Evening star., 1921-06-08
LABOR
FOR CIVILIZATION,
PRESIDENTS PLEA
Mr.. Harding Declares Moth.
ing Seems Secure Against
IconocIasts' Attacks.
CALLS ON GRADUATES
OF NATION TO RESIST
Speaks at Seventh Convocation Of
American University-Jusserand
and Rowell Also Make Addresses.

and Rowell Also Make Addresses.
Declaring that almost nothing" re-
mains secure today from the attacks
of iconoclasts, President Harding ap-
pealed to the graduating classes Of
the nations universities and colleges
in an address today at the commence
ment exercises of American Univer-
sity to dedicate themselves to an
unselfish service in the preservation
of civilization.
The seventh convocation of the
university was held this afternoon in
the amphitheater in the grove OF the
institution. Besides the President the
speakers were: NJ. Jules Jusserand.
w. Rowell. member Of the Canadian
parliament and representative OF
! Canada at the Geneva conference.
| The speaking was preceded by
! flag raising on the big campus. the
flag having been presented by Rob
ert A. Booth of oregon and which
feature was presided over by Gen.
! William Mason Wright Music was
furnished by the United States Ma
| rine Band. Rev. John K. Edwards
pronounced benediction.
President HardinE's Speech.
/ President Harding said:
| ITO Bishop Hamilton. the faculty.
the graduating class and student
| body:
| Il am glad to extend greetings and
congratulations on completion OF
another years work of the university.
We are at the height OF the annual
| commencement season. when thou
sands Of students go out from insu-
| tutions all over the land to take up
| the tasks for which their years OF
| study have been preparing them.
II wish I could impress the young
men and women of every graduating
class this year with my own acute
| conviction regarding the obligation or
service that is placed upon them.
They have been favored with the
privilege Of special equipment and
preparation, such as is vouchsafed to
an all too small proportion OF the
people. They will not prove them
selves worthy of their peculiar good
fortune or of their special response
bility unless they regard it as trust
to be held for the good Of the whole
community.
I'VE look to this months graduating
| classes tesprovide far more than their
numerical share OF leaders for the
nation in "a future not far ahead. You
many ways unlike any that former
! generations of your colleagues could
have anticipated.
II would feel that had performed
| well the part that has providentially
fallen to me If l could impress upon
every one who goes out this year
! with a diploma the thought that it is
not a certificate of right to special
favor and profit in the world. but
rather a commission of service. Men
! all about you will need the best you
will be able to give to them.
Never, firmly believe, was there
! a time when the call was so insistent
as that to those capable OF giving
unselfish, broad. compresending direc-
| tion to public thought.
Educated Lenders Needed.
you of the next generation of
leadership will live in a time of re-
adjustment and reorganization. Much
| that has been esteemed elemental has
! been swept aside. Almost nothing re-
mains that we may safely think of
as sacred, as secure from the attacks
| of the iconoclasts. 1t is time in
| which men search their souls and as
say their convictions, in which they
| examine the very fundamentals of
| institutions immemorially accepted
in which no tradition may be held
| immune from assaults OF the skeptic
and the doubter.
| "In such time / cannot but feel
l
| ucation can supply is embraced in the
! broadest culture, the most inclusive
vision, the most clear-eyed compre-
| hension of the terms which mankinds
problem today presents There was
! time, and not very long ago. when
we were wont to think of education
as a sort of specialized training for
| some kind of special service. We es-
teemed it as an intensive process OF
| equipping fortunate persons for do
7 hit r tn1 10 rlSyy III
along established and accepted lines.
| Today we may say that there are
few accepted lines. Nothing re-
mains with US that is not Queried.
Therefore we need for the leadership
| of the coming generation an open
minded Willingness to recognize the
claim of the doubter, the innovator.
the experimenter. the would-be con-
structionist.
! but while we must give these ad-
venturous ones their full chance. we
must sedulously guard against the
! spirit Of mere cynIcism. the DISPOSE
ton to condemn all things as they are
| because they are not perfect, the ten
reconstruction has been prepared. The
| trained mind-provided it Is not over
| trained-is the one that must provide
the saving faculty of discrimination.
| The world must go forward. and not
backward; and it will not go forward
| mere destruction. After all, unsatis-
| factory as some earnest people regard
| the present structure of society and
! existing human relationships, a rea-
| sonably conscious world has been a
| long time travelling as far on the road
| toward ideal conditions as it now has
reached.
History has afforded many illus
| trations of societies crumbling and
going to pieces. ana the process has
| invariably been attended with super
! lative disaster to great masses of hu-
manity. It is a commonplace that at
| this time the world stands on the
brink of what looks much like preci-
pice, It must not be allowed to take
| the fatal plunge. 1t will not if it
shall be able to summon to its leader
! ship in the coming generation men
and women who will unite a neces-
sary measure of conservative purpose
with an equally necessary portion of
| Willingness to consider new expedi-
ents. to test out old formulas, to ap-
| ply the acid test even to what we
have learned to believe Is pure gold.
Best Type OF Education.
1.-THE education that con truly pre-
pare for the demands Of society in the
| time before us cannot be given merely
in academic halls. The great world
outside must contribute of its prac-
tical experience, it's intimate knowl-
| edge, its discipline and disappoint-
I IN comp1efe the eo1innept No