president of Columbia
University. in an address delivered here
to-day on the occasion of the installa-
tion OF DR.. Richard Eddy Sykes as
president Of St Lawrence.
His tribute In a phrase to President
sykes was equally effective-"a rev
captain in the army of faith The en-
tire address was heard by a very large
audience gathered to observe the install
lation Of the new president. DR.. But
Ter was the principal speaker.
1T Is from this centre and from
scores OF others like 1t scattered over
our hills and valleys from Maine to Cal
ifornia and through our cities and towns
from Canada to the Gulf that there go
out year by year those streams Of in
fuence and of instruction that nave con-
tribrted so powerfully to make the
American people what they are" said
Or. Butler. THE American college is
not built upon knowledge; it is built
upon faith. knowledge Is its instru-
ment, but faith Is its motive power.
Leader of Free Men.
To-day we hail new captain in the
army of faith in the republic as he takes
his appointed place and sets his hand to
the grave tasks OF tomorrow. Govern
ment officials cannot occupy the same
place as do these captains chosen by
their fellows to do the difficult task of
leadership In a nation Of free men. Rules
and formulas cannot be devised to pro-
duce them. They must themselves be
the Offspring of our intellectual life and
cur Intellectual endeavor. and they must
stand or fan by their Individual capac-
ity. their individual competence and their
individual achievement.
The history of American education
Is written largely in the terms Of the
personalities. the strivings and the ac
cOmplishments Of these captains. Strike
from 1t the names OF Wayiand OF Brown,
Mark Hopkins Of Williams. Seelye of
Amherst, Tappan and Angel of Michi-
gan, White OF Cornell, Barnard of Co.
lumbia, McCosh Of Princeton, Gilman of
Johns Hopkins, Eliot of Harvard and
Harper Of Chicago. and the history Of
American education would be meaning
less.
For what purpose Is our army OF
faith in the republic recruited? Why do
We 30 eagerly hall It's marching battal-
ions. cheer its fass and honor its heroes?
see the unrest and the dissatisfaction
that are abroad in the land. In the face
OF the epoch marking achievements OF
the American people since they became
a nation, in the face of the increasing
acceptance by other peoples Of the prin-
ciples upon which the American Republic
is built. there are voices too numerous
and too strident to be unheard or neg
lected, who cry out in protest against
America and In dissatisfaction with
American principles and American
ideals.
These unhappy persons are con-
stantly casting about for some new
weapon of destruction with which to
break down American accomplishment.
in order to substitute for 1t some new
and usually some mad form OF political
and social experimentation. Men and
women who are 50 minded are usually
mentally unbalanced, but whether mem
tally unbalanced or not they are so con-
sumed by egotism and vanity as to
fancy that some poor product OF their
emotional life can take the place of the
whole OF human experience and the
whole of human endeavor.
What has really happened to these
people is that they have lost their faith
and they are once more striving in the
impossible attempt to- make the very
limited knowledge of an individual do
duty for the faith OF a race. These per-
sons are not willing to learn by ex-
perience, but perhaps the familiar story
OF st. Augustine might temper the ardor
Of their self-assurance. 1t Is related of
st. Augustine that while walking one
day upon the shore OF Ostia. meditating
upon the intellectual doubts that with
held him from embracing Christianity.
he suddenly perceived child that with
a shell was ladling the waters OK the
sea into a hole in the sand.
what are you doing. my child?
asked the saint. I am emptying the,
ocean, was the reply, into this hole
That is impossible Not more impos-
sible than for you to pour the universe
into your intellect said the child. and
vanished.
Individual Liberty Essential.
For civilization to continue and to
advance the knowledge OF the individual
must rest upon the experience and the
faith of the race. This experience and
this faith point with convincing clear
ness to individual liberty and the right
OF individual self-determination as the
essential elements in a really advancing
and constructive political, social and in
dustrial life.
For liberty there is no possible sub
stitute. OF opportunity there can be
no successful imitation. Each human
being. the seat OF an immortal soul,
has his own place in the world and
Is entitled to his own chance to make
the most OF himself What he justly
gains and saves Is rightly his own, and
private property which alone makes
possible industry. trade. commerce and
finance as we know them, is a part of
liberty itself.
THE attempt to destroy the institu-
ton OF private property is as reaction
airy an undertaking as can we'll be
imagined. It is nothing less than a pro-
posal TO go back to the very beginnings
Of all civilization and TO try TO compel
the race to climb up all over again the
hills and the mountains over which the
procession OF progress has been 80 pain
tully passing for centuries.
What We need Ia more and more
widely distributed property rather than
less. The aim Of free state IL to make
every citizen & capitalist In the sense
that II will give every citizen an OPP
portunity to work. to save and to employ
his savings AZ he will. This Is what
We mean by liberty under law. This
Is the finest and highest ideal OF gov
eminent. To overthrow II, TO weaken
or to cast discredit upon It is not
progress but backward revolution.
Colleges and universities are places
where youth are assembled for training
ard for instruction In the truth ana
in high standards OF appreciation and
OF action. Tho truth IL not. as some
scholastic wit has said. any lie that
works. but semethins which 10 ap7rs,