Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-05-06
+. y. HULBURD SPEAKS FOR
SENIORS

The senior class speaker BENJAMIN ~
1iulburd, of Hyde Park gave a review of
present economic conditions, how they
have influenced educational methods and
how they have been Influenced by edu-
cation methods, and presented a scheme
for correction of the evil influences, en-
titled Founders Then. Builders Now
Back In the seventeen hundreds" he
said when men were founders, when
men were pioneers. when the State OF
Vermont was but coming into being, "A
university was founded here on the hill.
\ body of rugged mountaineers. recog
nzng the value of education, blaZed the
way Tor future progress and I'm their
first General Assembly granted the char
ter Of the University of Vermont And
so to-day we are able TO gather here with
jus. pride and thankfulness for what our
ancestors have done. But how different
are the time and circumstance of this
then. To-day we are no longer founders
to-day we must be builders. The found
ing has been done. the cornerstone has
been well laid and 1t remains for us to
carry out and complete what our fathers
so nobly conceived"
IL 1871, the great natural resources OF
the country were being discovered and
explored, the trend OF movement was
westward. In the East, our inexperienced
but unsurpassed statesmen were launch
ing an almost untried form of govern
n,cnt. Al that time, democracy had TO
do with political rights, and men wcre
concerned over personal liberty. In the
goth century. all is changed Democracy
is concerned with social. Industrial, and
religious rights, Men are willing to sac
rihcc some of their personal liberty for
that other principle known as equality.
The most important problem of the
present day is that arising out of the Diff
ferences between capital and labor An
modern business lifc Is the result of the
growth of productive capital and its an
plication and constant rc-applicat!on 10
the production Of wealth n made i:s
way by virtue OF an intense Individual in
itiative and a fierce competitive struggle.
Labor conditions. for time deplora HE
6rew steadily improv owed, and the labor
crs organized and began TO more nearly
attain their just share OF benefits. But
see where labor has tended Not salts
fed with receiving wages which COM
mcnced to approach fair share of prof
it's. labor in a mad rush Is attempting TO
get more, As some one has said. The
merely propose 10 replace the seltishness
Of other classes by sclflshness of their
own, and their selfshness as we see in the
case Of the Bolshevists. is more abom-
Unable than any other, because thcv do
not intend to allow any other class even
TO exist.
At present the world If suffering frcm
lack of production rather than CT dis
tribution of wealth. Produce first and
divide aftcrward should be the watchword
of the next few years When the problom
of distribution is taken up. We shouId
strive to level up, and not level down.
Pure air floats over the table lands
The solution of our Industrial nroh-
lens lies in education, in the nuhlic
school system. All other methods arc
poor, STUPID. and ineffective In the mas
we have been merely fooling with ed,co-
ton. Thousands Of boys and girls haye
had to forogo an education to work and
help support their families. II sociot,
is To improve, all children must he odu-
Gated and their education carried nc TO-
as they are capable of absorbing i, for
future use There is a tendency I'm ,hi,
materiaIistic age to focus all attcntior -,
fitting "A man for job, and not for ufo
This can result only in turmoil and ,,n
rest The idea of our founders was no,
plan for producing specialists: for ,ro
ducine a few lop-sided fellows. grand
gloomy, and peculiar in their greatness