The Greater Power and Other Addresses 9780231894241

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THE GREATER

POWER

AND OTHER ADDRESSES

THE

GREATER POWER AND OTHER ADDRESSES BY

Frank Diehl Fackenthal Ό^β»

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I N LIT T E R I S L I B E R I A S •:· ,s

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""φ" I949 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York

Copyright 1949, Columbia University Press, New York

Manufactured in the United States of America

FOREWORD

whose addresses as Acting President of Columbia University are gathered together in this little volume, needs no introduction to the alumni, faculty, students, and friends of Columbia University, or to that wider circle who learned to appreciate his high abilities during the time when he acted as his university s official voice and representative. Here they will see reflected Dr. FackenthaÏs familiar qualities—his grasp of fundamentals, his practical knowledge of the means of translating those fundamentals into action, his humor, his humanity, his modesty. They will also find traces—very carefully concealed, since the words are his own—of the major services he has performed for Columbia and for those wham Columbia serves. Some who are not watching closely may miss these betrayals of the extent of his own contribution and may need to have their memories prompted. The prompting will be found in the tributes of Professor Hayes and Mr. Hogan, who spoke, at the Alexander Hamilton Dinner held in Dr. FackenthaÏs honor, as representatives of the faculty and the alumni. These addresses were delivered under all sorts of circumstances—at public exercises and at private dinners, at ceremonies where Dr. Fackenthal bestowed honors and at ceremonies where he received them, to groups of educators and to groups of students. The man, his ideals, his wisdom, FRANK D I E H L FACKENTHAL,

his tact—these are the same in all, but in each his message is subtly modulated to the occasion and to the audience. The period of Dr. FackenthaTs acting presidency was followed by his retirement from full-time service to the University, after more than forty years. Some may unwittingly conclude that these speeches mark the climax of his career, but all who know him or have followed his activities since his retirement—as one of the Trustees of Columbia University and as chairman of the Trustees' Committee on Education, as educational consultant to the Carnegie Corporation, and as president of Associated Universities—realize that in his career the years of these addresses represent a mere chapter. It was a distinguished chapter, however, and I, who have been working with Frank Fackenthal for years that neither of us has had time to count, am happy to play a part in laying the record before the world. FREDERICK COYKENDALL Columbia University in the City of New York April 7,194.9

CONTENTS Foreword by Frederick Coykendall The Greater Power The Opportunities and Responsibilities of the School Equal Opportunity The Diversity of the American University System The Tyrant Minorities The Free Migration of Students The Structure of Freedom The Veteran as Student Enhancement of the University's Strength Great Days at Columbia Columbia Tradition The Lion and the Violet The Aims and Accomplishments of Columbia College Check Your Banners The Yule Log Tradition Opportunities for Pioneering A Word of Greeting The Profession of Nursing

ν 3 7 12 17 21 24 29 33 37 41 44 46 51 57 61 63 65 67

Two Speeches Delivered at the Alexander Hamilton Dinner

A Lifetime of Service Minister of Everything Else

73 81

THE GREATER AND OTHER

POWER ADDRESSES

The Greater Power

delivered June 4, 1946, at the 2d Commencement of Columbia University.

ADDRESS

H E world is now in that period toward which our hopes and prayers were directed during the long and fearful years of war. During those years the full and single-minded effort within the Allied nations and among them was toward the defeat of destructive forces that were abroad in the world. Both in individuals and in the nations joined for the preservation of freedom, thought of self was in large part subordinated to the common cause of civilized men. And it was felt that surely the fires of that war must weld all thinking peoples, regardless of varying histories, into a force for the firmer establishment of those fundamentals which are essential to peaceful living. But no sooner was the cause of the Allies brighter in prospect than statesmen, publicists, leaders of thought in both public and private life sounded warnings that difficult as had been the problems of war, the problems of peace might be well-nigh insuperable; that allied states would turn on each other; that group struggles within nations and civil strife were inevitable. That such predictions, based on man's weakness in3

The Greater Power stead of his strength, could be made at all, should give pause. That they are followed by fulfillment, must give concern. T h e daily headlines would seem to indicate that man has no shame in his lust for power, no inhibitions in his methods of attaining it, and little humanity in its use. W h y should there be such evidence of cupidity, greed, thirst for power, selfish disregard of the rights of others, so contrary to all that we have learned of man's reliance upon the principles of justice and humanity? There is abundant evidence that in all nations, among all peoples, high ideals and sound aspirations are not lacking.The great religions of the world, which for centuries have focused the beliefs and warmed the hearts of vast masses of people everywhere, all breathe peace, justice, and humanity. The literatures of all peoples set forth in great beauty these inner longings of man. Manmade instruments of government are based on high moral principle; to be fulfilled, it is true, by differing methods, but differing in method, not in purpose. Even the lesser organizations of the domestic economy — labor, management, commerce, and industry—set forth their purposes in terms of justice and humanity. T h e cynic may argue that often these fine words have strange definition, yet their very use proves their strength, and the fact remains that the principles of "peace, justice, humanity" appeal strongly to something deep in the hearts of all men, and that the advance of civilization has been measured by the growing ac-

4

The Greater Power ceptance of these principles, not merely as an ideal, but as necessary to existence. Seventeenth-century John Locke wrote: "God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience." Man, as scientist, uses his intelligence to uncover one by one the rich secrets of physical nature and to harness their forces for his better satisfaction. Why, then, does he serve himself so ill in his social, political and economic life? Why does he traffick in life's very essentials to the disadvantage of others, commit public acts so at variance with his private protestations ? Obviously he is not yet so securely moored to his convictions and his beliefs as to ride out in safety the stress and strain of the stormy years in which we live. What are the weaknesses in the chain of human conduct? Is there something less than full comprehension of the meaning of civilized living, and lack of fortitude in facing its responsibilities? Surely the strength of our civilization lies in the ideals common to mankind; but to hold true and constant to those ideals, men need character, buttressed by understanding. That man has the moral fibre of which character is made has been proved over and again, in peace and in war, by acts of courage, firm adherence to principle, self-sacrifice. How often have we heard the phrase so moving in its simplicity — "above and beyond the call of duty." The elements of character lie within man's nature, and were they physical, scientists would quickly find methods to unite them 5

The Greater Power into a powerful and beneficent agent for the practical benefit of mankind. But the alchemy of human nature is not of the laboratory; it is of the home, the school, and the church, each indispensable. It is for the home and the church to foster the ideals imbedded in man, to strengthen his moral fibre, and it is for the school to endow him with understanding of himself and his world. Through the cultivation of these qualities, out of the natural and strong impulses of man, society "both does its duty and protects its interest." In a world in which his own genius has made neighbors of peoples living on opposite sides of the globe, man can live in peace and satisfaction only by virtue of those faculties which make possible the distinction between the true and the false, the power of perception which we call understanding, and that moral individuality based on inherent and acquired ethical traits, which we call character. Equipped with character and understanding, the peaceful armies that go out each year from the schools and colleges of this and other lands will be a greater force in the world than any secret of power that ever has been wrested from nature or ever will be.

6

T h e Opportunities and Responsibilities of the School

at a dinner in honor of John Wade, May IF, 194η. On August 31, 194η, Dr. Wade retired as Superintendent of Schools of the City of New York, after forty-nine years of service in the New York school system, including five years as Superintendent.

SPEECH

I

T IS at any time a privilege to join in honoring the vastly responsible office of Superintendent of Schools of the City of N e w York. It is, in addition, a great pleasure to participate when the incumbent is that distinguished public servant, Dr. Wade. I convey to him not only my own personal felicitations, but also the most cordial greetings of the University which I have the honor to serve. Since well before the Christian era, so much of wisdom has been said and written concerning the education of man and the development of his natural powers that it would be presumptuous of me to try to explore new ground with you this evening. And new ground is not really important at the present stage; what is needed is new awareness of our reliance on education. Our minds need to be re-alerted to the opportunities and the responsibilities of the school. 7

Opportunities and Responsibilities It is a truism which we often forget, that the educational system of this country, rather than the politician, carries the responsibility for the national welfare. The school must provide the country with a conscientious and informed electorate. Of this responsibility, the public school assumes by far the larger part. Our young people must discover America at an early age with all the satisfaction and stimulation of democracy and must understand the principles that have guided her development. In the days of self-contained villages, the town meeting, the "cracker-barrel" juries of public opinion, the "Weekly Tribune" and other journals, in the days when home and church were centers of communal activity, representative government flowered. But the crackerbarrel days are gone. Today, our concentrated areas of population contain men and women of all races, creeds, and languages; and an almost constant shifting of population further disunifies them. Instead of singleness of purpose in our city, state, and national life, with alternative methods of reaching one goal, we seem to be substituting a multiplicity of purposes. It is only the slow, steady process of education that can maintain orderliness in all this and uphold what has been for well-nigh two centuries the American conception of organized society and economic life. And it is only in the schools that the children of today, coming from these homes of a dozen differing cultures, will find the common ground upon which they can stand as 8

Opportunities and Responsibilities Americans. In the schools they receive their first concepts of the meaning of democracy, and in and through the schools they first experience the "equal opportunity for all" that is the hallmark of American life. This alone sets the task of the teaching profession in strong relief. The finest personalities our citizenry affords could find no more dignified and honorable calling than that of shaping in the democratic tradition the mind of the young citizen of tomorrow. But youth cannot make best use of its talent in an environment where the adult portion of the population is illiterate and ignorant, or clings to alien ways of thinking. The child must not be pulled two ways between the school and the home. Here again the school becomes a most important agent. All of our schools should be community centers. The school is the central point, the common interest, to which can be drawn people of differing cultural backgrounds. Here, working together in the preparation and development of a community program, they are provided a better opportunity for understanding and good-will, among themselves and toward others. Their perspectives are broadened, their isolation and provincialism swept away by a warm tide of goodfellowship. Nor is it only to foster neighborliness and to inform the unlettered that the school must bring adults within the scope of its activity. Increasingly, we are aware that education should cover the whole span of life. We cannot expect an individual, by the time he finishes elemen9

Opportunities and Responsibilities tary schooling, or secondary education, to have learned all he needs to know or wants to know about gainful activity, home and family life, art, music, international affairs, government. In an ever-changing world, new issues arise. Adults constitute an important and controlling part of our citizenry, and education for citizenship never ends. Within the boundaries of the Greater City of New York are communities and neighborhoods differing widely in character and needs, yet together constituting the large community which is the City itself. Here at the crossroads of the world is the task of directing the education of millions of schoolchildren, representing a hundred nationalities, three major religions, a thousand variations of economic and social background. All of them must be given a full measure of our common heritage of culture; all of them must be aided in developing character, in forming habits of mental discipline, of honest judgments, of cooperation with others, that will enable them later in life to act effectively as good citizens. All of them must be given guidance in developing their individual assets and abilities. Thousands are headed for vocations and technical jobs; thousands more constitute what may be termed one of the largest college preparatory groups in the United States. Universities deal with young men and women after the first good or ill of education has been done. The New York municipal school system furnishes them remarkably well-prepared candidates, for it has one of the highest intellectual standards in the country. 10

Opportunties and Responsibilities Dr. Wade's long career in this school system has been coincident with an astonishing growth in its size and in the complexities of its problems. T h e citizens of a great metropolis take for granted the educational system of their city. Children need to be educated, and that is the responsibility of the Superintendent of Schools. That he has problems they are aware, but they are his problems, not theirs, and they hardly know or care what his difficulties are; they forget how important is his job. Had Dr. Wade done no more than keep so complicated an educational structure in operation through the stringencies and economic urgencies of the past five years, he would deserve praise. To have succeeded in doing this, as he has, and, in addition, to have adapted this institution to the emergency needs of the nation at war, to have made the equipment of the school system available for non-school uses without disturbing its fundamental function of educating the children; to have launched the admirable experiment in community education that is now in process, and the other progressive ventures that have been established under his Superintendency, is masterly administration. Horace Mann once said, "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." From his wellearned leisure, Dr. Wade may look back upon each of the areas we have been discussing and count his victories. A grateful public acknowledges them.

II

Equal Opportunity

delivered June 194η, at the 193D Commencement of Columbia University.

ADDRESS

T

O D A Y ' S exercise, like each of its predecessors here and elsewhere, is a double ceremony—a graduation and a commencement. T h e former represents the end for the Faculties of an opportunity and a responsibility with respect to the graduating student. T h e latter is the assumption by the graduate of the opportunities and the responsibilities of a citizen actively participating in the life of his world. Because of the years he has spent in study, his opportunities will be greater, and his responsibilities heavier. When he sought admission to the university, he was selected by the Faculties with regard for those qualities of character, intellect, and personality which make for accomplishment. His program of study, instruction in classroom and laboratory, participation in the academic life, were all carefully planned for the development of those cardinal qualities. T h e student who goes forth from such training on Commencement Day can take his step into active life with eager confidence in his powers—not that he will of a sudden have achieved omniscience, or that his de12

Equal Opportunity gree has any greater meaning than he gives it, but his college and university experience should have developed in him the qualities of an educated man. His thinking will be on high ground, not on low. He will be able to discriminate among values. He will differentiate between a religious faith and a political fetish, and he will respect religious faith, sincerely held, even though different from his own; recent history shows only too tragically the effect of substituting fetish for faith. He will have a clear understanding of the meaning of words and of ideals and will fend against their misuse, deliberate or otherwise. He will realize that epithets and scoffing do not constitute either reason or argument; that straight thinking and the precise use of words mark the trained mind. H e will recognize the value of the political system under which he lives with its guarantees of freedom, and the application of the words "democracy," "progressive," "liberal" to systems of fundamentally different character will not mislead him. He will not be dazzled by the trappings of masqueraders; and whether he is, by chance of birth or belief, in a minority or a majority group, he will rise above group alignment in his citizenship and will cooperate with merit and competence wherever found. But endowments such as these bear heavy obligations, since unfortunately it is possible to misuse the tools of education. As has been so fearfully demon¡3

Equal Opportunity strated within the past decade, proficiency alone is no better than a mechanical and inhuman skill, if the training in subject matter and professional capability remain unrelated to social responsibility. More than twenty centuries ago, Hippocrates set for the medical profession a standard of conduct based on loyalty, generosity, uprightness, honor, devotion to service. Today, our foremost poet-philosopher warns: "Men must not prate of economic laws which are half superstition Do they not understand that a few men of principle and conviction can accomplish what men without principle and conviction deem impossible ? " and he protests: They constantly try to escape From the darkness outside and within By dreaming of systems so perfect That no one will need to be good. Eliot proclaims, as a poet, what is the most practical of facts. The world needs those fundamental traits of character which have come down through the ages, unchanged and unchangeable, if life is to be liberal, progressive, democratic. And here—in the liberal, progressive, democratic life —is the educated man's greatest field of usefulness. Democracy is a challenging, stimulating system under which to live—full of variation and transition. T h e man of learning has a far-ranging point of view, a knowledge

H

Equal Opportunity and an understanding of older civilizations; a span of human experience against which to compare and to evaluate proposals for change. N o system of organized society can remain static, and the American system, with its education for all —free and not controlled — makes progress possible by increasing the ability of the citizen to analyze, to choose those modifications which represent actual progress and are not simply repetition of age-old mistakes. Aware of the fundamental principles of the democratic system, and having the perspective of the past to lend judgment, men can select warranted changes in the system, rather than change the system itself. An organized society that searches for the lowest common denominator, that levels downward, that fears independent thinking and competence, is unworthy of man's God-given intelligence. The universities of America stand for three centuries of refutation of such doctrine —for three centuries of belief in the exhilarating and unlimited possibilities of life under a system of free government. Since men are not all born with equal abilities, the democratic society based on equal opportunity for all provides those incentives so necessary for the complete development of human powers of mind and heart and character. The graduates of this year take on the full responsibilities of citizenship in the most critical and tense period of human history. Civilizations have been known to perish; never before has it been suggested that through 'S

Equal Opportunity man's own devices, this planet may perish. Calm judgment, perspective, clear thinking, tolerance, are not merely the rewards of education; they have now become a matter of life and death. Yet the young men and women just now being graduated from the colleges and universities of America may go forth with the fearlessness and buoyancy of their years, armed with the attributes of an educated mind, based on knowledge of the past, to meet and solve the problems of the future. For equal opportunity is a selective process in which the ability of each individual should find its most effective use. The competition is never-ending; the lists never closed. Life in a democracy is exciting; it has already given man his most astounding inventions, his highest standard of living, his greatest freedom of spirit; it must now give him his assurance of survival.

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The Diversity of the American University System

as toastmaster at a dinner at the University Club of New York, June ιη, 194η. The dinner, held in honor of a group of college and university presidents, immediately followed the close of Princeton University s Bicentennial Celebration. The speakers introduced were Dr. Edmund Ezra Day, President of Cornell University; Father Robert I. Gannon, President of Fordham University; and Dr. Francis P. Gaines, President of Washington and Lee University.

REMARKS

H E anniversary celebration just concluded at Princeton —on which I congratulate all Princetonians most sincerely—has brought to public attention in memorable fashion the proceedings that stem from a single university in action. And yet, properly speaking, there is no longer such a thing as "a single university in action," for we can no longer act singly: there is a compelling need to face our common problems together. Just now the academic world is beset from various directions. We are under attack from the interest rate, we are tempted by the possibility of government funds,

Π

Diversity of the American System disturbed by the danger of higher fees, and legislators are beginning to think of us in a way that might remove institutional distinctions. The American educational system, composed as it is of tax-supported, of sectarian, of independent, colleges and universities, presents a balanced and effective program—a program which it seems to me must be preserved for the national good. This meeting, and others like it, can have great importance by bringing to the attention of groups drawn from the alumni of colleges scattered throughout the country, the problems, the opportunities, and the responsibilities of our institutions of higher learning. We must solve the problems and we must cherish the opportunities and responsibilities; and we need the sympathetic championship of the public to do both. The very presence here of these distinguished presidents, and the personalities of those who are to address us, are an inspiration to that end. The institutions from which they come represent the great diversity within the concept of the American university which independence permits. One is a Southern university, with two centuries of tradition rich in all the heritage of the South, dedicated to the dignity of the individual, proud in the knowledge that the greatest gentleman of the South walked the campus for five years as its President; her President of today is an educator whose thinking is singularly clear and free, whose sympathies are ardent and comprehensive and candidly expressed. We shall look to him—with 18

Diversity of the American

System

confidence in his very evident ability—to keep alive the rewarding interest of the public in the history of our universities: President Gaines of Washington and Lee. One is a university founded and maintained by a religious order which for over four centuries has distinguished itself in the study of the sciences and the humanities and which for one hundred and fifty years was the unmistakable leader in European education; a sectarian university whose formula of discipline of all mental, moral, and physical powers has attracted to it students of every creed and has resulted in a position of great distinction as a center of learning. Heading it is a scholar, priest, and humorist, who presents the stringent medicine of thought to his audiences with the most palatable accompaniment of Attic salt. Although he is member of an order that has been battling all kinds of misinterpretation for centuries, the prospect of hearing from our keen-witted Catholic colleague will bring forth only the most delightful and delighted anticipation: Father Gannon of Fordham University. The third is a university half-state, half-free; youthful, as universities go, but with all the vigor and strength and out-reaching tendencies of young things; serving the immediate needs of the people of the state more closely, perhaps, than the older universities, and still maintaining the independent spirit essential to a great university. At its head is a man who has been actively assisting in the formation of the country's educational policies long before his university presidency. He too 19

Diversity of the American System reversed the customary trend in which college and university presidents become heads of great foundations; he has preferred to seek rather than to dispense largess: President Edmund Day of Cornell.

20

The Tyrant Minorities

ADDRESS delivered September 24, 1947, at the opening of the 194th academic year of Columbia University. H E 194th year of this University opens in anxious and uncertain times. Individuals, groups, and nations are under great tension; in their search for the wise and responsible course they must grope through the fogs of selfishness, cupidity, lust for political and economic power that shroud our present world. It may be pertinent to observe that at the conclusion of almost twenty centuries of the Christian era, and after a million years of development and progress, man finds himself trapped — trapped in his own progress; trapped in that he is face to face with himself at last, and can no longer escape. H e must examine himself as a social being; he must learn what happens to him and to his fellow atoms in the cyclotron of life's bufferings, and how to control for constructive use the human energies thereby released. H e must solve the problem of his o w n nature. N o longer are there vast areas on the earth's surface to which groups of dissenters, non-conformists, and the rebellious can go to set up life anew. Even the polar re21

The Tyrant Minorities gions are bespoken in no uncertain terms. On the other hand, no longer do mountains or oceans or distances constitute barriers between peoples. The barriers that remain are those of misunderstanding and misapprehension, and far from being a defense they are, until removed, a constant danger. The economic, social, and political interests of the world are so closely intertwined, communication so rapid, that nations are sensitive to and are affected almost instantly by happenings anywhere. And no individual, no minority, can escape responsibility for the course of human affairs, any more than can the majority. If, as has been said, the minorities together now constitute a majority, they might better recognize their strength as increased responsibility for the public welfare than use it in a show of power that threatens peace and order. Liberties and freedoms are for those who can use and respect them. That minorities often have their just grievances is not to be denied, and most of them have the statesmanship to work peacefully for their adjustment. But those groups who depend upon the primitive idea of force for a solution—who advocate the use of aggression either in the active form of terrorism and war, or in a passive form that paralyzes a nation's transport and industry—need self-examination. T h e unenlightened supposition that the rights of minorities, or even of majorities, can ever properly be achieved by disregarding the rights of other groups finds no basis in history or right reason. Self-centered minorities can and have destroyed nations. A minority 22

The Tyrant Minorities which uses its balance of power to compel special legislation that endangers the welfare of all, a minority which hesitates not to starve a city, a minority, even of 200 million, which prevents the making of peace in the world, must accept accountability not only to itself but to society in general, for the power which it wields. And accountable they will be, for time runs against all tyrannies. T h e human spirit is essentially a force for progress—an irresistible force— and therein lies the hope of the world and the role of education. Education with its broad sweep of accumulating thought and accomplishment, must and will raise men's standards of conduct, brush aside the hallucinations of aggressive war, increase regard for the rights of others, and so clear the way for the ever higher life of generations to come. It is for continuing participation in such a venture that we welcome a new academic year. All fields of constructive thought and creative effort contribute to the advancement of mankind; whatever the field of interest, let education develop individual abilities to their greatest and broadest capacity, so that Time and the human spirit may touch the heights in the near, rather than the distant, future.

23

The Free Migration of Students

Speech at a dinner of the Alumni Association of the Law School of Columbia University, November 24, 194.7. The guest of honor at this dinner was Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, a graduate of the Law School in the class of ¡925. Earlier in the day, Dr. Fackenthal had conferred upon Governor Dewey the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

T

H I S occasion, upon which we celebrate the public service of a native Midwesterner who is now guiding the destiny of the State of N e w York, suggests an observation most pertinent to the times. T h e war brought about an overlapping of several generations of students, with the result that there is at present great overcrowding in the colleges and universities of the country, a situation which has led some institutions, especially state universities, to limit admission to students resident in the respective states. Pressure is being brought on the independent universities to adopt the same restrictive policy. T h e arguments of the moment have superficial appeal, but they are short-sighted and basically unsound; what may be excused because of the emergency must not become permanent policy. H

Free Migratimi of Students For us to restrict the boon of higher education to those who live within the state, even within the city, of N e w York, is unthinkable. This is perhaps the moment to note that had such restrictions been in force during the past quarter-century, Thomas Dewey and Columbia University might not have had their admirable effect upon each other, and not only should we have lacked this most distinguished alumnus on our rolls, but N e w York itself might well never have known the whirlwind housecleaning, the ruthless competence for which the state is so much indebted to our guest. N o r is it necessary that the burden of this argument be laid wholly upon his shoulders. The benefit that has accrued to the several states and to the nation through the participation of Columbia-trained lawyers—to speak only of one of our Schools—is of no mean dimension. Harlan Fiske Stone, born in N e w Hampshire, found his college schooling in Massachusetts and came to Columbia for his law training. The valuable contributions which he made to law, to education, and to the governing of the nation need not be enumerated to this audience. Dwight Morrow, born in West Virginia, went to Massachusetts for his college training and obtained his law degree from Columbia. His remarkable career in law, in finance, and in diplomacy rewarded him and benefited his fellow citizens. Colgate Dar den, born and educated in Virginia, came 25

Free Migration of Students to Columbia for his law schooling, and returned to become Governor of Virginia and now President of the University of Virginia. Robert Stearns, who was born in Nova Scotia, went to college in Colorado, and to Law School at Columbia, carried his law training back to Colorado to become Dean of the Law School, and then President of the University of Colorado. Justice Douglas, who is serving the nation on the United States Supreme Court, was born in Minnesota, received his college training in the State of Washington, and his professional training at Columbia. I could go on with endless examples, shining and distinguished. A mere glance at the alumni register will suffice to show that this free migration of students between state and state for the purpose of obtaining professional training at the school of one's choice—the freedom of a N e w York boy, also, to go to the University of North Carolina for courses in the drama, to M.I.T. for the study of electronics, or to the University of Wisconsin for training in the radio professions—this lack of barriers in higher education has been of inestimable benefit to the student, but more than that, has woven the very cloth of our history, educational, professional, and political. A t the time when we are trying to assist world understanding by cultural exchanges of all sorts, and especially through exchange of students, let us not be unmindful of the possible value of that very process in keeping the states united. 26

Free Migration of Students The charter under which our University was founded almost two hundred years ago contains the words: .. to Encourage the . . . good design of promoting a Liberal Education among them and to make the same as Beneficial as may be not only to the Inhabitants of our said Province of New York But to all our Colonies and Territories in A m e r i c a . . . . " The wisdom of that day should not be forgotten in the pressures of this. Early in the history of King's College, James Kent, who became professor of law in 1793, wrote with reference to himself: "If he to whom is intrusted in this seat of learning, the cultivation of our laws, can have any effect in elevating the attention of some of our youth from the narrow and selfish objects of the profession, to the nobler study of the general principles of our governments, and the policy of our laws; if he can, in any degree, illustrate their reason, their wisdom, and their propitious influence on the freedom, order, and happiness of society, and thereby produce a more general interest in their support, he will deem it a happy consolation for his l a b o r s . . . . " It is this wise and high-minded program, followed consistently down through the years, that has brought to the Law School students of the finest quality from all parts of the union, and has sent them out again to make their individual and valuable contributions from coast to coast in the fields of private practice, governmental legislation, the judiciary, and public administration.

21

Free Migration of Students To reserve admission to an educational institution only for those candidates resident in the same state would mean bringing an end to the freedom of migration among students which has made it possible for Columbia and institutions throughout the land to serve city, state, and nation. And which has made it possible for a citizen of the United States, born under the apple blossoms of Michigan and now protector of the rose of the Empire State, to sit with us tonight as our honored guest.

28

The Structure of Freedom

delivered June I, 1948, at the ¡941b Commencement of Columbia University.

ADDRESS

E are living in a moving, a changing world, and fortunately so. For surely movement in human affairs is no less vital for the balance of advancing civilization, than is motion for the stability of the planet itself. Yet people frequently refer to changing conditions in tones of helplessness and despair, of resignation to some inescapable doom—a defeatist attitude which reveals an unjustified loss of confidence in man's destiny. It is an attitude that would have been incomprehensible to the Men of 1776 and the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. T h e energy of their belief in themselves as instruments of a higher purpose created a civilization out of a wilderness, and out of scattered groups of diverse nationalities welded a great nation. What they could do with the imperfect means of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we can today, in our greater world, achieve on a greater scale. We must reaffirm our faith in the moral order which has made us a great nation, and then implement that faith with action. "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady," and a nation or a

29

Structure of Freedom world that aspires to the hand of Liberty must overcome the greatest obstacles. In Thomas Paine's words— "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." They cannot delegate to others their obligations and responsibilities, for good representative government demands a self-disciplined people. It is as true today as in Plato's time, that "types of government correspond to the types of human nature. States are made, not from rocks or trees, but from the character of their citizens which turn the scale and draw everything after them." The character of the individual citizen, then, is the key to our future. And as the astronomer scans the distances of the universe to discover the forces which control the earth's movements and keep it in place, so man must plumb the depths of his own nature to learn the basis of his own behavior—the fears, the jealousies, the ambitions and desires that motivate men in all their relationships—in international affairs, in business, in labor, in learning, and in the ordinary contacts of daily life; and to understand that these emotions may be in opposition to his avowed principles. A citizenship conscious of its purpose is a barrier to dictatorship by group or individual, economic or political, a solvent of confusion, and repellent to domestic weeds and to poisonous pollen from afar. Science makes giant strides forward because the scientists have had the intelligence to base their experiments on the proven ground of the past. T h e y weigh 30

Structure of Freedom the accumulated theories, both true and false, and discard those lines of attack known to be unrewarding. So will human relationships most surely be aided in their advance if guided by man's experiments in living, which in the course of time become history. Over and over again, in these experiments in living, man finds recurring the same lines of false reasoning, the same selfish insistence upon ends profitable only for the moment, the same persistent misrepresentation of truth, which have always led to war, to disaster, to destruction of civilizations. And yet with bland indifference he has ignored these lessons of history; he has always said to himself—"But that was long ago and in another counHistorians and philosophers, however, and all thinking men, know that there is a common factor in the crises of all countries and all times. The insistence of so many educators on the value of the Classics is not because antiquity makes them sacrosanct; it is because they show so plainly that problems in human relations have not changed, however much external conditions may have done so, and that the ethics of ancient Greece and Egypt, the sturdy virtues of the early Roman citizens, the precepts of all holy religions, are still the only means of survival for the human race today. Are these things trite ? Then so is the law of gravity, which a child begins to understand and respect with his first blocks; an understanding which develops as he matures and which he uses throughout his entire life. The 31

Structure of Freedom architect of a great cathedral, the engineer who translates the dream into the reality, the steel worker, the carpenter, the mason responsible for the smallest stone —even the man who quarries that stone—all accept the principle of the law of gravity and find it necessary to their performance. In our present need to build for the world that structure of the spirit which might be called a cathedral of freedom, we must make use of those principles, those spiritual laws, which govern men's creative emotional life as surely as the law of gravity is involved in their material life. And as men first encounter the law of gravity at nursery age, so ought they at the same age become conscious of simple principles of disciplined freedom in the family circle. This consciousness and acceptance of moral law, growing and maturing as it is fostered by the teaching of church and school, will become in the adult an integral part of his thinking. So nurtured, the individual citizen will not spinelessly abdicate his franchise in the face of threat, but each within his province—architect, engineer, mason, whatever he be—will act, build, construct, in the firm faith that the structure of freedom he establishes will send its triumphant spires towering into the heavens, "the cynosure of neighboring eyes," to be recognized from every point of the compass. Enough, if something from our hands have power To live, and act, and serve the future hour. 32

The Veteran as Student

at A dinner of the Society of Older Graduates of Columbia, January p,1946. The Society ivas organized in ι pop by alumni of the School of Mines, who promptly opened its membership to alumni of the School of Arts and of the College. The first annual dinner was held in ιριι. At first, only members of the classes of 186η through 18ηρ were eligible to election to the Society; in ip2o, alumni became eligible thirty years after the graduation of their class.

REMARKS

A

S A N individual the veteran in college is very like _ the rest of us. He is a problem only because he is so many. The local colleges and universities receive applications from veterans out of all proportion to their capacity to admit. General Bradley is quoted as saying that 41 percent of the service men now in colleges and universities are attending 3 8 out of the more than 1,200 institutions available. Columbia is glad indeed to stand high in the estimation of the veteran, but there certainly seems to be in this situation a problem in distribution — logistics—that needs solution.

"lb begin with, there are some 2,600 Columbia service men whom we expect to resume their studies, and for whom we surely must have place. Upon their return to 33

The Veteran as Student the campus, these men report directly to their deans and are not affected by what I shall now say. At the present time we are interviewing some 300 to 500 veterans a day. About 50 percent of them are not applicants for admission to Columbia but are in search of guidance and advice as to where and how they may take advantage of their privileges under the G.I. Bill of Rights. We are glad to render this public service. Twenty percent of our visitors are not scholastically prepared for the programs which they hope to take. Of the remaining thirty percent, possibly two-thirds are encouraged to make application for admission. We try to send no veteran away without some kind of helpful suggestion. To carry on this very large business of interviewing, a Veterans' Division of the Admissions Office has been established. It occupies a large part of the first floor of the Journalism Building. A special staff, some on full and some on part time, well-equipped with information concerning the several schools of the University, has been assembled. There is a team for College, for Engineering, for Law, for Business, and so on, each in charge of someone from the particular School who is also, in most cases, a veteran of World War II. The service men who are encouraged to make application for admission then go to the Admissions Office itself. In that office, too, there are several veterans of World War II, beginning with Director Bowles himself. Once admitted, we try to drop the veteran classification and to help the service man avoid separateness. He 34

The Veteran as Student needs assistance in his relationship with the Government, and that he will have through regular University channels, principally through the Registrar and the Bursar, who have staff members familiar with the routine of government procedure, of which you rightly suspect there is a great deal. When subsistence allowances are for some reason slow in reaching the veteran, the University helps him over the lean period. We shall push our physical and staff resources to the limit in order to care for the largest possible student body during the next few years. We now have approximately 2,000 discharged veterans. By February we shall have at least 1,000 more, and at that time we shall be close to a high enrollment for a single session. There are in addition many refresher courses at the Medical School. Were it possible for us to assign surplus candidates, say for engineering, to the study of Sanskrit, we might increase our numbers materially. (At its peak, the number reached almost 18,000.) Housing is, of course, a difficulty—not for the single, but for the married, student; here again we shall do everything in our power. The premise on which our treatment of the veteran is based is that he deserves our very best. To admit him to work for which he is not prepared, or to require of him less than our established standard of performance, would in our judgment be a disservice. He will have full credit for all that he has done which is translatable into academic terms, but deliberately to graduate him poorly 35

The Veteran as Student equipped to meet the competition with which sooner or later he is sure to be faced, is unthinkable. It would be fair neither to him nor to his government which has undertaken to prepare him for civilian activity. His veteran's button will always gain him respect and gratitude, but it will not take the place of professional competence or of those basic scientific and cultural understandings which begin in the college and go on through graduate and professional school. The task and the responsibility of helping these men to regain their lost educational time is great, and Columbia will, to the best of her ability, carry her full share.

3*

Enhancement of the University's Strength

at the supper for the President of Columbia University given by the Womeris Faculty Club of the University, April i, 1946. This annual supper became an established custom in the administration of President Nicholas Murray Butler.

REMARKS

T

H E custom of an Annual Supper at the Women's Faculty Club for the President of the University is an admirable one, and President Butler has made it an important event in the life of the community. For many years, you and your guests have on these occasions had the pleasure of hearing him make those inimitable analyses of different aspects of the University's growth, in the course of which he has given point and value to personalities and events. From such an historical setting he has often indicated the opportunities for further development and for greater service which lie ahead. His talks before this audience and similar talks elsewhere, while detached and objective in character, have nevertheless revealed, as maybe nothing else could do, how much of himself has gone into the fabric of our University. 37

Enhancement of Strength We have more than once heard President Butler, in convincing fashion, describe New York as the intellectual capital of the world. There came to my desk a short time ago a quotation from President Barnard which is of interest in that connection. In 1865, Dr. Barnard wrote the following vigorous plea for an extension of cultivating influences in New York: "Isn't New York in need of some such cultivating influences ? Do not some of us sometimes feel embarrassed and mortified when a stranger comes among us and says, Ί have come to see your city but it is not your brick and mortar which I wish to look at. Take me to your museums, your galleries of art, your botanical gardens, your gardens of zoology, your gardens of acclimatation.' Is there any one of us who, thus addressed, does not feel painfully conscious ? How sadly our city and our country must fall in the eyes of the stranger when we reply, 'My dear Sir, we have nothing of all these things but we have admirable institutions. I will show you a first class penitentiary on Blackwell's Island and a house of correction on Randall's Island. Besides these we have an almshouse and a workhouse and several hospitals, all of which our municipal authorities invariably show to the President of the United States when he visits us and to all other guests of the city. We did have a museum. It belonged to Mr. Barnum, a very enterprising gentleman of whom you may have heard, but it is unfortunately burned up now. We had also a menagerie belonging to Mr. Van Amburgh but I fear he is at près-

Enhancement of Strength ent engaged in an itinerant course of popular instruction in natural history and probably has it with him. We have a Central Park which is really worth your seeing, but as for the rest we have only hope.' " New York City can certainly show progress from that day in 1865 to this, and maybe today (in spite of the date) will have added something to even that progress. I have just come from the April meeting of the Trustees, the meeting at which the budget for the following year is customarily adopted. Today's meeting can give great satisfaction to all of us, for the action taken by the Trustees shows confidence in the University, courage, and the determination that Columbia shall not stand still. They voted an increase in appropriations of more than a million and a quarter dollars. As we all know from personal experience, the cost of materials and services has risen sharply, and those costs must be met just to keep the University open; but I am not referring especially to appropriations of that type, rather to appropriations aimed at enhancing the University's strength. The rapid advance, under war pressure, in scientific investigation and method makes necessary costly rehabilitation and re-equipment of nearly all laboratories. As a single example, I might cite the Marcellus Hartley Laboratory of Communications, in which Pupin, Morecroft, Armstrong, and others have carried on important and fruitful research. The great advance in electronics has brought undergraduate instruction up to the level 39

Enhancement of Strength of that laboratory as it now exists, and it must be completely re-equipped if correspondingly higher problems are to be studied. The same can be said of the laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, and in fact for all the sciences. The cost from the academic point of view is astronomic, yet our Trustees are facing the realities of the problem. But the most heartening part of their action today—and it is really heartening— lies in the fact that in spite of tremendous need for funds for the sciences, they in addition gave full support to the proposals in the humanities, literature, the social and political sciences, and the Library. The strength of every School is being held or advanced. The Trustees, too, are giving careful thought to the physical requirements of the University. They are studying the rehabilitation and modernization of the interiors of old buildings, as well as the need for new ones. I cannot encourage you to look for bull-dozers and contractor's trucks tomorrow morning; but I can assure you that some of our facilities will be greatly improved. With what is planned in programs, in personnel, and in bricks and mortar, Columbia will continue to play her part in that capital which to President Barnard was a hope, to President Butler a reality.

40

Great Days at Columbia

at the luncheon preceding the special University Convocation of February 21, 194J. At the Convocation, honorary degrees were conferred upon eleven American military leaders of the Second World War. Nine of these leaders were among the luncheon guests: General of the Army George C. Marshall; Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King; Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz; General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower; Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey; General Alexander A. Vandergrift; Vice Admiral Emory S. Land; Major General Lewis B. Hershey; Major General Norman T. Kirk. Degrees were conferred in absentia upon General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and General of the Army H. H. Arnold.

REMARKS

I

N T H E course of her nearly two hundred years of history, Columbia has had great days. Some of them are well within the memory of all of us. To rekindle the deep emotion with which we took part in these occasions, let me recall some of those growing out of the earlier war period: the presence at a single Commencement of five captains of the nation's war effort in World War I — Bishop Brent, Chief of the Chaplains' Service in the A . E. F. ; Henry Pomeroy Davison, Chairman of the

41

Great Days at Columbia American Red Cross War Council; Herbert Hoover, United States Food Administrator; General John Pershing; Admiral William Sims. At other times, the visit of Aristide Briañd, spokesman for the spirit of France; of Marshal Joffre, hero of the Marne; of Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in World War I; of Albert of Belgium, devoted head of a noble state; and of that great spiritual leader of World War I, Cardinal Mercier. And now we welcome as guests of honor, captains of World War II; leaders to whom the families of America entrusted with full confidence the youth of the nation for their best use, in cooperation with Allies similarly minded, for the support of freedom and dignity among men. At the war's end we invite them to Morningside in order that that symbol of wisdom and light whom we call Alma Mater may mark faithfulness to that trust, justification of that confidence, and victory. This, too, is a great day. But what to do with such richness in generals and admirals ! By diligent study of books of procedure, we had arrived, we thought, at a proper reception, when word from Washington—no doubt from a waggish source, yet disturbing—stated that in the Capitol matters are so finely arranged that coffee has precedence over tea ! We were thrown into confusion. To restore order among my colleagues it was necessary to use those most helpful of all the words in the drill master's manual—"As you were"—and then to arrange 42

Great Days at Columbia matters in accordance with the best tradition of the absent-minded professor. I am happy to feel that we are enjoying the wellknown indulgence of our distinguished guests. Two of them, a sailor and a soldier, have consented to talk to us. Our guests are so admired and so beloved that none of them needs introduction to an American audience, yet it is my privilege and pleasure to present the speakers. As all adjectives are impounded for use later in the day, it is enough simply to say, a sailor, Admiral Nimitz, and a soldier, General Eisenhower.

43

Columbia Tradition

REMARKS at A dinner of the Society of the Last of the Forty-niners, March 18, 1947. The Society was organici on April ¡1, ¡913, to bring together alumni of the last classes to attend Columbia before the University moved, in 189η, to Morningside Heights from Madison Avenue at 49th Street. The organizers were alumni of the College and the School of Mines. Originally the organization ivas called "The Last of the Forty-niners" and included members of the classes of 189$, through 1899. In ι ρ 14, the class of 1900 was invited to join. Later, the name was changed to "The Forty-niners," and in the classes of 1885 and 1894 were included.

I

S U P P O S E this is what would be described in the pugilistic world as "taking a bow." I am very glad to bow to the Forty-niners, for they have rendered many important services to Columbia but the service I have particularly in mind tonight is their help in making the transition from an old site to a new, by carrying forward long-established tradition. The Columbia tradition is not a stuffy one, nor is it straw-catching. It is, instead, progress, based on respect for the past. Among the fundamentals of the Columbia tradition are those established by the Founders, who 44

Columbia Tradition embodied in the original charter a conception of an institution of higher learning for America as one not for the province of N e w York alone, but for all the provinces of the land; an institution whose gates would be open to competence, described in language making it clear that competence is nobody's monopoly. A look about us, whether in the city, the state, the nation, or the world, will indicate clearly that Columbia has placed her influence in the hands of competent alumni without reference to other considerations. The Forty-niners made a real contribution in transplanting the Columbia tradition from 49th Street and Madison to Morningside Heights, where it continues to flourish. I salute the Forty-niners.

45

The Lion and the Violet

REMARKS

at A dinner following the Commencement exercises of New York University, June 8,1948.

H E very cordial and generous invitation from Chancellor Chase to attend the 1948 Commencement at N e w York University had my prompt and appreciative acceptance. It seemed only courteous in return that I should make myself familiar with the origins of so fine an institution, and I at once applied myself to Professor Jones's history of N e w York University. But in the spring of an academic year, a book of some four hundred pages is a formidable affair, and it seemed wise to accept the advice which I had received some time back from a man of learning, when I rather complained of the difficulty of getting through books. I hope there are no authors present, for the advice was that the contents of a book, be it fact or fiction, could be had by reading every other page — that the text would make just as good sense as if every page were read. I approached the history of N e w York University on this basis and decided to read the odd-numbered pages. This proved really fascinating. On page 7 , 1 discovered

46

The Limi a?id the Violet that in 1830, in New York City, "Provision for proper professional training in Law and Medicine was surely inadequate; in spite of Chancellor Kent's deserved reputation, the Law School of Columbia was in a languishing state; and the College of Physicians and Surgeons was far from flourishing." On page 9 I found that of the nine men meeting in 1829 to found the university, three were Columbia alumni, a fourth an honorary alumnus, and the fifth and sixth, Trustees of Columbia. Thereafter I paid no attention to pages; my eye flew like a homing pigeon to every mention of Columbia. I found that one of the arguments in 1830 for founding New York University was that—as a letter to the newspaper put it—"Columbia with its venerable halls and learned professors has pined away until it is no better than a respectable Academy." And a pamphlet which disclaimed the slightest hostility toward Columbia College, nevertheless stated that the College prepared young men exclusively for the learned professions. "Columbia College boasted of its high standards in the cultivation of the Classics; but its curriculum was rigidly classical and no provision was made for advanced instruction in the newer fields of learning." While the author of the pamphlet—says Professor Jones —expresses a great veneration for the Classics, it is easy to see that his veneration is tinged with contempt for their lack of utility. Columbia was considered "aristocratic" in its tendencies; which seems to be doing pretty

41

The Lion and the Violet well for a college that only sixty years before had received by grant from the city of New York, "Waste Ground, Soil and Water Lots . . . at an annual rent of One Pepper Corn." I went to Columbia history for confirmation—and found it. It appears that the year 1830 was one of great anxiety to the Trustees of Columbia. The proposal that another institution of learning be established in the city so far prodded them into action as to establish a new "Scientific and Literary Course" to include a great diversity of non-classical subjects. N o doubt this was intended at one fell swoop to supply all the "useful and practical education" necessary to New York City, and to pull the ground from under the feet of the infant institution. And indeed, they were right to be anxious. On January 16,1830, the Rev. Dr. James M. Matthews resigned his position as Trustee of the College to become, later, the first Chancellor of the new university. In 1832, William Ernenputsch attempted to divide his time as Professor of German between Columbia and the new university. He was surprised to find that his conduct in so doing was severely censured and that he was considered as one who had deserted his standard and gone over to the enemy. However, it was the Columbia position which he resigned. In 18 3 3, one learns from the report of President Duer, there was a falling off in the number of students in the College,"principally to be attributed,"writes President 48

The Lion and, the Violet Duer, "to the recent establishment of another institution in the city. . . . Several of our former students, indeed, applied for their dismissals for the avowed purpose of entering the University of the City of New York at its opening. . . . " In the same year, Philip Hone, aTrustee of Columbia, opposed reducing the expenses of the College since he did not believe it was necessary to expose the poverty of Columbia at that time when a great rival institution was diverting public favor from Columbia. This solicitude was apparently shared by the committee which recommended to the Council of the new university an annual tuition fee to equal that paid at Columbia College, stating that New York University should not appear to underbid Columbia. In spite of the competition there was after all a community of interest, and the whole situation took on the aspect of a family affair, with the two institutions as sisters both intent on gaining the attention of the catch of the season, the Young Man of Manhattan. This cozy atmosphere appears the more strongly in a quotation from Professor Morse of New York University, in which he remarks that in 1837, a club which consisted of such men as Chancellor K e n t . . . the President and Professors of Columbia College and the Chancellor and Professors of the New York City University held weekly meetings at each other's houses in rotation. This fraternizing on the upper levels was flatteringly imitated by the students, and in 1848 President Moore 49

The Lion and the Violet of Columbia records that "all the Junior Class, all the Sophomore Class except 3, and the greater part of the Freshman Class, were absent in consequence of the celebration of Commencement at New York University." After 1857, however, Columbia College entered a period of development which in turn prodded New York University, so much so in fact that in i860, in an attempt to bring the Council into action, New York University College faculty found some good things to say about Columbia. There was every reason to fear, the faculty indicated, that this competition would in a few years deprive New York University of any undergraduate students at all. To meet the threatened competition and to justify its own name, New York University was bound to make serious exertion. The exertion bore fruit, as you can see all about you today. What began as a somewhat resented baby sister institution, snatching all the attention and causing its older and more staid relative a few pangs of jealousy, has grown to a gracious maturity to which the elder points with pride as making a distinguished contribution to education, research, and public service, and yet not flaunting the laurel to which she is entitled, but wearing modestly, the Violet.

50

The Aims and Accomplishments of Columbia College

SPEECH accepting the Alexander Hamilton Medal at the Alexander Hamilton Dinner of the Association of the Alumni of Columbia College, January i