Drexel University - Spartan Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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THE SPEAKERS FOR THE DREXEL INSTITUTE ADDRESS BY DR. HOLLIS GODFREY President of Drexel Institute There a1'e few maxims which a1'e sounder than that old saying of the schools, I know of no way in which to judge the future save by the experience of the past. In- volved as we are to-day in a tremendous change, it is still worth our while to trace to some degree the past, to see in education whence we came, to recognize that first Oxford and Cambridge extended to these shores an influence which bore fruit in Harvard in the North, and in William and Mary in the South, and in all the other schools that came from that first university experience, to follow the denominational schools, the colleges that sprang up like Yale, like Brown, like Fordham, that came from first denominational ends, those that came through state aid and through ordinance, like the great state uni- versities, like Michigan, Indiana, and Illinoisg those that came out of the wraek and trial off the Civil War, a.nd came into being with the Morrill act, with the great agricultural colleges, those that came alone from municipal effort and those that came through the private endowment and vision of individual citizens, such as Rensselaer, such as Cornell, Armour, and our own Drexel. It is by such means that we come to place the institution in its history and to see that all those now standing make for the citizenship and for the service of the state, which is our theme to-night. For a year past I have been watching what has been happening under that great phrase, that comprellensive phrase, The Mobilization of Industry , and I have been concerned with its translation into a mobilization of civil power, a. mobilization of civil power in which education should bear a great part. For I believe, as all of us must believe, that true doctrine, that high purpose, that spiritual ideals, come through edu- cation, and that we have seen too much of Il1tlllSt1'lRll and of material ends unleavened by those spiritual forces that ou1' education stands for in their highest forte. And so to-day I see industry and education coming together. Through all those hurrying, breathless, service lines, the lines that are rushing through, the lines that are rushing on, the lines that are rushing all the supplies up to line of battle, through those lines I see the same spirit that sent the men from all the old universities the moment there was a cry of warg and I see spreading over it that splendid spirit that is welding our whole nation into one: One, with one purpose, to serve and to serve others, and to serve in such a way that education may leaven all those ope1'a.tions of industry. But if we are to leaven aright all those operations, we must make our education so effective, so rightly directed, that we can have important, effective, forceful result in the 15

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THE OPENING OF THE CONVOCATION DR. Honms Gonrlncv: It was twenty-five yea1's ago that the Institute opened its doors for regular work in the classes, lJ01'l1 of a great vision of a great mind, the mind ot? a citizen devoted to the ideals of citizenship. It was among the tirst to realize that a first and primary duty of the citizen is the capacity to earn a right, independent living. It was among the lirst to recognize the new world, the world of industry, as industry is a part of the State, and now, after twenty-live years, we meet to honor the memory of Anthony J. Drexel in time ot war, in the time when all education, when all citizenship, is put to the test, and from that acid test education is emerging as never before. IVe have come to realize through these awful years that any training which does not make t'or the fl.1llfltlll10l1ttl.lS of citizenship is vain. We have come to change our concept of what educa- tion means, but we have not lost i11 any way our fundamental belief, nor has the vision of that man whom we honor to-day, as we honor him every day in the Institute, been untrue in the slightest deg1'ee. NVe do not feel that in this time ot' war we could spend the time of our distinguished guests, of our many guests, in a matter which has to do merely with ourselves. lVe be- lieve that we can honor our founder by making our celebration a part ot that great dis- cussion which is before every college i11 the land to-day, lVhat service can we give? 'l'hat is the question. That is the question that all ot' us are trying to answer, and as we sat to-day and heard the inspired word during the day's session of those who have done so much to answer the question, we realized that we had come through trial to at least a point where we were coming to delinite aims in education, and wc knew that we had a basis for our belief, our common belief. And so we conseerate this meeting, this meeting in honor of a great citizen, by bringing it to the pu1'poses of citizenship, and our meet- ings are with that thought devoted to our common purpose in time ol' struggle for liberty and for democracy, and to-night the United States is represented by its otlicers. Ameri- can education is represented by the otticers of colleges and unive1'sities, literally from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from the north to the south. The learned and the pro- fessional societies are here, and we have as the speaker of the Convocation to-night one of the most distinguished of our Canadian brothersg as the Iirst of the speakers to-1nor- row another, and so the border li11e has been blotted out in our common purpose for educational ends, and all the old state lines, and all those former lines that divided us sharply, are blotted out because of this great wa.r. It has brought us at least one great and mighty thing, the power to think together and to act together, for great, common ends. XVith that word I declare this Convocation, celebrating the foundation and the founder and celebrating his spirit and the whole spirit of citizenship, open. f Singing of America. J 14

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present and t'a1'-sighted, t'Ulll171'lill6llSlVC, eontinuous plans in the future. For edueation eoneerns daily, inunediate emergeneies, and is also eoneerned with those future years when the world, now heing and already destroyed, must he rehuilt. And it is a matter otf greala eoneern to a.ll otf us in edueation that the rebuilders otf that world, the men and women, shall not he, as the first l'ounders otf Harvard desired in a, more narrow and theo- logieal sense, shall not he illiterate ministers. For you remember l'l'arvard was t'ounded largely to prevent any possibility ol' an illiterate ministry. It is our task to send out literate ministers otf industry through edueation: literate, knowing, judging, men and women, who ean eontrol those treineiulous eivil powers on whieh depends so mueh to- clay the happiness, the eoml'o1't ot' all ot' us and all that long line that is to eoine alter us. It is a. lnatter 't'or eaeh ol' us to think earel'ully about. What is to he the task ot' eduea- tion? What is to he the eoordination ol' industry and ol' edueation in these next years? One thing we ean surely do. We 4-an ask two questions: Whati van industry give to edu- eation? What ean edueation give to industry L? And while the answers are as varied as all the lields ol' energy, l eau eertainly say that only hy one we ean determine what eaeh can give. We 1-an say that in every ease educ-ation shall provide the soundesl, tinest and highest ideals and a hasis for the development ol' industry and l'or the development of the state. 'l'he old days that eame het'ore the war are almost pre-historie now. l think you, like myselt', look hack upon those days hel'ore that August day ol' ltllsl and feel as it' it were another age and world in whieh we lived apart, a dit't'erent world: and yet' many olf us go on with the same ideas, and some ot' us with the same ideals, that we had in that tormer, pre-historie age. lt is a new world. It is a questioning world, and it is a major task ol' edueation to meet the new. What Fundamental l'aetors exist in eaeh? lt we are to go together in edueation and in industry, we must have eertain vom- mon ends, and we must have eertain eommon measures. What' l'mulamental l'a1-tors are there A? One we know. lt has heen said again and again that time is the compelling taetor ol' this war. Look haek to those lirst days when we were looking to see whether or not Liege would hold the on-coming line. Look haek to Verduu. Look to last week, or to this morning, it' you will, and see how many matters ot' industry, ol' the state, and ot' the war eome together in one eommon thought--the using ol' time, the saving of time, that great' lesson ol' saving time, ol' thril't in time, ot' using all that we have ol' time. 'that is one lesson surely that is eommon to industry and to edueation. And there l helieve is one lesson that the Institute eertainly, and 1 helieve many others, ean all join in as a eonnnon platform-the need t'or edueation to measure the golden hours, those hours golden heeause they eannot he houghtg they eau only he saved or used, and all our service l'o1' the eollege and the state eannot do mueh that is hased on any more l'1nulamental eon- eept than that one ot' time. Il' edueation is to do what it should with that great and mighty tigure t'hronos, with that golden minute and that golden hour, it must put through every hour and through every day a spirit, of its own. The vital tluid, the vitality, lite, 16