The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-06-17
GREATEST CLASS
RECEIVE DEGREE
PRES. w. E. JOHNSON CONFERS
COVETED HONORS UPON
CLASS OF 20
PROMINENT ALUMNUS GIVES ADDRESS
DR.. J. M. AIdrich Tells Audience Yes
terday Morning How He Un-
packed First Lab.

Degrees were conferred upon the
largest graduating class in the history
of State college yesterday morning by
been duly presented by Dean q. l..
Brown in a most impressive ceremony
in the presence of a large audience of
alumni and townspeople. Twenty
grees yesterday have their homes in
Brookings and are graduates Of the
local high school.
John Merton Aldrich, Phi. D., who
graduated with the first class from
State college in 1888 and who now
holds a prominent position in the ma
tional museum at Washington. d. c.,
gave the commencement address.
In expressing his appreciation of
the honor conferred upon him as com.
mencement speaker he said, 81 am
afraid it really ought to have gone
to Jim Cunningham, for he beat me in
the oratorical contest in 1888. 1t is
almost 35 years ago since | entered
this school, and | received my degree
32 years ago North and South Da.
kota had not been divided when
came and we called the institution the
| d. A. c. l well remember when Gov
G.. A. Pierce came from Bismark on
tour of inspection and in the course
of it was brought to the top floor OF
the old ad building and into the room
in the northeast corner where several
Of us lived. | helped unpack the first
chemical laboratory Of this institution
1t came in box about Is inches each
way, shipped to us from. Queen & Co.
and was what they called their $2J
! high school outfit. We had one en-
tire course in chemistry out Of that
box taught by the professor of agri
culture"
The subject of his address was
THE Philosophy of the Hard Boiled
Human progress" he said, 'has moi
been a mental growth but has been
! the growth of more humane attitude
among men toward each other, in a
word it has been moral progress
Mentally the race is very nearly ma
ture but morally we are still growing
1t is a well known biological principle
that characters which are still evolv
ing are unstable, while old charac
ters are relatively fixed. SO it is that
the unprecedented strain of the worlt
war leaves us unaffected mentally
but depressed morally. | am pre-
| pared to assert that the SEEMING
breakdown of the world is only 6
| transient phenomenon. | believe thai
in time We shall rise to higher levels
than before attained. The main draw
back is the influence of the philosO
ply of the hard-boled. AS long as i
is dominating factor in government
improvement will be slow BY this
term | mean the philosophy which be
lieveS in appealing to the lowest anC
most selfish and most primitive mo
tive 1t believes that the Fundamental
moving powers Of the human mine
are sclfishness and fear, and tha
human beings, both individually anc
as nations, can be best handled OF
this level" He showed that this was
the philosophy Of Germany before tht
war and how it failed. This same phi
losOphy he stated is dominant in tn
United States today. This philoso
ply says that ideals are all right t,
fill up soldiers with in preparation
for the zero hour but have no plac,
in the dealings of nations. Here, NOR
than in any other phase of interna
tional relations, | see the hard-boilet
philosophy raising its venomous hea,
al the present time"
In closing he said, $50 we, unde
the temporary depression of reaction
from war strain, finding our faitI
!. shaken, may yet reassure ourselve
|, that the moral gains of ten thOusan
years are not lost, the laws of mora
, progress are still valid and the futur
paints for us a bright picture of hi
I man destiny"
Continued on PAGE 2-Col. ~
w. s. S.