Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-18

happiness. Now conditions naturally
call. for changes; but the changes
should involve administration only, not
principles. In many ways It 10 true
that the community Is best governed
which IL least governed. It has recent
ly been called to my attention that in
English history two great landmarks
Of reform-freedom Of the press and
religious toleration--were based on the
theory not Of more government but Of
less interference from government. In
that simple statement Is q lesson which
reformers Of the day may well ponder.
Socialism Is a negation of the rights
Of the individual. At the other pole Is
repression of free speech. Sometimes
the ultra-conservative and the ultra
radical meet on common ground. Mus
solini in Italy and Lenin in Russia to.
day are both enemies Of the individual.
There are also certain tendencies in
| modern thought and in modern phil
osophy that hamper and thwart, II in
deed they do not actually destroy indi-
| vidual initiative and responsibility.
Socialism and socialistic devices. how
ever much they may be Justified as pro-
tests against the sins Of capitalism, arc
based on a conception of life where the
! individual is not to be allowed more
| than q very restricted self expression
| All doctrines based primarily not on
reason but on force have the same
chilling and repressive effects. There
IS much OF such violence abroad in the
land today. The Ku Klux Klain IS one
i silly manifestation of 1t. Intolerance
/ and repression of free speech are mass
attacks on the individual Remember"
writes William Allen White in a spir-
| tied editorial, treason never has failed
1 nn1v
made the wrecks in the world" Organ
lied minorities replying on passion and
! propaganda, instilling fear into the
hearts of weak legislators, are q great
menace TO the safety and peace Of this
nation. More dangerous still is the
| teaching of purely materialistic phil
| osophy. The denial Of the persistence
| of the individual. of the immortality
| of the soul, leads too often to Gym
| cism and to the reputation Of individ-
! ual responsibility. For those who hold
that the individual can live without in
| any way rendering account to God are
| acting on the pagan principle: Let us
cat and drink, for tomorrow we die"
Members of the graduating class:
have taken for my theme this aft
ernoon the development and the respon-
sibility Of the Individual, not only be-
cause it presents problems that should
be Of general interest, but because it is
particularly pertinent in a review Of
college life and as a challenge to col
lege graduates. For four years in
unique way you have been learning day
by day how to adjust yourselves to the
changing needs of the college.
There is one sentence in the letter OF
one of our war heroes which l wish
you would frequently recall. Shortly
before his death on the field of battle,
Forbes Richard wrote to his mother:
1T really makes no difference whether
I come marching home some bright.
sunshiny morning. or whether l join
the ranks of the gallant unreturning.
/ shall keep my own soul" In the
tut dmoil and stress of life with its
failures and victories and defeats there
is no more important thing for any of
us to do than in the sight of God and
of his own conscience to guard his own
individuality. his own personality. his
| own life and to dedicate himself to
! high service. And the college in its
| final benediction can wish for syou
nothing higher than for you to he able
to say at the end of your life. II have
| kept my own soul"