Evening star., 1954-06-01
Presidents Address in New York ASKING Curb on Demoqoques

dinner at the WGldorJ-AstoriG
Hotel in NetD York:
This occasion has for me
particular significance be-
cause, for q time. ! was in
timately associated with those
whose life-work is the educa-
ton Of American youth. I am
proud that, through q brief
span in, Columbia University's
200-year history, my, name
was closely. Joined with that
great institution. For such ex-
preston Of personal pride in
an association with q home Of
learning. I have illustrious
predecessors.
Thomas Jefferson, for one,
at the end Of his long life.
preferred that posterity should
think Of him. not as the holder
of high office, but for his re-
lationship to the University Of
Virginia.
He held that the free flow
of information was indispens-
able to the maintenance Of
liberty. He wrote that If he
had to make a choice between
a society without newspapers
or newspaper without a gov
ernment, he would prefer the
latter. And, of the diffusion of
knowledge among the people
through schools he asserted:
mo other sure foundation can
be devised for the preserva-
ton of freedom and happi-
ness"
A relentless foe Of tyranny
in every guiSe, Jefferson
throughout his life was stead
fast to a fundamental tenet Of
western society. proclaimed
1000 years ago In the treasury
Of the Temple at Jerusalem,
that the truth win make men
free. - . u.
The pursuit .Jnf truth, its
preservation and wide dis
semination; the achievement
of freedom, its defense and
propagation: these purposes
are woven into the Aineri-
can concept Of education.
The American university
neither the property Of q
favored class nor an. ivory
tower where Missionaries are
sheltered from the test OF
practice-every American uni
versity fundamentally is dedi-
Gated to Columbia's. bicenten-
nial theme-"Man's right to
knowledge and the free use
thereof"
Those who chose the theme
Of this bicentennial could not
have found a more American
one. I say this with apology
to scholars Of all countries,
lest they think that might
be deliberately narrowing a
universal principal to a pro-
vincial application. But from
the very beginning of the Re-
public. education of the people,
freedom for the people-these
interdependent purposes have.
been the core Of the American
dream. .s4 sS @
Far from being fearful Of
ideas. the founders of the Re-
public feared only misguided
efforts to suppress ideas.
No less profound was their.
faith in mans ability to use
freedom. within the law. for
the achievement Of his own
and his country's good. In the
freedom Of the individual, they
saw an energy that could
hurdle moun1ains, harness
rivers, clear the wilderness,
transform a continent.
So convinced, they pro-
claimed to all the world the
revolutionary doctrine of the
divine rights of the common
man. The doctrine has ever
since been the fundamental
American faith. Emphatic re-
lection of this faith is the car
dinal characteristic of ma
terialistic despotisms of. this
century.
In consequence, the world,
once divided by oceans and
mountain ranges, is now split
by hostile concepts Of mans
character and nature. Physi-
cal barriers and their effects
have been largely surmounted.
But new barriers seem more
insuperable than. the old.
Two world camps :, whose
geographic boundaries in i'm
portant areas . are mutually
shared, lie. farther apart in
motivation and conduct than
the poles in space. One is dedi-
Gated to the freedom of the in
dividual and to the right of all
to live in peace-the other to
the Marxist philosophy of ma
terialiSm, and the effort to
establish its sway over all the
earth. Watching the two op-
posing camps are hundreds Of
millions stilr undecided in ac-
tive loyalty.
NLI IL 'RlR