Evening star., 1936-03-23
Text of Roosevelt Speech
'Gro~th and Progress Invariably and Inevitab,
Opposed Bitterly, Falsely and Blindly,"
President Declares.
BY the Associated Press,

BY the Associated Press.
ROLLINS COLLEGE, Winter Park,
Fla, March 23.-The text OF the ad-
dress delivered today by President
Roosevelt in accepting an honorary
degree from Rollins College follows:
President Holt, ladies and gen.
tlemen:
am honored in becoming an alum
nus OF Rollins College, not alone be-
cause of my deep interest in the work
that is being carried on here, but also
because of the longtime personal
friendship between your president and
myself.
It is because of the varied culture,
the tireleSs industry and the inde-
pendent thinking of DR.. Holt that his
old friends were not at all surprised
when he substituted new ideas in edu-
cation for old practices.
These changes fearlessly inaugurated
at Rollins are bearing fruit. They are
being watched by educators and lay
men. The fact that in some respects
they break away from some of the old
academic moorings should not startle
us. In education, as in politics and
economics and social relationships,
we hold fast to the old ideals and all
we change Is our method Of approach
to the attainment of the ideals. Stag
nation follows standing still Con-
tinued growth is the only evidence Of
life.
Progress Bitterly Opposed.
Yet growth and progress invariably
and inevitably are opposed bitterly,
falsely and blindly opposed. In re-
markable film on the life OF Louis
Pasteur which l saw the other night,
the great English cherciSt, Lister. said
to Pasteur when the latter was being
denounced as a charlatan and an i'm
poster by leading doctors Of the French
Academy of Medicine. MY dear Pas
teur, every great benefit to the human
race in every field of its activity has
been bitterly fought in every stage
leading up to its final acceptance"
What has taken place at Rollins
illustrates what I speak of as new ap-
proaches to old problems. II you
abolish lectures and recitations and
substitute the conference plan of
study, you do not abandon the old
ideals of culture. An amazing increase
in the very number Of things which
an educated man must know today
calls not only for more facts, but calls
also for what might be called a third
dimension in education-the trying to-
gether of all the subjects and all the
facts into the relationship Of their
whole with modern life.
Just as you and. indeed, the faculty
and the students in any college reach
conclusions individually and collective
ly, so do the masses of our people indi-
vidually and collectively approach gov
ernmental problems All of us are
greatly influenced by group aSsoci-
ations. The family group is the old
est. the smallest, and yet through all
change and all time the most i'm
portant. Yet there are groups with
some of which almost all have some
form of association-the church, the
social circle, the lodge, the labor or
ganization, the political party, the
neighboring farmers. Business and
commerce are almost wholly made VIZ
Of groups.
Group Creates Problem.
The fact of this group existence and
resulting group thinking brings for
ward one Of the great problems OF Or
derly Government functioning.
1t is the problem Of Government to
harmonic the interests of these
groups which are often divergent and
opposing, in order to guarantee Sc
curity and good for as many Of their
individual members as may be possible
The science of politics, indeed, may
properly be said to be in large part
the science Of the adjustment OF con-
f1icting group interests.
In the community, local government
must adjust small groups for COM
munity good. In States larger groups
must be co-ordinated for the greater
good of all the people within the State
In the Federal Government, the prob
lem is 10 adjust still greater groups in