^~1 RTlton^B. OPPORTUNITY :'• ' i' :i 8061 \i Nvrivd A N ' asnoBjAg BJO*«|N -sojg pjo|X«o lilSiilii OPPORTUNITY An Address delivered at the Dedication of the New Library, University of Mississippi, Tuesday evening, May 30th, 1911 By Robert Burwell Fulton J. JAAB NOV 2 2 ■ The Elm Tree Press Woodstock Vermont 1911 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/opportunityaddreOOfult * Opportunity Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen : It is good to look again into the faces of my Mississippi friends, and to grasp again the hands of those whose friendship has stood the test of time. It is good to trust that the younger generation growing up in this great State is following worthily in the footsteps of worthy predecessors. State pride is one of the chief bulwarks of our Amer- ican Republic, and we do well to place its cultivation next to the conservation of state honor. In the old plantation days of my childhood in Alabama I heard among the folk-songs that were common one that had in it a peculiar strain of patriotism and of pathos. The refrain of this song was, " Oh carry me back to old Virginia's shore." The Virginian, whether master or slave, who drifted westward with the tide of settlement and of civilization in the earlier years, to the end of his days sang this refrain. Since I have become a Virginian I have learned many reasons for this. A beautiful climate, enchanting scenery, the heritage of a noble history filled with honorable achievement and devoted self-sacrifice for the common good, — all conspire to instil patriotic sentiment that is strong and everlasting. In quiet dignity this grand old Commonwealth knows, DEDICATION OF THE NEW LIBRARY though she does not boast of, her services and her vica- rious sacrifices. Her children love her and honor her for what she has been and what she is. There is in the old State a beautiful expression of patri- otic sentiment, in words that go from heart to heart like the lines of Scotland's poet Burns, which all good Vir- ginians there accept, and which their faith makes wholly true. The words, in part, are these : The roses nowhere bloom so white as in Virginia ; The sunshine nowhere shines so bright as in Virginia ; The birds sing nowhere quite so sweet, And nowhere hearts so lightly beat, For heaven and earth both seem to meet Down in Virginia. Paraphrase these lines by writing in them the name of your own great State, Mississippi, instead of Virginia, then believe them fully, and you will appreciate Virginia patriotism and Virginia character. Some six months ago, when my friend Chancellor Kin- cannon expressed the desire that I would make an address on the occasion of the opening of the new library, and in kindest terms referred to my original connection with the securing of funds for this new structure, I followed the first impulse of my heart and promised to be present and render such service as I might be able to give for my alma mater. Possibly you can, but probably you can not, understand the feelings of one who, after an absence of five years, which is more than a generation as time is reckoned in college life, comes again to the scenes that were familiar to him for more than thirty years,— to the halls in which UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI he lived and worked as a student,— to the surroundings in which his later years were spent,— to the institution in whose service the best energies and the devoted labors of half a lifetime were loyally given. Counting the years of my personal connection with the University of Mississippi, as student and as officer, I hold the record for length of service, and without laying claim to infallibility in judgment or inerrancy in action, I yield to no man in the conscientious and faithful devotion with which I served my alma mater, and in the fervor of my love for her honor and my joy in her advancement. You will pardon me, I trust, if on this occasion I be- come somewhat reminiscent and state in this presence some facts which should not be obscured by the recent splendid development here. Through recollection of the days of smaller things we can better appreciate and more profitably use enlarged opportunity. The University of Mississippi had been generally pros- perous from the date of its opening in 1848 to the begin- ning of the Civil War. The close of that strife left it with its walls intact, but with no funds. A noble band of men undertook its rehabilitation. A body of youth assembled in its halls such as no institution in this land had ever enrolled. Many of them had received their preparation for college in the armies of the Confederacy. The grass had not grown on the newly made graves of the seven hundred Confederate soldiers who died in these buildings used as hospitals, and who sleep their last sleep on the University grounds. The era of reconstruction was just beginning. Political chaos was a present con- dition. The University of Mississippi, almost solitary in her survival of the ruins of the War, became a beacon of hope and opportunity to the young men of this and all the neighboring States. The proper limits of this address would be exceeded if 6 DEDICA TION OF THE NEW LIBRARY I should undertake to describe the motives and the energy and determination with which the student body of that unique period worked,— ha d to work. Free as they were in that day from the distracting amusements which some- times lend too much excitement to college life, and urged by the grim necessity of taking up their life-work in a section where political and economic chaos prevailed, they gave themselves to the grind of the college routine with unremitting perseverance, and through persistent effort developed strength and power. Neither the cata- logue of the University of Mississippi, nor that of any other American college can show a greater proportion of useful and distinguished citizens, or an abler body of professional men than has been furnished by that group, the members of which wore the gray before they entered this institution. To me, a younger lad, the recollection of my association with these men will always be a source of pride and inspiration. In that pristine day the grounds and buildings of the University bore little resemblance to the present large expansion. The campus was bounded on the east by a fence extending southward from the east end of the Observatory. Outside of that fence the landscape was occupied by a thicket of black jack oaks, which by their green leaves in summer and their brown leaves in winter effectively cut off all distant view. The central part of the Lyceum building, three dormitories, two double resi- dences and the Chapel, occupied seven sides of an octagon, and these, with one residence back of the Lyceum, the Observatory and the present Taylor Hall, completed the university group. These had all been erected before the Civil War, and afterwards, until 1889, during a period of nearly twenty -five years, the institu- tion was not able to erect a single new building for its uses, nor to spare a single brick from any of the old ones. UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI During this period every department suffered from narrow and insufficient accommodations, and no depart- ment more than the library. From the days preceding the War it had been domiciled in the third story front rooms of the Lyceum building. The book stacks filled these small rooms. A member of the Faculty acted as librarian. The library in my student days and long after- wards, was opened for students once a week,— two hours on Saturday afternoons. At this weekly opening a student could borrow one book at a time. Library research work was practically unknown. Very few new books were bought. Under the administration of Chancellor Edward Mayes the library, for the first time, in the building erected in 1889 and used since that time, became available as an instrument for education, and began to take its proper place of importance and influence in the work of the University. Within a few years the need for larger quarters again became manifest. The period from 1892 to 1902 was an era marked by unprecedented educational advancement throughout the State of Mississippi, and by such growth and development in all departments of the University as emphasized on every side the need for larger quarters. It is a fact that for twelve years, from the year 1880 when the legislature adjusted the indebtedness of the State to the University and arranged for the payment to the University annually of the sum of $32,643.00, as inter- est on this indebtedness, to the year 1892, the University received only this fixed annual sum from the State. Under these conditions growth beyond small limits was impossible. I shall always regard as distinctly providential the fact that when I began the duties of Chancellor in 1892 the discovery came to me that Mississippi had never received 8 ■ DEDICA TION OF THE NEW LIBRARY from Congress for the University the full portion of the public land which Congress when the State was organized intended to give. The prosecution of this matter brought to the State four townships of land for the institutions of higher education, and has turned into the State treasury over $600,000.00, as proceeds from these lands. The University sold only the timber on her share of land, and still holds the land. The experience of other States and other state institutions convincingly shows that this institution should never part with the title to this increas- ingly valuable domain. The annual income of the University was increased by about $10,000.00 from the sale of the timber on this land. But what was this amount among so many and such rapidly increasing needs ? The co-ordination of the work of the University with the general educational system in Mississippi, which be- gan in 1893 and has continued to this good day with increasing efficiency and continually enlarging benefits, was undoubtedly the most important action taken within fifty years for educational uplift and advancement in the State. It was virtually the application here in Mississippi of the principles advocated by Thomas Jefferson regarding public education, which principles have been adopted in practically all the States formed out of the Public Domain, and with most beneficent results. The later co-ordination of the institutions of higher education in the State under one general control marks another distinct step towards educational efficiency. I will not tax the patience of this audience with a full narrative of the labors and trials which accompanied the efforts to secure funds for purposes rendered necessary by the growth of the University in the period of its ex- pansion from college to university proportions in its work. UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI It is sufficient to say that in this period it had its full share of M growing pains." A brief statement regarding the beginning of the move- ment which has culminated in the erection of the beautiful and commodious building whose dedication to library- uses we celebrate this evening seems to be needed in the interest of historical accuracy. On February 7, 1905, while Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, I wrote to Mr. Andrew Carnegie inquiring whether he would consider a request to donate a library building to the University. Receiving an encouraging reply from Mr. Carnegie's Secretary, I at once addressed to each of the seventeen members of the Board of Trustees of the University a letter setting forth the fact of this overture made by me, and asking the personal consent of the members of the Board for me to proceed with the negotiation. I received from ten of the members of the Board responses indicating that they were heartily in favor of the procedure. These responses were in writing, and were the only ones received. In accordance with this expressed hearty approval of a majority of the Board of Trustees my correspondence with Mr. Carnegie was continued, and resulted in his definite offer to pay for a library at the University. This offer was made in response to my request, after I had secured the consent of a majority of the seventeen members of the Board of Trustees, and had received not a single unfavorable reply to my letter addressed to the members of the Board. When the next regular meeting of the Board was held, on June 4, 1905, 1 made a statement of the case in my annual report, and offered resolutions covering the formal acceptance of the donation. To my great surprise, the Board, after considerable discussion, ten members and the Governor being present, by a vote of seven to four, 10 DEDICATION OF THE NEW LIBRARY rejected the donation. There was nothing to do but let the matter rest. To the excellent tact and good judgment of Chancellor Kincannon, no less than to the kindly disposition of Mr. Carnegie, the University is indebted for the rectification of this unfortunate tangle, and the creation of the greatly needed enlargement of opportunity which this beautiful library building brings. What of the man whose generous donation we on this occasion receive ? Mr. Whitelaw Reid, American Ambassador to England, in speaking at the opening of a public library at Luton, England, last October, said : " But first, perhaps I might say something about your new citizen (Mr. Carnegie), since he is my countryman, and since I have known him rather well, and a long time, without knowing much to his disadvantage, excepting that in spite of his liking for libraries his spelling is de- plorable. Naturally my attention was arrested by a reference to him which I happened to hear the other day, as I passed that point of high thinking, or at least high speaking, the corner of Hyde Park near the Marble Arch. What I heard set me to thinking. " The orator was discoursing about the plunderers of honest toil, and he pictured your new citizen, not too in- distinctly, as one of the worst of them, a man who had amassed a great fortune out of profits that rightly be- longed to the working men he employed and cheated, and who was now doling out a little of it, in trivial and useless ways, merely to gain a cheap reputation for philanthropy. Well, I remembered that Mr. Carnegie had always paid good wages, paid promptly, and found new employment for many men, as well as that the only serious disagreement that ever occurred there between employers and employes was without his knowledge UNIVE RSITY OF MISSISSIPPI 11 and when he had been absent for months on another continent. " I also remembered that he had been something of a working man himself, that he began as a weaver's lad in a cotton factory, was next a messenger boy in a telegraph office and profiting by that opportunity, picked up the art himself, and he thus worked his way into a railroad office, and so up until he became a railway superintendent, next a successful manufacturer of rail- way iron, and that he had the far-seeing sagacity, courage and indomitable persistence to introduce the Bessemer steel-making process in America. Recalling all this I could see better where the fortune came from than where the plunder came in. Then I took another look at the orator who had pronounced that surprising indictment. He didn't look or talk like a man who had much claim to speak for decent working men, or had often done an honest day's work himself. In fact, he looked like what the hard-headed but irreverent working man of my native land is apt to call a ' jaw-smith '; and he was then apparently plying the trade by which he earned his un- clean wage." After referring to the work of the trustees of Mr. Carnegie's Hero Fund and citing many instances where heroic self-sacrificing service to humanity had received generous recognition, Mr. Reid says : " Perhaps the man who finds heroes like these, helps them out of their difficulties, and preserves them or their children for further service to the race, does more for labor, and for all classes than the one who stands on a box in Hyde Park and bawls out to a crowd of curious idlers every unreasonable and bitter phrase he can think of, to make his hearers hate and envy anybody more thrifty and more useful than themselves." These words were spoken by a distinguished and 12 DEDICA TION OF THE NEW LIBRARY well-informed American citizen, in England. I have my- self carefully studied the evidence in the Congressional investigation of the Homestead labor troubles, and have noted the general purposes and methods of Mr. Carnegie in disposing of his wealth. I can form no fairer judg- ment than that expressed by Mr. Whitelaw Reid. As an example of what one man may do in grasping and using a great opportunity for advancing civilization and producing material wealth for mankind the achieve- ments of Mr. Carnegie are unique in the world's history. Among oriental peoples, and in Europe down to the time of the discovery of America, and later, what may be called the bullion idea of wealth prevailed. A man's wealth was by preference invested and reckoned in inert gold and silver and precious stones. The discoverer of America, and the adventurers who followed him, gen- erally undertook to reap a golden harvest, without pro- ductive labor, and to carry back the captured gold and silver of Incas and Montezumas. The first French settlers on the coast of Mississippi were commissioned by the King of France to hunt for pearls and the wool of the wild buffalo. They produced nothing through skill or industry. Their undertaking failed. Where gold and silver abounded America was first exploited, and each adventurer seized what was available. Then came the period when fortunes could be found in furs and pelts, and from these sources wealth flowed to the Hudson Bay Company and to the Astors. As population increased and settlements extended transportation by water and by rail afforded opportunity which the Vanderbilts, Goulds, Harrimans and Hills were not slow to seize. Archaeologists and historians have marked human ad- vancement by speaking of man as living in the stone age, UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI 13 the bronze age or the iron age, according to the means which he had learned to adapt to his needs and uses. On this scale the last thirty-five years mark the real begin- ning of the age of heat and electricity and steel. All of us have a consciousness of the wide and marvelous uses of electricity which have come about. Comparatively few appreciate the vast improvements in the production of power from heat, and it requires still further thought to realize what part steel has played in the unprecedented industrial development of the last third of a century. The use of this material has rendered practicable the construction of railroads, buildings, bridges, steamships, machinery and appliances that form the physical basis of a civilization which would without these be impossible. To Mr. Carnegie America and the world are indebted more than to any other man for the intelligent courage which seized a great opportunity and has supplied the world with a structural material better and cheaper than any other, and has made this the age of steel. In 1874 the production of raw steel ingots in the United States amounted to 91,000 tons. In 1909 the production for the year amounted to 24,338,000 tons,— an increase of over two hundred and fifty fold in thirty-five years in the production by scientific processes of a material which the world needed and was eager to purchase. Is it a matter of surprise that prosperity, or wealth, should have come to those engaged in this vast manufacture of useful and needed material ? Favorable tariff legislation by Congress was a mere incident that may have hastened, but did not produce this development. The man whose liberality has made possible the build- ing which we this evening dedicate to noble uses has given away to his fellow men more than $175,000,000,— not in indiscriminate and enervating charity, but with definite purpose, and in each case after careful inquiry 14 DEDICAT ION OF THE N EW LIBRARY and reasonable assurance that the gift will be properly appreciated and used for the betterment of mankind. This is colossal philanthropy which matches in senti- ment the ideals of Abou ben Adhem and in practical results the zeal of Zacchaeus the rich man of Jericho. What an illustration of the greatness of opportunity in America, and the magnificent improvement of oppor- tunity, is presented in the life of this man ! An humble Scotch immigrant boy has become able to give away millions, and has earned the title bestowed on him by the representatives of twenty-one American republics, — Benefactor of Humanity. Let no young man say that the day of great opportunity in America has passed. There are problems yet to be solved, social, spiritual, political, economic and scientific, as great as, and even greater than the world has already known, and honors and emoluments and the gratitude of mankind await those who advance civilization and benefit the race by their solution. May this library ever be a source of knowledge, in- spiration and power that shall continually furnish high ideals and lead to large and noble achievement. i :!:!::: .'.'■' i : '-| f ^ ./ili! : :