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ADDRESS OF POSTMASTER GENERAL CORTELYOU 
 AT THE THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL COMMENCE- 
 MENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. URBANA, 
 ILLINOIS. JUNE 7. 1905 
 
 EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP 
 
EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP. 
 
 PrESIDKNT JaMKS, LaDIKS and (xKNTLENfEN : 
 
 I heartily appreciate the honor you liave done me in 
 asking me to speak at these exercises, and J am especially 
 gratified to be so cordially welcomed by this western uni- 
 versity. 
 
 In no direction has our national progress been more 
 marked than in the wonderful development of the colleges 
 and universities of the West, and this is, of course, coinci- 
 dent with development in the secondary schools, which are 
 the feeders of our institutions of higher education. This 
 university's growth has been typical of national growth. 
 From small beginnings it has come, in a comparatively 
 short time, to a position of power and influence ; but even 
 when small in numbers and in material equipment, it had, 
 like the mighty nation to whose moral and intellectual 
 advancement it is contributing, the inspiration of lovaltv 
 to a great cause. 
 
 From 50 students and a faculty consisting of a regent 
 and three professors, in 1868, to 3,729 students and 400 
 teachers and professors in 1905; from instruction in a few 
 studies to thoroughly organized schools in a great variety 
 of studies ; from an attendance of 24 women in 1870-71, 
 the year w^hen the trustees by vote admitted women as 
 students, to ,723 in 1904-'05 ; from small material resources 
 to the present notable equipment and endowments — these 
 are figures that indicate the remarkable development of 
 the University of Illinois in the 37 years of its existence. 
 Its progress has been especially notable since 1890. It 
 
realizes the university ideal. With the pioneer spirit of 
 the West it seems to be combining the conservatism of the 
 East — elements which I think will contribute largely to 
 its efficiency. No institution in this country has a brighter 
 future. 
 
 The closing years of the old and the opening years of the 
 new century, in which this university has made its greatest 
 progress, have added to the world's history some of its 
 brightest pages. The historian of the future will recall 
 these years as remarkable in their encouragement to in- 
 ventive genius, in their contributions to knowledge, and 
 in their recognition of the value of education in national 
 development; but he will, I am sure, regard as of even 
 greater moment the impetus which they have given, with 
 the increasingly potential influence of the press, to the awak- 
 ening of the public conscience to the needs and dangers that 
 confront not only governments of the old world, founded 
 upon the traditions of the past, but apparently even the 
 government of that republic among whose basic principles 
 are individual liberty and equality of opportunity, under 
 the law, for all its citizens. 
 
 Washington saw with clear vision the vital part educa- 
 tion must play in the life of the new republic. His letters 
 and public papers give frequent expression to the necessity 
 for sound learning, and you will all recall his final admo- 
 nition in his memorable farewell address : 
 
 " Promote as an object of primary importance institutions 
 for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as 
 the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, 
 it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." 
 
 This institution furnishes many of the essentials of a lib- 
 eral education. The influence of such a school is incalcu- 
 
lal)lo. Tho riolit. kind of rdiicalioii (caclics iis liow to iiso 
 wliJit wo know and liow (o liiid what we wish lo know. It 
 gives us ideals of private and puhlic vii-lnc and llic incentive 
 to follow thoni. It fosters good jiidgnKnit and sound dis- 
 cretion. It distinguishes between the real and the sham. 
 It sheds its clear light into the earth's dark places. It leads 
 us out of bigotry an<l intolerance and points the way to 
 broader sympathies and a fuller regard for the rights of 
 others. That is the kind of education you give here. It is 
 the education that so many of our universities and colleges 
 are giving today, and in giving it these institutions of the 
 West are keeping step with their sister institutions of the 
 East. 
 
 Our modern educational system is becoming more ra- 
 tional. It takes account of actual needs ; it deals less with 
 the theoretical and more with the practical. It looks to 
 the development of character as well as to the acquisition of 
 knowledge. It makes the experience of the past serve the 
 purposes of the present. It aims to educate the student, not 
 alone as an individual, but as an integral part of the body 
 politic. It anticipates his responsibilities to the state and 
 prepares him to meet them. 
 
 What, then, is it, in brief, that such a university as this 
 teaches? The various branches of learning, the value of 
 experience, the dignity of labor, the proper relation of the 
 individual to his associates and to the state. It encourages 
 what has been not inaptly called " the spontaneous element 
 in scholarship." It inculcates independence of character, 
 but dependence upon government. 
 
 But there is more here than material facilities ; more 
 than can be gathered from books ; more than the teaching 
 that trains the mind and the exercises that develop the body. 
 
6 
 
 There are the great silent forces ever working among a large 
 body of students — the daily influence of teachers and pro- 
 fessors and associates — and the result of all this training is 
 seen in the characters of the men and women who go from 
 the University to take their places amid the activities of a 
 larger life. 
 
 In education we need to simplify both as to subjects and 
 as to methods. Your grouping of related subjects in dis- 
 tinct schools is a step in that direction. Beyond a certain 
 point, when the school attempts much it accomplishes little. 
 Fewer studies and more study is a good watchword for the 
 rational education. 
 
 Your location is most fortunate, in this state of great com- 
 mercial interests and of vast agricultural production and in 
 these beautiful and characteristic communities of American . 
 homes. 
 
 I am glad that you have a school of agriculture. It is a 
 recognition of the contribution made to national progress 
 by a representative body of our citizenship. I have been 
 told since coming here today that most gratifying results 
 have been secured from your experimental and research 
 work. The support which the state and the national gov- 
 ernments have already given to the university for this 
 particular school evidences the interest taken in it. So 
 firmly do I believe in the value of the work of the school of 
 agriculture that I think the University would suffer mate- 
 rially were there any curtailment of its facilities. Fortu- 
 nately, the desire is for an enlargement of its scope and an 
 increase of its efficiency. It will be one of the great elements 
 of your future progress. 
 
 I am glad, too, that you have a department of military 
 science. The habits of neatness, order, and prompt obedi- 
 
encc whicli such an organization fosters are (elements of any 
 proper scheme of education, and the instruction it offers 
 is of inestiniahh^ vahie to its members. Your training 
 here in this l)ran('li of knowledge is of the greatest service 
 to the state and to the nation. We are a peace-loving 
 people, and wo desire to live in the friendliest relations 
 with all the powers of the earth. It is because both these 
 things are true that I am in favor of the most ample 
 preparedness in our military and naval equipment. So 
 long as there are such qualities as national self-respect 
 and national honor, and no practicable method is devised 
 for settling certain acute differences that arise between 
 nations, it is incumbent upon us to be ready at all times to 
 maintain any position we may take in regard to them. And 
 so long as we have laws, so long as the sovereignty of state 
 and nation must be upheld, there will be demand for men 
 trained in military science and tactics. I am sure there is 
 not a man in your regiment who does not feel that he will 
 be a better citizen because of this training. It is as certainly 
 a preparation for the pursuits of peace as it is for those of 
 war if that dread alternative should ever confront us. This 
 is no foolish sentiment. It is a practical, common-sense, 
 patriotic view^ of our duty to ourselves and to the cause of 
 liberty, whose noblest exponent is this American Republic. 
 
 You give special attention to physical training. No 
 school that neglects that essential is worthy of support. 
 
 Your well-equipped library brings within the reach of 
 your students the accumulated wisdom and experience of 
 the ages, and your library school has the benefit of its 
 facilities. 
 
 In establishing colleges and schools for the study of medi- 
 cine in its various branches, science, engineering, architect- 
 
8 
 
 ure, law, music, and art, you give further evidences that 
 you have set for yourselves a high ideal and that you are 
 living up to it. 
 
 You are not experimenting with the problem of co-educa- 
 tion ; you seem to have solved it. 
 
 I congratulate the young women of the graduating classes 
 that they are leaving this institution at a time when, as a 
 people, we are giving a broader scope and a greater recog- 
 nition to the work and influence of women. We recognize 
 everywhere their faith, their sacrifice, and their loyalty. 
 Every onward step in the world's progress has had the in- 
 spiration of their devoted service. The self-reliance that is 
 encouraged by the life here need not mean the sacrifice of 
 charms of manner or graces of accomplishment ; growth in 
 knowledge of current events, interest in w^orthy undertak- 
 ings, participation in wholesome enterprises, need not warp 
 or harden a woman's nature. Under right auspices they 
 broaden and brighten her life to the benefit of herself and 
 those who come within the range of her influence ; but all 
 her activities should be subjected to the supreme test — are 
 they consistent with the highest interests of the American 
 home ? Every system of education that is worthy of encour- 
 agement keeps that end constantly in view, for the home is 
 the very heart of the nation, and it must beat true if we are 
 to realize to the full the possibilities of our national life. 
 
 I congratulate you upon the character and extent of the 
 various organizations within the university that have been 
 established for religious, fraternal, and social purposes. 
 They are a mighty power for good now and for the future. 
 
 And in congratulating this student-body, I want to add a 
 word of hearty congratulation to the officers and the corps 
 
of professors and inslruclois, tlmt (hoy have siu;h a field for 
 the nohle service to which Ihcv are devoting; their lives. 
 
 Not all the universities can he or need he like yours ; hut 
 each may fill its place in the ^reat field of educational en- 
 deavor and each do worthily wiiat it is i^iven to do. The 
 henificent results of cooperation and mutual helpfulness are 
 nowhere more marked than in that field. 
 
 The educational institutions of the land contrihute to an 
 enlightened citizenship, and the nation demands much of 
 the men and women of education. Their opportunities have 
 been great ; their contributions to the public weal should 
 be proportionately great. They must make their oppor- 
 tunities serve not only their own but the general good. In 
 this era of discussion, important public questions are con- 
 stantly before the people for their consideration and judg- 
 ment. The making of books goes on with ever-increasing 
 output ; newspapers and magazines, libraries, and other 
 sources of information are adding enormously to the sum of 
 human knowledge. It is the day of the widest diffusion of 
 public intelligence. It is, on the other hand, unfortunately 
 a time when, along with the mature consideration and care- 
 ful deliberation accorded subjects of large moment, there 
 is much that is hasty and superficial in public comment. 
 
 Growth under these conditions has brought forward for 
 solution many problems that will tax the wisdom, forti- 
 tude, and devotion of our people. But there is no occa- 
 sion for pessimism in dealing with them. Public discus- 
 sion is the healthful sign of public interest. Some of our 
 problems are new ; some are the old, old questions relating 
 to economic policies and matters of internal government. 
 The new ones are the very natural results of increase in 
 territory, population, and material prosperity. We have 
 
10 
 
 had great problems before and have solved them rightly — 
 that is the American way of solving problems. We must 
 approach these new ones in the same spirit with which 
 we approached and successfully solved those which have 
 gone into history. 
 
 The domestic questions that confront us, having to do with 
 our new possessions, the treatment of great commercial and 
 industrial combinations, the regulation of immigration, im- 
 provement in political methods, the necessity for greater hon- 
 esty and efficiency in government, whether municipal, state, 
 or national, and the international question of our relations 
 with the other powers of earth, are matters with which the 
 representatives of the people are now dealing and in which 
 every citizen has directly or indirectly a concern. 
 
 Some features of our attitude toward those problems are 
 unfortunate. Deplorable as are certain tendencies — in our 
 commercial and industrial affairs, in educational methods, 
 in moral and ethical teaching — they furnish no warrant for 
 sweeping deductions that distort the facts. We magnify 
 and exaggerate, and in our hurry and excitement we miss 
 the true perspectives of life. We deal too much in the su- 
 perlative of denunciation and blind our eyes to the good 
 that is all about us. Deep down under all hastily formed 
 public opinion are the sound judgment and sober common 
 sense of millions of sturdy and reasonable and far-seeing 
 Americans who believe in the strength of our institutions, 
 in our ability to work out our problems, and always, in the 
 last analysis, in our capacity for self-government. And that 
 splendid citizenship can be made an irresistible force in the 
 battle for civic righteousness. 
 
 There should be more conservatism in our consideration 
 of public questions, not the conservatism of inertness or 
 
11 
 
 indecision, hut (ho ('()ns(M-viitisin (hat is opcii-iiiiiKhMl (o sug- 
 gestion and insis(s upon h(>arin^ ho(h sides of a (iu('s( ion. 
 Wo need to cultivuto the cahnnoss (iiat typifies strength of 
 purpose, do[)(h of thouglit, and soundness of judgment. We 
 shall then suhstitute energy for exaggeration and sanity for 
 sensationalism. There will be more consideration and less 
 clamor. In this spirit we shall be better able to deal with 
 the questions before us jus(.ly and fearlessly. We shall en- 
 courage those policies which recognize the fact that material 
 prosperity is but a poor and empty thing if accomplished 
 through any sacrifice of the moral sense of our people, and we 
 shall see back of all and over all, as the commanding neces- 
 sity of our times, insistence upon obedience to law, from the 
 highest to the humblest. 
 
 The representatives of the people can do their best work 
 only when encouraged and supported in their efforts to 
 approach these questions in the right spirit. The burden 
 of responsibility is not all with them. The people must do 
 their part. Tf we are to have cleaner political methods, the 
 beginning must be made in the primary and the town- 
 meeting, and the citizen must contribute his share in his 
 own sphere, how^ever humble it may be, if he is to be con- 
 sistent when he demands a high standard of those who 
 represent him in the various grades of official life. And so 
 it is with the citizen's relation to those other problems. 
 Wherever he touches them, even in their smaller aspects, 
 he must do the duty that lies at his hand. The firmer we 
 fix these facts in our minds the healthier will be our public 
 sentiment. 
 
 Human nature is weak at times and likes the w^ay of 
 least resistance. It is easy and it often seems expedient to 
 yield to the outcry of the hour ; but what the thoughtful 
 
12 
 
 people of America demand of an official is that he shall set 
 his face like flint against it if his conscience or his experi- 
 ence convinces him that it is a mistaken cry. Well has it 
 been said : 
 
 " Patriotism must be faithful as well as fervent ; states- 
 manship must be wise as well as fearless — not the statesman- 
 sliip which will command the support of the hour, but the 
 judgment of posterity." 
 
 What days of stress and anxiety came to the patient and 
 devoted Lincoln, but what glory is his that he saw beyond 
 any idle clamor of the moment into his country's great 
 future ! How cruel was the burden of misrepresentation 
 and abuse put upon William McKinley in those dreadful 
 weeks before the outbreak of the Spanish war ; but, to his 
 eternal honor, he stood immovable in his patriotic purpose 
 not to go into the conflict until prepared, as much as lay in 
 his power, for its fearful possibilities. And of his successor 
 no worthier record can be put upon the pages of history 
 than that he would not allow the demagogue or the shallow 
 enthusiast to swerve him a hair's breadth from his determi- 
 nation to discriminate neither for nor against the interests 
 of capital or labor, but to hold each to its accountability 
 under the law. However much some men may differ with 
 Theodore Roosevelt as to details of his policies, there is in 
 this country today a national conviction that he stands before 
 the world as one of the greatest of the forces that are 
 making for the moral uplift of mankind. 
 
 It has become popular in some quarters to characterize the 
 leaders of commerce and the leaders of industry as sordid 
 and selfish and grasping, but there are men today in the 
 ranks of business and in the ranks of labor who illustrate the 
 
13 
 
 best typos of Amoricaii citiz(Misliij). Such ji rrjucsciitative 
 Ameriaui was that ^irat citizen of Calilbriiia, whose death 
 some months ago was feh as a personal benmvement by his 
 countrymen on the Tacilic coast. 1 recall anion^ many 
 editorial comments made at the time this just and beautiful 
 tribute : 
 
 "The death of Irving M. Scott, 'the man wlio built the 
 Oregon,^ removes from earthly activity one of those captains 
 of industry whose achievements are so closely linked with 
 our marvelous industrial development as to give his name 
 an honored place in the annals of our national progress. 
 
 " Mr. Scott built the Oregon, ' the bulldog of the Navy,' 
 whose famous trip around the Horn was one of the thrilling 
 chapters in the history of the Spanish-American war. To 
 have built the Oregon was distinction enough for one man, 
 but this was only an incident in the busy career of a man 
 who founded and organized a great industry. He built 
 other battleships for our ow^n and other navies. But Mr. 
 Scott was something more than a builder of merchant ves- 
 sels and battleships. He was the generous patron of art 
 and education, a contributor to philanthropic enterprises, 
 and was actively and honorably identified with the political 
 activities of his state. He was a splendid type of that 
 sturdy school of self-made Americans who created wealth 
 out of mechanical genius and ability for organization. 
 
 " The death of this man who did things is a reminder of 
 the near approach of that happy time when we shall grate- 
 fully place upon the highest pedestals, along with the poets 
 and soldiers, the figures of men who organized mammoth 
 industries, who revolutionized processes of production ; when 
 we shall panegyrize the doers as well as the dreamers, the 
 builders as well as the heroes of military conquest. 
 
 '' The time is coming, no doubt, with the beating of 
 swords into plowshares, when we will build monuments to 
 the great organizers of industry." 
 
14 
 
 And of the late P. M. Arthur, that fine American type 
 from the ranks of labor, it was said : 
 
 " The sudden death of Mr. P. M. Arthur, Grand Chief of 
 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers of the United 
 States, is for many reasons a national calamity. He was an 
 organizer and labor leader, and made a conspicuous success 
 of the work undertaken by him without recourse to any of 
 the expedients which smaller and less capable men deem 
 essential in securing for skilled labor the consideration at 
 the hands of the employer to which it considers itself 
 entitled. He was unfaltering in his loyalty to the interests 
 of those who chose him their representative, and at the 
 same time he was just and considerate in his dealings with 
 employers. * * * The secret of Mr. Arthur's usefulness 
 lay in the fact that he rarely made and never pressed un- 
 reasonable demands. He was open-minded on all subjects, 
 and if shown that what his men wanted was more than they 
 were entitled to, he would not permit them to insist upon 
 their views of what was proper. In conference with rail- 
 road managers, he was a clear-headed man of business, with 
 a perfect comprehension of every fact bearing on the matter 
 under consideration. As a consequence, he was always wel-' 
 come, was treated with respect and consideration, and, in 
 the event of trouble, his coming was hailed as giving assur- 
 ance that the right would prevail against all influences to 
 establish the wrong. The career of Chief Arthur shows 
 that the highest usefulness and the most honorable promi- 
 nence in labor leadership are not attained by strife and 
 contention, but by sound judgment, a recognition of the 
 rights of others, and a character meriting the respect and 
 confidence of the public." 
 
 The demand of the hour is for unceasing warfare upon 
 corruption in all its aspects, but we must always remember 
 that reforms to be practical must be reasonable ; there must 
 
16 
 
 be individual |)articij)ation in every niovcnicnt lor civic 
 betterment. The citizen must not shirk liis duty. lie 
 must help to improve the agencies through which such 
 betterment is to be secured. 
 
 The influence of a free press must not be impaired, nor 
 must the great body of American newspapers — among the 
 noblest agencies of enlightenment and civilization — be 
 judged by a few who have prostituted their high calling to 
 ignoble uses. 
 
 A higher standard for our judiciary; fewer laws and 
 better enforcement of them ; a wider public appreciation of 
 the essentials of democracy and of the principles upon 
 which this government was founded, will help us to the 
 solution of the problems before us, and as the very basis 
 and foundation of our national life, we must conserve those 
 forces w^hich insure the efficiency of our schools and safe- 
 guard the purity of our homes. 
 
 Every village and hamlet, every municipality, every com- 
 
 monw^ealth, must assume its share and make its contribution 
 
 to the general welfare. The nation expects much of this 
 
 great state : 
 
 **' Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois,' 
 
 Can be writ the nation's glory, Illinois : 
 
 On the record of thy years, 
 
 Abram Lincoln's name appears, 
 
 Grant and Logan and our tears, Illinois." 
 
 What memories cluster around the names of our mighty 
 dead ! What an inspiration their lives furnish us ! How 
 splendid is the prospect if w^e press on sustained by the same 
 faith, actuated by the same lofty purpose, seeking to give 
 to this people in ever-increasing measure equality of oppor- 
 tunity and honesty and integrity in government. 
 
16 
 
 In his first annual address to Congress, December 3, 1861, 
 President Lincoln said : 
 
 '' From the first taking of our national census to the last 
 are 70 years, and we find our population at the end of the 
 period eight times as great as it was at the beginning. The 
 increase of those other things which men deem desirable 
 has been even greater. We thus have at one view what 
 the popular principle, applied to government through the 
 machinery of the states and the Union, has produced in a 
 given time ; and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises 
 for the future. * * * The struggle of today is not alto- 
 gether for today, it is for the vast future also. With a re- 
 liance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let 
 us proceed in the great task which events have devolved 
 upon us." 
 
 In dealing with present-day problems we must have the 
 faith that inspired Lincoln, the faith that sees in the past 
 an earnest of the future, the faith that halts not even at 
 failure, but that has in it the spirit — 
 
 " To thrill with the joy of girded men, 
 To go on forever and fail, and go on again." 
 
 Reunited in the bonds of national fraternity, all sections 
 of our beloved country now march shoulder to shoulder in 
 the great forward movement of our people toward the 
 achievement of their splendid destin}^ God grant that the 
 spirit of fraternity may grow deeper and ever deeper in this 
 fair land of ours, and that distinctions of class, unjust dis- 
 criminations as between man and man, the exactions of 
 greed, and the sophistries of the demagogue may find no 
 lodgment in the hearts of our people. 
 
 Among the greatest of the forces for progress in the 
 struggle for a broader and juster national life will be the 
 influence of the men and women of education. 
 
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