Michigan University

GlCXTAEMEN OF TUE BOARB OF E.VI'S, LiADÜta ANT CvE.NTI.EMEN.- i til witbin a few days we bave cherished tlie hopo of listening at thia hour to a ■ dUtitMEiMstad scholar and orator f rom a Bitter tite But, unhap-pily, our hopo bas boen disappointed. In thia esigencjr the ltirrdly urgency of rny assoeiates in the Univorsit.y senate has coustmined me, vol y unwillingly and after hurried pruparation, to offer you some thoughts, wbich, 1 hope, may be foun-d not unfittinr the occasion. No one here can regret mare profoundly tiiun I the necessity which calis you to listen to a voice so familiar as mine uil 10 fuggestive, I fear, to my younget friends, of the recitation room and tlio drtily routine of college lifo, rather than of the joys, the enthusiasms, the inspiralion8 which this great festal day of the University should awaken in all hciu-ts. Fortunately the success of this occasion does not depend on me. It is alrendy assured in the spectacle, which has so perennial an inteiest, of a goodly company of young men and young women nppearing upon this stage to receive their testimoniáis of work faitlifully accomplished, and turning away to confront tho stern duties of hfe, in this vast coucourse of alumni and other fiii'iidsof the University, and in thedevotion to the dnar nmtlwr of Vier r.hildren who gather from distant homes undeiher ampie roof tree, while their hearts run together in the joyot acoiamonlove to her. As we assemble on these high days at these shrines of learning, we instinctively cali to mind those noble and farsighted statesmen to whose wise and generous forethought the greatness and the very existence of this institution are due. It should be one of oursaored duties, as well as delights, to imbue ourBelvs with the spirit in whieh they wrought forthefoundingof a free school of letters, science and arts. The story of this work is 80 familiar that I need not repeat it in detail. But let us keep clearly before ua the important fact that the fathers who drafted and adopted that great charter of liberty and learning of the northwest, th ordinance of '87, in whlch they declared that "schools and the means of education should forever be encouraged," carried, in thoir conception of a state, a distinct idea of a richly endowed university as a part of its promotion and its life. They and their successors in congress provided for the support of such institutions in the nascent states of this región with what was then such a inunificent generosity that clearly they expected the higher education to be within the easy reach of all. It may well be that even in their brightest dreains of the future of the territory which they were consecratins to f reedom, to religión, and to intelügence they did not see that in less than a century, as the fruitage of their sowing, in all these northwestern statos schoolt) and colleges should spring up like the stars in the sky for number, Still less perhaps did they imagine that before the centennial celebration of the birth of the nation there should arise and flourish in this state of Michigan, then an almost untrodden wilderness, fringed by a few weak settlements on the river and lakes, a university which should surpassin the number of its students and teachers, the amplitude of its endowments and the reach of its influence, the Harvard, the Yale, the Princeton and the Villiam and Mary of their day and should win an honorable name on very continent of the globe. [Ap plause.] Yet this possibihty, now become fací, lay coiled as a gerra in the ordinance of '87, that gentis cunabula nostrae. The wise men who shaped the organization of this state steadily cherishec the idea which was inherited from the fathers, of building a university in which their ohildren, whether poor or rich oould obtain the higher culture of their mindo. The plan of a university marked ou by the territorial governtnont in 181' ■was one which for breadth and com pletenoss of conception we can even now ouly admire. The language of thu constitution of 1835 shows that its framers had' the broadest and most generous views of public provisión for the suppor Of libraries, education, including higher education, and especially of the University. We may say, therefore, with strictes truth, that this idea of large and libera supply of facilities not only for common school trainine but also for Univfirfsity education, was inwrought into the ven conception of the state of Micbigan. It has from the beginning formed a part of the life of the state. It hasuever been lost, but has grown with the growth of the state, and strengthenec with its strength. And it has, I believe never had so flrm a hold upon the state as it has to-day. In the light of acconiplished results, when we consider how little the total cost of the University has been to the state, less than half a inillion of dollars, not more in fact than these buildings and grounds and muse uins and libraries are worth ; when we remember that it has sent forth 5,700 graduates, most of them persons of humble means, equipped for duty in al ■worthy calliugs of life ; that the names and theworksof its professors are known and respected on both sides of the At lantio ; that it is recognized, wo may modestly say, as taking rank with the best universities in the land, and that i has holped in no small degree to make the name of Michigan known wherever the cultivation of science and letters i respected, may we not gratefully anc truly duclaro that the fathors, whose legislation made this career of the University possible, had an exalted anc statusmanhke conception of the duty o the state to the higher education. Ithiuk, therefore, I shall be acting in completest harmony wilh the true spiri of Michigan if I eniploy ray hour thi tnorning in enforcing and illustrating this truth : That it ü of vital importance, capcciallj in a repudie, Ihnt h'ujher education au wei as common school education be accessible t the poor as well as to the rich. Notice that this implies that eithe through public or private endowmen the highr education shall be furnishot t less tlan its cost. From tima to tim there appear some impracticable theori zers - and they are too numerous jus now, - who lift up their voices and in voko the economie laws of supply anc demand and the laisser aller dootrine in condemnation of endowments of school of learning. But if colleges and nni Toi sities were required to exact of stu tfents fees vrhich shonld fully repay th eost of instruotion, tho poor must wit few exceptions be shut out í'rom them iShould we say nothiugof the interest o the capital represented in tho real prop erty of the averago American college it would oost each student f rom $100 t $'00 a year inore than ia nowpaid if th actual coat of the inatruetion wre re turned to tbe treasury of the institutioi If tho interest on the amo un t investei in the buildings, grounds, Hbraries ant oulluctions wero to be made good by th fees for tuitiou the annual oost to eac student would probably be iucreased b f rom $100 to $600. Obviously the great mass of the mo now in the colleges would bo excludec The higher eduoation would be as rule within reach-oftherioh alone. As i is even now raany are able to complete their courso only by self-denial and by labors which are really herüic. Now what I affirm ia Muit any arrangement that should leave the higher education accessible to tlio rieh alone would be in the highest degvee nnwise. In support of tbis statement I have to say 1. It is in itself fitting and in a cortain senso it is due to ehildren as human beings, that the poorest child should have proper f aciliiies for obtaining by reasonable eft'ort the best devdlopment of his talent and character. I thiuk I may appeal to the common sense and the general feeling of civilized men in ooognition of this truth. One of the lighest ends of society is to help men make the most of themselves. True, as shall soon show, this is partly because is for the interest of all, of society at arge. But bayond that we inst.inetiver recognize it as a duty to do what we an, both individually and through the rganized action of society, to open to very child - and for the child's own ake - a fair chance for the best start in ife for which his talent fits him. I cnow that we often justify onr providng a free common school education imply by showing the necessity of such n education as a preparation for citienship. But I believe that down in ur hearts there is a profound satisfacion, and often an impelling motive to our action, in the conviotion that we are doing simply what is just, what is due to every child as a human bein,?, in giving him an opportunity to kindie into aflamo any divino spark of intelligence within him. Is it too much to say that the infant born into a civilizad ml Ctiriïtian ooirly ñas a right to claim soinething inore than a bare possibility - has a right to claim a tolerable probability of suoh moral and intellectual surroundings as shall make education and charactor aecessible to him, if he has a fair amount of talent, self-denial and energy Y For the moment I am not cousidering whether hisclaim should be met by legislation or by voluntary action. Bat that it shonld ba met by society in some way I think will be generaliy conceded. What more touchingspectacle is there than that of an ingenuous and highspirited youth, consumed with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, endowed with faculties that might make him the peer of the greatcst, yet chained by the heavy hand of poverty tbrough all his bestycars tothefoot of the ladder, which his aspiring soul would, if unfettered, so easily and so joyously hive mountod to the stars. His indomitable energy may enable him at last, after years of heavy struggle, to attain a lofty height. But would not it be a blessed act, would it not be a just and wise andrighteousact, to relievo him of so much of the struggle as is not needful for the discipline of his soul and to secure to him as well as to society years of his most fruitful work Y As the magnet draws the particles of the steel f rom the dustand lifts theui into view, so the common school system stretching out its sensitive and geuerous hands to every child in this commonwealth, lifts the exceptionally gifted iuto notice, makes them and their friends cognizant of their power and their promise, kindies in them the ñame of a noble ambition for learning, and compels us to recognize the duty of society to smooth the way from the eradle of talent in the humblest log hut to the halls of the highest learning. - To stimulate to the utmost the ambition of these pupils by your schools, to set their minds onfire with this uuquenehahle desire for ampler culture, and yct to make that culture practicallyinacessible, to slara the door of the college in the face of every one who is poor, were illogical and cruel and unworthy your boasted civilization. [Applause.] 2. But we need to make the higher education accessiblo to the poor not merely on account of the poor and gifted scholars themselves but also because this is best for society. We need all the intelligence, all the traincd minds, we can have. There is never n surplu3 of wisdom and true learning. There is often a surplus of pedantry. There is often an excess of falso pride on the part of those whohavenottalentenough to shine in purely intellectual pursuit?, and who foolishly hold themselves above the only pursuita for which, with all their advantages of education, their moderate mental endowments fit them. But these are merely incidental evilsbe longing to any system of higher education. Of strong, well-balanced, wellfurnished minds we cannot have too raany. They are the true riches of a nation. Without them the mines of El Dorado cannot make a people rich or strong. With them the dweliers on a desert may become prosperous and invincible. Now, God bestows talent with impartial hand equally on the rich and the poor. Iïo oo-ívo tlio ooad.? Ui' gtilllUS lu what might seem the unlikeliest spots. He often places the choicest jewels in the humblest settings. His rarest gifts of mind are dropped in the obscurest homes, lt was on an Ayrsmre peasant that He bestowed the power of the sweetest song that ever rose on the Soottish huls. It was to tho blacksmith'ason, the bookbinder'sapprentice, Faraday, that the electrio currents, in their rapid and unseen fight, paused to reveal their secrets. It was given to a colliery fireman to harness stuam to our chariots and bear us as ou the uring of the wind aoross the continent, and so to revolutionize the commercial ïuethods of the world. lt was on a inan whose origin is so obscure that bis parentage can scarcoly be traced that God laid the responsibility and conferred the power of leading us out of the disgrace of slavery and the blackness of darknessof civil war into the sweet light of truo freedom and welcomo peace. [Applause.] It is to a Michigan tolngraph boy that God sends so divine a visión that hesees and measures and harnesses to his service the subtlest forcea of nature. The scientifio savans of the world look on in wonder as at tho command of Edison ilurub matter speaks, the word wbich difid away upon the empty air weeks ago gains a resurrection and falls again upon our oar with a living voice. As distant Arcturus, more than 1,600,000 times as far away from us as ourstin.reports visibly to him tho alinost infinitesimal qnantity of heat which its pencil of light, after traveling its weary journey of moro than five and twenty years, has brought with it to earth, we ask in araazement what revelation is next to be made through this interpreter, tor whom nature seems tto have lost hor wonted coyness and secrecy. - [Applauso.J No natiou is rich enough to spurn the help which God givesin such rare minds as these, "though theirchüdhoodis housed in llovéis. Nonatiou should beso shortsighted as to pile up obstacles in their path, or even to leave any which can be removed. As tho husbandman at tho foot of the western Sierras at great cost and with infinite pains tnakes a secure channel to btingthufertilizing mountain stream to his fields, guiding to it eveiy rivulet wbich can iwell its volume, and thus makes thn parched desert blossom like the roso and wave with golden harvests, so may a nation well do ïnuoh to smooth the way for its gifted children to enlarge tbeir tacultiea, U enrich thuir minds, and thus pour far and wide the beneficent stroams of their influence, and give US richor harvests than thosa ot corn and wino and oil. .'i. Again, wa uec:d to put the higher educatiou within the reach of the poor, because we caunot afford to endow the rich alone with tho tremoudous power of tiained and cultivated miuds. To do this might form an aristocracy of formidable strengthi So long as the poor have anything like nn equal chanoe with the rich of developing their ititellectual power, wo havo little to f'ear from n iristocraey of wealth; but let wcalth ;vlone have the highest intellectual training, let the poor as a elass lie simt out trom tha schools of generous culturo, ind we must etther ooniign the control af all intelleotual and politioal life to tho hands of the ricb, or else havu a constant soeno of turbuleuce between tlio ignorant inaify and tlie enlightenod few. Bitter class hatreil would be inevitable. TUere can bu no stable equilibrium, no permanent prosperity for such a society. Learning, too, would probably soou givo place to pedantry, displayed like the ribbons and orders of a potty German court. The scholarship which is a mere concomitant and badge of wealtli would become vain and meretricious and ahallow. Yet there are inon who, professing to speak in tho interests of the poor, of trun learning, and of sound philosophy, inveigh again6t a system like that which in Michigan opens the doors of all lemming to tho humblest as well as to the richest child, and irjsist that we sliull make every one pay to the full tbe cost of his high school and university odueatiou. Do they not seo that this would be a matter of little consequenco to the rich, whocould easily secure their training at any expenso, but that it would oongign tho poor children, however tmdowed with talent, to the humblest acquisitions of learning or to the most trying struggle toattain to truc culture? It is in the interest of the poor, it is in the interest of true and enlightoned democnicy, that we insist that the highest education slui.ll ba ucaosible to all classes. The most democratie atmosphere in tho world is that of tha college. [Applauso.] There all meet on absolutnly equal terras. Nowhero else do the accidonts of birth or condition count for so little. The son of the milionaire has no advantage over the son of the wnsherwoman or over the liberated slavo, who has híiidly clothes enough to cover his nakednes. [Applauso.] Nowhere in tho world is a man so truly weighed and estimitod by hisbrains and his charaoter. God forbid that the day ehould ever come whon tho spirit of snobbishness or aristoorncy or prido of wealth should rulo in our college halls. Talk about oppressing the poor by sustaining the umversity ! Itisthesons and daughters of the men who are poor or of very moderate means who forin the great mtijority of the students here and in almost every institution of higher learning. I eould move your hearts to pity or to a'lmiration if I could cill one alter another of many whom I see before me on this occasion to coine up here and teil what toils they have performed for long and weary years, what hardships and privations they and their parents have e7idured to gather up the few huftdreds of dollars needcd to maintain them with the closostandmostpinching econoiuy during their few yeara of residonce here. [Applause.] I hope that those who practico high thinking and plain living will alwayB be in the mnjorlty on these grounds. Sad indeed will itbefor the university and sad for the state when such as they cannot by manly effort secure to themselves the best holp which the resources of this school can offor to them. Anything more hateful, more repng nant to our natural instincis, more calamitons at once to learning and to the people, moro unrepublican, more undemocratic, more unchristian tban a system which should confine the priceless boon of higher education to the rich 1 cannot conceive. Have an aristooracy of birth, if you will, or of riohes, if you wish, but givo uur plain boys from the log cabins a chance to devolop their ïninds with fcho bost learning, and wo will fear nothing from your aristocracy. [Applause.] It will speedily becomo eitlier ridiculous or harmless, or botter still, will be slimulated to intellectual activity by learning that in the floree competitious of lif(3 something besides blue blood or inhented wealth is needed to compete with the brains and character irom the cabins. [Applausp.] 4. Another cogent reason for opening the privileges of higher education to all classes in this country is found ia our distribution of political power throughout the comunity, The largest part oí the public action which most coucerus us is taken or dotermined by loual organizatious, Tbe successful working of our republican system depends upon the distribution tiirough the smaller towns aud viliages and through the rural districts of men of intelligenco. If all the cultivated miuds were concentrated in one cipital or in a few great clties, we could not perpetúate our forui of government. Auy strong tondency toward such " rusuu muse íenously ïfltertero witu the purity and efficiency of our institutions. We need theiefore, to reach with our best training men drawn from allclasses, from all pursuits in life, and men who are to return to all honorable and worthy vocations, not alone in the great cities, but in all parts of tho land. It is by this diffusion of the educated men, and by the diffusion through them of the direct and indirect advantages of educatian among the iuhabitants of evory town and hamlet, that a great school ot learuing does its highest work andjustifies its claim to support by the whole people. It disseminates over the whole state men who are trained to bo intelligent leaders of tho't, to enlighten their neighbors on important alftirs - to exposé the fallacies of charlatausin politics, science and religión, to keep alivo an interest in education, to dischargo all the duties of eitizenship, and, if need be, of public office. It thus keeps the whole body politie vigorous and healthy with the life-giving currents which it sends to tho extremities, as well as with the strength whieh it lends to the heart. It is not true that it blesses onl y the men who receive its degrees. Througli them it blessos all arouud them. lts gradúate are often the medium of groater blessings to others than to themselves. Mark tho venerablo physician, who, trained to the higest professional skill in its halls, has ministored with unaelfish devotion for a geueration to thn si;k aud suffering. Has be or have they been most blessed by his edueation!' Take the lawyer, whose advice for ytats the widow, the orphan, tho poor have instiuctively sought, whose opposition the criminal has druaded. whnse counsel and guidance the town, the county, thepubiio have always desired in evory etnergency, has his power been only or chiefly a good fortuuo to hiinselt ? In a largo sense it is true that the advantages of the higher eduoation cannot be selfishly mouopolized by the recipiënt of it. It is not truly enjoyed, it can hardly be used in any honorable way without conferring benwfits on others. You might about as well talk of thesun raonopoazing and enjoying alone the light whioh is generated in it as talk of a scholar monopolizing tho advantages of liis education. Tho moment the sun shines, tho wide universo around isbathed in its life-giving beams. lntellectuiil activity is uecossarily luminous, outgoing, dift'usive, reproductivo. Thograduatos who are going out trom this University are not taking with them hidden treasuros to enjoy in secret as the miser gloats in the solitude of his garret over his gold, but rather precious seed which they will sow in every town and hamlet of this broad state, while the thousauds about them will share with them the harvest of their sowing. I. need hardly say that any system which 8ho-u.ld confine tho best education to the rich would greatly curtail this difFufiion of the blessings of education, and woulii, doubtless tend to coricntrate the educa ted men iwmost entirely in thn grent citiis. Ia it too muuh to say that it would tond to poli'ical centmlization and to a loss of tho inestimable advuntages whieh flnv troinauch wise aud vigorous local administraron of public affairs, mid from tho comparativo ïonugoneousness in oor society caused by tho diatribution of odiication türoughout onr oominuniting'r' ö. Tlm genera] opinión of mankind in 01 christtttn lttnds bus favored souieplan of bringing liberaj ducation within tho reach of thö men of humble means. It vis been reseivnd for these luier diys to make the discovery that there is i)nriger n ttaos opening the foimtains of learn111 to the poor as well as rich. For the most part the direotion of education has Doen in the bands of the chuxoh. Now whatever ciitieism may be made upon the c li n re h through these eighteen cea turies, sbe bas with impartí! hand held wide open to men of high aud low degree al ik e the gittes to generóos learning. SIip has eneoiiruged and persuadnd the rich to endow li.tr schools and colleges and iiiiivurnitics, so that tUe iustruetion luight hu almnst, if not entirely, i'ree. - She bas tangh; thein to found scholarships and feltowshipfl, whioh would enahle the poirent boy tospend tho best yeirR of bis youth and manhuod iu the still air of deliifhtful study. Tho miers of evrry nation of Europe have oherished Iheir greüt schools ot loarning as the cboicest jewels in tbeir crowns. They have lnvished wealth on them and endowed thein so riubly that at most of them the cost of instruction ia little more than nominal, aud pensante and princes are found on the saine bench, listening to the lectures of the great soholars in every cience. Wiiat glorious monnmetits pf via fffTéosity theso ui"1"-1 ■■■t'iiiS nave been. Itoya.1 honses have rissn and disappeured, king doma havo come and gone, the mp of Europe h-.is beon made and remado again and again, but the great medieval schools, to whoso halls conturics ago the thousands of enger scholars trooped froru all parts of Europe, still stand fresh in eteraal youth, welconiing witb piincoly hospituhty poor and rich to tbeir halls, pouring out their streams of blessing frora generation to generation and from asro to ago, with a rlow as copiona and a8 unceasing as tbo Dunube or the Hhine. If we may judge by the past, what work of man is moro enduring or more beneficent than a strong university? In this country, too, where the early seUiers bogan to lay the foundation of our most venerable university beforo they had made comfortable homes for thomselvcs, wn find public and private generosity vieing in supplying the wants of the infant college. White the colonial authorities voted appropriations, we see the self-denyiugmen and women stripp ing tbeir acanty libraries of booke and their ill-supplied tables of crockery to cquip tho struggling instituüon, whither thesons ofaÜ niight rajwicioba trained for every worthy work in state andchurch. Contributions were solicited for the uiaintenance of poor students, ao that, to borrow the language of an early president to the United Commissioners of tho Colonies, "the cotuinonwoalth may be furnished with knowing and understanding men and thechurch with an able ministry." From that time to this ithas been the aim of tho guardians of that ancient university, and of every college which has been estttblishod in the land, to furnish education at such a rato that boys of modest means could procure it. Not ono such institution has been admiuistered on the theory that the students should pay the full cost of tho education furnished. Eudowments and scholarshipa hvo boon sought and secured. In some cuses so liberal provisión has buen (nade that prudent students, it is reportad, havo actually been able to meet iheir expenses and lay aside a balerice. [Laughtfer.] ín soine parts of the country, it is said, there has sprung up between colleges an unseemly corjpotition in securing students by bidding for them with pecuniary temptations. But thiso abuses and indiscretions at least showed how deep-seated is the conviction in tho American mind that poverty shall not keep a gifted youth from the opportunity for a liberal education. This conviction is happily so firmly rooted there need be no fear that it will be conquered by the laissez aller theory, which would make no special provisión for plaeing the higher education within the reach of thoso who cannot defray tho full expenses of it. But from that section of the country whieh is most amply provided with privately endowed colleges, even from those states whose oldest colleges were established, or in their early rtays assisted, by legislative appropriations, we sometimes hear exceptions taken to the vetíiod by ties have been endowed and sustained, namely, by grants of land and by taxation. The educational problem before the early sittlers of Michigan and other western Btates was peculiar. These states were ocoupied rapilly and for the most part by inen and woraen who have been well trained in schools and colleges. Thoy were extremely desirous that their children shonld be thoroughly educated. The national government had given thein an endowment with which to begin a university. They had energy, arabition, a love of intelligence, but they had little ready means for the planting of colleges. They saw plainly that to build up by private benefactions a first-rate school of higher learr.ing, like tho best in the east, would require here, as it had required there, a hundred years of toil. Meanwhile, their children and their childreu's children would have passed away. Two or three generations must live and dio without the facilities for training which a strong and thoroughly equipped school eould furnish. Was tliore any question what they oughttodo? Plainly, the wise policy for them was to avail themsolv," ot the national endowment, and then, if need b, to supplement it as prospority should bring the state ampler means. It was not until 18i7, when tho University had already boeoma strong and renowned, when the pupilu woro more numerous than those of auy other institution in the land, fiat tho state was ! called to give the first pminy to its support, and then the wholo appropriation was $15,000 a year, whioh was just l-20th of a mili tax on the appraisal of the taxable prouerty of this rich cemmonwealth. The total sum recoived by tax for the Uuiversity and drawu froru the state treasury down to January, 1879, is in round numbers $469,000. If we compute this as distributed over the entile time Bince tho foundation of the university we hall find tbat it is an average of $12,000 a year or l-ó'2d of a mili on the present valuation. A man who is taxed on f 1,01)0 would pay not quite two cents a year. This is tho oppressive burthen which the university bas brought to the poor taxpayer for the support of an institution which brings the treasures of the best knowledge to his children and to yours. [Applauso.] Tho grounds upon which taxafion for the support of the higher education justly rests were so ably sot forth by the distinguished orator of last year, whosü eloquent words are still rin;;ing in our ears, that it would be superüuous for uie to dweil upon them at this time. I aui now aiming merely to remind you that at an expenditure which it is sirnply ridiculous to cali burdeusome, this prosperous state of Michigan has, through the wisdom of her founders, succeeded in furniehing the higher education to all her sons and daughters, without distinction of birth, race, color, or wealth. The fathers aoted with a wise and fareeeing statesraanship. They saved to the stato threo genorations of eáucnted men. Most of theiii lived to soe such a stipply of buildings, libraries, scientific collections and otber apparatus of a unÍTersity here as could not by private endowruents have bpeu seoured perhaps in ft century. Indeed it is probable that privato endowments would have been scattered atnong many small collpges, aa thpy bave been in other statos, and that no institution at all comparable to tbis in Btrength would have grown up in Michigan. By planting the Utiiversity so carly, they have enriched every profession and nearly every vocation iu Michigan with intelligent and wel'.equipped men. Thiough tbis a largc number of brilliant and sehoUirly youtli, vvho after tho completion of their studie have chosen this state as Iheir home, und ure adorning every calling in lito. Is there any one ct of our fftthers by which they have done more to proinote the prosperity of the state, to make its naiue lino wn and honored thro'ighout this land and beyond the se.i, than by the establishment of a university in whioh the best learning of the tims should be practically open to all so that whoevtr would Miight couio and takja freoly, almost without money and without prici ? Eegal, indaed, arn the gifts of nature to Michigan. A fioil which bountifully rewarda the toil of the husbandinan and yerly liils to OVelflowing his granaries and barus ; a climate ao ptopitious tlmt a large part of the state is a veritable paradi.se of fruits, wbere heaven kindly draws the sting of frost from the west wind po th.it the breezes may fall soft as t!ie gales of EJen on the peach and the pear and the grape ; mines riofaer in enduring wealtb than thoso of Golconda; forests still maijnificent in primeval grandeur, and rivaling the mines in value : salt weils which yield the wealth of „„,;„ ...1.. i,i. „,,,i unceasing stroam ; the broad lakes bound by the hand of God aronnd the state like a zme of beauty ; the sky, the inland seas, the earth, nay the waters umler the èarfh, all c mbine topour their riehpst contributinns into the tap of this favored counnonwealtb. [AplmiRe.] Yet, with all thefe riches, poor indeed had been the state, had not a brave and tnaniy and intelligent pcople chosen it as their home. F. ir earth and sky and water and mine had all been here for aes. But savagos could not of these make a prosporous commonwe ilth. It isintelligonne aud character alono which can make a great and thriving state. And so the grave question which pressed itself on the fathers still forces itsalf on us, How shall we train our children to make the most ot theso conspicuous advantages, to build a state which shall be truly great, to contributo their f uil part to the honor and glor}' of the nation, to lead happy and useful uves, to be a blessing to mankind? Can we do better than to answer this question in the spirit in which they answered it when, in accordaneo with the direction of the ordinance of '87, they took care that schools and the means of education should be forever encouraged, and laid deep and strong the foundations of school and university ? We may be pardoned for believing that the result in our own state has justified what wa may cali the Michigan policy. We cling to it still. But whatever be the method of endowment of our great schools, may the day nevor come when they shall be inaccessible to the humblest youth in whom God has lodged the divine spark of genius, or that more comrnon but somctimes not less serviceable gift of useful talent. Let nota misapplication of the laisserfaire doctrine in political economy, which has its proper place, lead us to the fatal mistake of building up a pedantic aristocracy. Goud loarning is always catholio aud genorous. It wel comes the humblest votary of science, and bids hirn kindie his lamp freely at the couimon shrine. It frowns on caste and bigotry. It spurus the artificial distiuotions of conveutional society. It greets all corners whose intellectaal gifts entitle tbem to admission to the goodly feüowship of cultivated minds. It is essen tially democratie in the best senso of that terra. In justice then to the trup spirit of learning, to the best interests of society, to the historie life of this state, let us now hold wide open the gates of this university to all oursonsand daughters, rich or poor, whom God by gifts of intellect and by kindly providencps has called to seek for a liberal eduoation. [Long and hearty applause.]