T H E TORCH
of
REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON , OCTOBER 5 1899.
6
The Emancipation
of Education.
Concluded from 3d page.
world ci protoplasm, viz : Microbes, ptanO.an-
jmaie and m an, considered as to his physiol­
ogy, anatom y, hygiene and physiological pay-
choloey and com parative sociology.
Third vear: H um an H istory, primitive So-
ciology, Linguistics, Religions, I nätitutioos,
Law, Politics, Economics, Ethics and Aesthet-
F o u rth year: General Philoaophy of the Sci­
ences and Sociology in its bearing upon indi­
vidual and social life, and studies preparatory
to some special business or profession, with
exercises in the teaching of others.
Tliis curriculum does not m ean, of course,
th a t each of the three years is to he occupied
hv the sciences above indicated exclusively,
hut th a t general inform ation, culture and
practical applications will accom pany the em ­
phasis-course of each year. And it also im­
plies, as the fact is,that the preparation for the
university course has been provided for, which
commences with a k indergarten, prim ary and
higher classes, under the charge of com petent,
experienced teachers of both sexes, for th e p u r­
pose is to have this institution thoroughly co­
educational. T hus the word “ U niversity,” as
is implied in its etym ology (universalis), will
give a good theoretical and also practical
knowledge of the whole world in which we
live, and afford the means and business prepa­
ration necessary to em h ie the student to meet
his or her lot and fate therein successfully.
The theoretical knowledge m ust of necessi­
ty he based upon, (1) a substantial discipline
in the M athem atics, w ithout which as a key,
there can he no sufficient acquaintance with
the facts, things, processes and laws of the ex­
ternal or objective world; (2) a substantial
disciplire in Linguistics, the Science of L a n ­
guage, w ithout which as a philosophy and
key, there can he no sufficient acquaintance
with the history of the origin and growth of
the hum an race, and of its intellectual and
social progress towards civilization— th a t is,
of the subjective world of m ental and hum an
evolution.
W ith these keys placed in his
hands, the practical sciences, the modern lan ­
guages, and all of the needful preparations for
any profession or business-life will be within
the easy acquisition of the student, and will
he effectively opened up and pursued in the
rest of the U niversity courses of study, as may
he desired.
It is recommended, therefore, to all students
to lo»e no time io getting these two invaluable
keys well in hand, as the foundation of life
and education. Special elective studies and
accom plishm ents will then become pleasant as
well as useful acquisitions. For these special
courses of instruction arrangem ents may he
■made by those not otherw ise connected with
the U niversity.
The physical exercise and health of the stu ­
dents will be a m atter of constant attention.
W hile the “ seed-time of life” seems too val­
uable to be wasted in contests of mere physic­
al and brutal rivalry, a course of practical
gym nasium exercises will take their place;
an d an acquaintance with nature will he en ­
couraged in the laboratory, the work shop, gar­
den aud farm connected with the U niversity,all
under expert m anagem ent.
These will be
made to afford to the students a helpful skill
in practical life, as a result of physical exer­
cise aud recreation.
The students ol both sexes and of all ages
will have the advantages of family life and
care, either at the college home near the U ni­
verity Buildings, or with suitable families in
the village of Silverton, which cannot he ex­
celled tor its healihfulness, n atu ral ad v a n ­
tages, and for good, reliable people, living in
com fortable homes, away from the dissipations
and excitem ents which too often wreck or in ­
terfere with a successful student life.
Third: We have now explicated to some ex­
tent the sentim ents and general purposes of
* our institu tio n in treating of the word “ Lib­
eral,” and the intellectual and scientific base
of it in ex p lain in in g the word “ L niversity ; it
rem ains to say a few words about the location,
viz.: “Silverton, Oregon.”
This town and village of Silverton (p o p u la­
tion about 1500) is situated on Silver creek,
fourteen miles northeast from Salem , th e cap­
ital of the state, a capital easy of access and
which has a large state library and all of the
conveniences and a ttrac tio n s of a growing
western city — being next to P ortland in size
and im portance in the state.
The people of Silverton are m ostly A m eri­
cans, m oral and well-to-do, industrious and
generally “ Liberals” in thought and sen ti­
ment, well wishing and helpful tow ards th eir
Liberal U niversity, Oregon, which could h a rd ­
ly have found a more healthful, beautiful, con­
venient and suitable location. It is destined,
in a few years, to be one of the most useful
and happv centers of education and culture
upon the Pacific coast— in line with such cen­
ters in California, and those to come in W ash ­
ington. Let us, then, “ not despise the day of
sm all things,” which are the seeds and begin­
nings of the higher education, which the great
peoples and States upon our Pacific coast need
and dem and, and the benefits of which will by
no means be lim ited to them. F or , we may
not overlook the fact th a t it is from these
three great W estern States that a new rep u b li­
can influence is arising, to be felt for good
throughout our country, and so in the general
progress of the world. The clim ate and ne­
cessities of these mates have enabled their
people to largely escape “ modern degeneracy.”
They are am ong, if not, the most healthy,
strong, beautiful and resolute people in the
world. W hether we look in the prize ring
(Jeffreys), the beauty-fair (S ybil), the editori­
al sanctum (H earst and Davenport), the lead­
ers in the halls of legislation, or on the battle
fields, we see the precedence is held by the
robust and splendid sons and daughters of
these great western States. N ature and “ n a t­
ural selection” has made them to be the best
nursery of the hum an race. N ature, by her
glorious and vigorous clim ates, her fertile and
various soils and products, has done her part
so th a t there can be no successful rival.
“ N atural selection,” operating by its process
of em igration, startin g with the western
movem ents of the A ryan races, ages ago, from
the steppes of Asia, passed the M editerranean
and Europe, and the British Isles, and the At­
lantic coast, and the great In lan d , and has
finally brought up the cream of the races
against the true U ltim a Thule, the coast of
the boumlless Pacific. They m ay m ake th a t
Ocean our “ American Lake,” but th eir tri­
um phs and culture can not hope for ages to
remove or m aterially change the dark and yel­
low races, which have th eir fetichist m illions
too thick to be moved on the Asiatic coast. Must,
then, progress and civilization he arrested for­
ever? By every means and by all m eans No! I he
tim e has come with this closing century for
the progressive peoples, who have been brought
to look out upon the Pacific, to gather up and
husband, and reform and educate and en­
lighten their strength for the greatest move­
m ent, the most pressing duty, the sublim est
mission th a t has vver yet tested our American
race— the burden, the d u ty , the mission of the
resurgance . By th a t is m eant the return-w ave
of liberty, order, welfare, enlightenm ent— in a
word, a higher H um anity from this Pacific
coast hack again over the Inland to the A t­
lantic, and then on over the Isles and Europe,
until it rests in its glorious fulfillm ent over
the Asiatic cradle from whence it arose.
We have too often been accustomed to re­
cite or sing the good Bishop B urckley’s ode on
the planting of the Arts on the A tlantic coast,
as if th at, as it says, was to be the end of our
Am erican career:—
“ W estw ard th e course of E m pire tak es its way,
T he first four Acts alread y p ast,
The fifth sh all close th e D ram a w ith th e day.
T im e’s noblest offspring is th e la st! ”
H ere , th a t first sublim e D ram a of the Pro­
gress of H u m an ity has reached the last scene
of its fifth Act on the Pacific coast. N ature
writes, “ ne plus ultra ” there— no more be­
yond! But to stop is to perish, or to stand
still like the m illions of C hina, which the act­
ivity of the A ryan races forbids. Never cau we
rest idly on these western m ountains and do
nothing but p ain t our Ideals on the vacant sky
w ith the hues of the setting sun, a s it drops from
us forever, in th a t lim itless waste of waters!
Nor shall we become buccaneers, roam ing the
islands and coasis beyond, to reduce to depen­
dence and slavery the m illions we can neither
subdue, remove, rule or absorb w ithout loss of
liberty, th a t priceless jewel, to them au d io us!
S hall we not ra th e r throw our energies in high ­
er l if e ; rise again in the higher mission of a
resurgance.
Commence the return m atch
from the Pacific of a higher vigor and cu l­
ture, bearing the new E ra of well-being to the
whole hum an race, gradually changing the
dying past and arrested presen into a nobler
future for all?
Is not this the highest am bition, th e noblest
ideal, th a t could inspire the arrested energy of
the rising generations of our new C entury and
Era? W hat better th an to teach them to re­
conquer the old with the better new’; to so guide
the course of evolution th a t they m ay see
our whole race, no longer steeped in poverty,
racked by anxiety, benum bed by superstition,
degraded by ignorance and misery, but, a t
last, really em ancipated, regenerated and dis­
en th ralled by the G enius,the love and light of
em ancipation? But the return m arch of th a t
G enius m ust he from the W est,a W est en lig h t­
ened, regenerated, inspired by an em ancipated
education, sustaining an am bition as lofty and
as pure as the snow-clad peaks of its own su n ­
lit m ountains.
An Open Letter.
To T he F riends in the E ast :
Forgive this general way of responding to
an interest, which your kindness to us when
we left New Y ork shows you must still feel in
our lot and fate, for you are so m any th a t you
cannot be reached in any other way.
After a stop-over in W ashington, Chicago
and P ortland, we reached here, exhausted by
the travel, on the 28th ult., and found the
friends aw aiting us w ith hearty welcome and
com fortable quarters.
The next two days we spent in resting an d
looking over the country and affairs of the
Liberal U niversity of Oregon, with which our
fate is henceforth to be connected. On Sun-
da v, Oct. 1, the incorporation of the U niversity
was celebrated at Liberal H all, at which I
m ade the In au g u ral Address, which will be
printed in the Torch of Reason, and which I
hope you will read, for it will m ake fu rth er
w riting about the U niversity unnecessary at
preseut. The audience filled th e hall, and
were very much pleased with the address and
the proceedings. On the next day the F all
Term was opened and 30 stu d en ts enrolled,
and as m any more are promised within the
next two weeks, th a t is as soon as th e building
is ready for them . We were all pleased by the
m asterly way in which President H osm er
m anaged the opening. He is a n atu ra l born
teacher, and ju st the one to arrange and run
its m achinery and discipline w ithout a strain ,
and with the love and respect of the students
and of everyone concerned. We m ake a good
team together, an d , fortunately, agree in con­
victions and sentim ents so th a t hearty co-op­
eration in the future is assured. W hile P resi­
d en t Hosm er furnishes the warp I can throw
in th e woof; and, back of both, the business
and financial affairs are well m anaged by
Pearl W. Geer, whose services are invaluable.
On M onday evening a reception was given
to the new professors and pupils a t L iberal
H all, which was a most enjoyable affair, and
closed with the first exercise of the young folks
in dancing, which they enjoyed greatly, but
retired at an early hour, so as to be ready for
th e lessons and “ expositions” tom orrow, wheji
I am to open on Linguistics, by the “ story of
th e alp h ab et.”
The new U niversity building is large and
com m odious, well suited to its purposes, and
has the control of about 50 acres of land about
it, which would m ake an adm irable residence
park for cottages to be occupied in tim e by
patrons of the U niversity and th eir families,
if the Liberals support this undertaking.
Concluded on 8th page.