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Page 23 text:
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Commencement Parts Valedictory “The Guiding Star That Perpetuates” We arc a nation in the vigor of youth. Thus far our growth has never been checked by the op- pressions of tyranny. From the beginning we were a simple, hardy, intelligent people, accustomed to self-government and self-respect. Our extensive plains and fertile valleys give us the choice of many products and means of independence. Our repub- lican institutions are free, religion is free, the press is free. The mighty deep on either side protects us from any dangerous foe. Already the age has caught the spirit of our institutions and winds have wafted across the ocean, even to the heights of the Andes. With these fair prospects to accomplish a sublime end, can America betray herself? No! We might be carried away with national pride and enthusiasm, did we not realize that the sting and stain of dishonesty and corruption do exist in our proud land. Politics have entered almost every phase and avenue of life. Periodicals have exposed and de- nounced the infamy. We would not slay those who are responsible for this condition by upbraiding them. Neither would we plead for a reorganization or building anew this, our government. But we do plead that the spirit that animated the founders of these glorious institutions shall guide and lead us to enjoy and reap the benefits of our inheritance. They come to us as fruits of the efforts and lives of our ancestors. They are ours to enjoy, ours to protect, and ours to perpetuate. We will never be able to pay the great debt we owe to our fathers, but by honesty, integrity, national pride, and by the protection of all that is good and noble, we may be able to enioy the benefits of our inheritance through our lives and bestow them untainted to our posterity. “Honor and gratitude to those who have attained. Honor and gratitude shall be to those who preserve and maintain.” Political corruption is not partisan. It is the common enemy. Recent exposures in nearby states show only too well the tendency toward graft. Such effort to secure control of our government, are not recorded in our early history. The free use of money to influence legislation has become so common that the kings of dollars might soon be- come kings of our people. One by one represen- tatives of great wealth become a part of our law- making bodies. The magic power of money has paved their way. And who are they who would usurp the guid- ance of our nation’s destiny? What have they done to assume so great a responsibility? We know of them only by their notorious records in seeking of- fices. Selfish men seeking selfish ends would place them in positions of trust. Thus brought into power the trend of their service is foretold. And because wc believe the future welfare of our country can only be maintained by stamping out these microbes from national integrity, we condemn them.
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Page 24 text:
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Commencement Parts V alcdictonj Who then is the friend of free republican in- stitutions? It is he who, in the spirit of modesty seeks to do the greatest good to the greatest num- ber in a manner that will not antagonize, but gain the confidence and co-operation of the people. The man who receives what he has not earned, and does not earn, the man who does not render ser- vice in full for all that he has, is out of place in a republican community and he is equally out of place whether he be a man living in idle luxury on millions which he has not earned or which he has won in ways that represent no service to the na- tion. The division between the worthy and the unworthy citizen must be drawn on conduct and character and not on wealth or poverty. Arrogance and vanity, the bitter scorn of the rich man for the poor man and the bitter hate of the poor for the rich man are merely the opposite sides of the same dark shield. The greatness of our institutions in the past has rested upon the fact that the people had the power and that they used it aright for great and worthy ends. Washington and Lincoln, each in the degree that his generation rendered possible, trusted to and believed in the people, steadfastly refused to represent anything save what was high- est and best in the people, and by appealing to this highest and best brought it out and made it promi- nent. Each called upon his countrymen to lay down their lives for an ideal and then called upon the survivors to perform the even harder task of lead- ing their lives in such shape as to realize the ideal for which their countrymen had been dying. Our aim, the aim of those of us who stand for true progress, for true nationalism, for true patriot- ism, is not only to give the people power, but our- selves, as part of the people, to try to see that the power is used aright and in a spirit of the broadest kindliness and charity toward all men. What evidence have we that our institutions, controlled and guided by the spirit of modesty, na- tional pride, and courage, has the fuller, freer, lib- eralizing. uplifting influence, not only in our own country, but in the world at large. Our answer is found in our industrial activity, our commercial pursuits, our artistic expressions on canvass, in monuments and architecture, in our educational sys- tem. where enlightenment enters and becomes an inmate of the humblest dwelling, where genius and talent have the protection of governmental law. What debt of gratitude docs the world owe to ours, the younger of all civilized nations? You will agree that our International Court of Arbitration was made possible through American influence. W'hat do you find in the history of Cuba and the Philippine Islands to answer our question? All nations of the world are looking to us to make possible such an institution that will result in complete disarmament. And if national virtues and the spirit of our institutions be extended, the prophetic words of the Great Teacher—“Peace on Earth; Good Will to Men”—may be realized.
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