THE HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIME
SUBJECT OF JAMES BRYCE'S FIRST LECTURE.
Outlined Way to Study History and Told of World-Problems Worthy of Study.
- At the address given Thursday night in Robinson gymnasium Ambassador Bryce spoke in part as follows:
"I do not know of any people who would have a greater interest in the study of history, for few states of the union had a more remarkable history than Kansas. One of my earliest recollections is that of hearing the trouble in Kansas from 1855 to 1860 discussed. In England and Sotland the people were much interested in the border struggle. It was a dark prospect. We wondered if the issue of slavery would be determined by the struggle in Kansas.
"No history is more interesting than the history of the present. The best histories are those written by people about the events that happened in their own time and country. They show the emotions stirring men and the motives underlying act But the writing of contemporary history is especially difficult because not all the facts are known perhaps at the time of writing, and the writer is likely to be more or less influenced by partisan feelings. Even in the United States, where there is today more publicity than there is now or ever has been in any other country, we do not know all the facts underlying important events Despite its difficulties, however, contemporary history always must be written.
"The past is always a part of the present. Knowledge of the past is the interpretation of the present, in the nation and the individual. All that we are and do exists because of something that existed in the past.
"We are all making history, whether or no we write it or study it. The world will not be the same after us as it would have been if we had never existed.
"Out of the immense number of forces playing around us, students of history must determine what are the main ones. To do this we must study opinions and the courses of opinions rather than unrelated facts. The facts which make opinions are the important facts in a democracy. They can best be learned by studying opinions.
"The significant thing about opinions is the change which takes place in them. Study the causes that lead to a veering of opinion. In a country like the United States, consisting of a vast number of unrelated groups, one must study the relative magnitude of the groups and the relative volume of opinion. Endeav or to find out the reasons for things. If opinion is growing or changing, it is important to know why.
"Never despise a minority. The history of free countries is the history of minorities that grew until they became majorities. This is illustrated in your great Civil war. The party which favored the abolition of slavery in the North was once a despised faction, but it was a passionate minority which came in time to impress its opinion upon the mass of people. I do not believe, if the question had been left to a
vote, that the south would ever have seceded. There was another case where a minority, through its arbor dominated the majority.
"The student of history should be always independent. His conscience and his opinion should be in his own keeping; but at the same time he should defer to superior minds. It is better on the whole to form your opinion from talking with individual men rather than from what you read in periodicals, although you must of course derive a great part of your information from reading. One should, before making up his own mind on a question finally, talk it over with the wisest man he knows and also with a man who is just an average man. Let their opinions enter into the forming of your own."
Don't confine your study, especially of large questions, to your own country. In order to determine what are great facts and what are small, you must know what influences are working in other countries. When you learn that the same opinions are held by many men in different countries on a great question you find yourself in the presence of a world-movement. Worldmovements are best worth studying. Three of them I regard as especially important.
"The first is the contact of the advanced and backward races of mankind. The world was never so small as it is now, the contact never so close. A rising in China, a revolution in South America affect the business of a merchant in the United States. The interior of Africa, which sixty years ago was unknown, is now parceled out between five or six European powers. The contact with Japan and China, the annexation of the Philippines, have given rise to new problems, ethical, social and political.
"In two aspects the advanced races are the aggressors—in conquest and in being lenders and traders. The civilized merchant makes the backward race take his goods and pay for them, ever though the customer would like nothing better than to be left alone. There are also two ways in which the backward races immpinge upon us. One is by emigrating into countries of the advanced races. The other is by entering into industrial competition with advanced races. The latter may yet be a serious thing for us."
The second great problem is that of the classes who are now trying to use their political power to benefit their material condition. These movements are now more active than ever before They are the natural result of putting political power into the hands of the masses. At the present time probably three-fourths of the political questions in the United States and a large proportion in England touch upon the relation of organized capital to the remainder of the community
"The immense shifting of populations is another great world" movement which has been prominent in the last fifty years. It is greater than anything of the sort that has taken place since the fifth and sixth centuries of our era. Since 1845 unnumbered millions of people have poured from Europe into North and South America. The tide seems now to be checked, but the influence which the mingling of many peoples will have upon your country constitutes a great problem.
ious thought.
"Because of their wide sweep and their immense significance I commend these problems as being worth while to students of the history of our own time."
"A fourth great movement which I shall merely mention is the influence which the dominance of natural science is effecting on modern ethical and religious
ON HIGHER EDUCATION
The Subject of Mr. Bryce's Chapel Address Friday Morning Advanced Improvements.
There is nothing in this country that I have noticed with greater pleasure than the continued advance of universities. The last thirty years has seen the establishment and development by state legislatures, of a large number of state institutions of higher education, to which liberal grants of money are made yearly, and besides these nearly every state contains its independent universities or colleges of high merit. This witnesses to the enlightened wisdom and zeal, both of private persons and of the state authorities who rightly think nothing better could be done for the youth than to place before them the amplest facilities for the prosecuting of every kind of study. How much such facilities are appreciated is shown by the large and constantly increasing attendance not only at the universities supported by the states, but also for colleges of private foundation.
"Knowing well what they are doing, I feel a sincere affection for the Universities of America. I admire the earnestness which the instructors and professors in your schools throw into their work, even though it is almost always insufficiently remunerated. I expect great results from the diffusion of knowledge among all classes of the people, and believe that many men of natural gifts who might otherwise have been left without adequate training, will be able to render admirable service to the community as writers, teachers, and workers for the public good.
"There is, I believe, no country in the world in which so large a proportion of the young men and women are now receiving an education of the university type as in the United States. In all probability the students of your country have now all the institutions of higher education that
are necessary. What is most needed at this time is to develop the efficiency of these institutions. This should be done by increasing the teaching staff and providing for higher salaries so that the best men possible may be secured. It may also be done by the developing of those branches of study which, while they are not likely to be most popular, are essential to a thorough education. It is not only the applied sciences which should be taught in your university. You should not think that all education of the liberal type rests upon the thorough knowledge of such courses as agricultural chemistry and engineering. On the other hand remember that theoretic sciences such as economics, chemistry, physics and biology are all important.
"Moreover, there is even greater danger in all countries today of neglecting the literary or humanistic subjects such as philosophy, history and philology. Without ample provision for the teaching of these branches of learning, no institution deserves the name of university. And so I would remind you as students that while you are here you are not preparing yourselves merely for your vocational life, but also for life itself. You must acquire those interests and tastes which will give you enjoyment in after years. You must learn to love literature and history and to think about the great things which have been treated in the works of the most famous writers of olden times.
"Never be afraid to spend time on studies which seem remote to our own times. From the ancient writers of Greece and Rome, from the great poets of later times, such as Dante Shakespeare, and Milton, there is still to be gathered such fruit as does not grow on any trees of today. And remember in every study, whether it be scientific literary or historical,the essential thing is to be thorough, to face and master ever difficulty, to be sure that what you know is known accurately. The habit of sound and careful independent thinking is the best intellectual quality a young man can start with in his journey through life."
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Missouri—Kansas debate. Saturday evening, April 30. Fraser Hall.
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Special Train TO Baldwin
via Santa Fe
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Fare Round Trip 64c.
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