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 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
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 THE COLLECTION OF 
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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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ADDRESS 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 ilumni issociation of tlie UniYersity 
 
 OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 By JOHN MANNING, LL. D., 
 
 GREENSBORO, N. C: 
 THOMAS, REECE & CO., JOB PRINTERS. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 ilun^ni Association of the University 
 
 OF" NORTH <JA.-R<yT^nSfA. 
 
 BY JOHN MANNING, LL. D. 
 
 3fr. President ami Gentlemen, o{ memory. ''• Forsitan et haec 
 Ahimni of the Universii-y of olim me meminisse juvabitr Nor 
 
 North Carolina : — • -n t jj 4-1 u r 
 
 will 1 sadden the harmony ot 
 
 It is a matter for hearty con- ^.i • n 4.- u 
 
 ^ these joyous recollections by re- 
 
 ffratulation and thankfulness that ' .• -1 1 c au 
 
 ^ counting the necrology of the 
 
 so many of us have been permit- ^ , ui i i 
 
 -^ . ^ past year, although we have 
 
 ted to assemble at this our annual r ■ 1 1 1 u r -i 
 
 turnished our usual number 01 pil- 
 
 meeting. It is fit and proper that ■„ 4. ^.u 4- ..- ui 
 
 ^ t" t" grims to that innumerable cara- 
 
 we should give to the precious - 
 
 memories of our college days at 
 
 least one day in the year, for aside ^'^ r"".^ "° names; instinctively I feel 
 
 -' •' ' tacn at some well-remembered grave 
 
 from our duty to our venerable will kneel, 
 
 Alma Mater, it does each one of ^"^ f^om the inscription wipe the weeds 
 
 and moss, 
 US good to exchange our friendly For every heart best knoweth its own 
 greetings, to warm and refresh loss." 
 
 our hearts by the recollections of But, gentlemen, if these friend- 
 our earlier and better associations,' ly greetings and this loving recall 
 and to withdraw our thoughts of the past be the sole object and 
 from the well trodden highways effect of this re-union, we shall 
 of our daily business and callings | not have filled the measure of our 
 to let them wander at large in the duty nor met the opportunities of 
 almost forgotten paths of youth this occasion. 
 
 and early manhood. To some of From every re-union of the 
 us here, as to your speaker, these Alumni of the University some 
 happy thoughts, these bright : practical benefit should result to 
 memories, are in the far IcJng ago, | the State, to the cause of public 
 but their memory is all the sweet- education, and to our Alma Mater. 
 er on that account, and each year It is true the University is a 
 photographs them more distinctly State institution, controlled en- 
 and in fresher colors on the tablet tirely by a body of Trustees elect- 
 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 ed by the General Assembly, and 
 our association is not a legislative 
 body, nor has it the legal power 
 to carry out its suggestions, but 
 then it would be overstepping the 
 modesty of nature, of history and 
 of facts, if it did not claim for our 
 Alumni what every one freely 
 concedes — that their influence is 
 second to no other equal number 
 of our citizens. Our Alumni have 
 been, are now, and if we do our 
 duty to the University, will al- 
 ways be, among the foremost 
 leaders of public opinion and 
 thought in the State and the 
 pioneers in every good work. 
 From our ranks have gone forth 
 some of our most prominent 
 statesmen, farmers, generals, 
 lawyers, teachers, preachers, mer- 
 chants, manufacturers, and busi- 
 ness men, whose wisdom, thrift, 
 learning and probity,have brought 
 both honor and wealth to the 
 State. Such statesmen as Man- 
 gum, Morehead, Graham, Cling- 
 man, Caldwell, Vance and Ran- 
 som. Such generals as Pettigrew, 
 Grimes, Branch, Scales and Ander- 
 son. Such lawyers as Pearson, 
 Battle, Manly, Moore, Phillips, 
 Ashe, Ruffin, Dick and Buxton. 
 Such tribunes of the people as 
 Miller, George Davis, Duncan 
 K. McRae, Settle and Dock- 
 ery. Such manufacturers as the 
 Holts, Carr, Tate, Morehead, 
 the Williamsons and Scott. Such 
 farmers as Smith, Battle, Camer- 
 
 on, Holt, S. B. Alexander and 
 Elias Carr. Such teachers as the 
 Hoopers, Binghams, Horners, 
 Phillips, Graves, Winstons and 
 Lynch. Such business men as R. 
 S. Tucker, Bridgers, Hawkins, A. 
 B. Andrews, De Rossett and 
 David Worth. 
 
 Now as this influence must be 
 conceded, there comes with it 
 a correspondent responsibility 
 that we cannot avoid nor evade. 
 What have we done .'' What are 
 we doing to promote wholesome 
 legislation for the State, for public 
 education and for the University.'' 
 
 The University is firmly en- 
 trenched by the Constitution, and 
 I believe, fully as firmly by the 
 hearts of the people of the State, 
 against every open assault that 
 can be made against it. 
 
 In 1776, at the beginning of 
 that momentous struggle against 
 fearful odds, the patriots of this 
 revolution anticipating, it would 
 seem, the wants of the present 
 day, and realizing then, the truth, 
 that in the matter of education, 
 the law of political economy that 
 the demand precedes the supply, 
 is reversed and that the supply 
 must precede the demand, declar- 
 ed in the constitution, that "all 
 useful learning should be duly 
 encouraged and promoted in one 
 or more Universities." 
 
 In 17S9, about six years after 
 the close of a seven years' war, 
 filled with the horrors, adversities 
 
Address before the Alummi Association. 
 
 5 
 
 and self-denials of that terrific 
 struggle, when they began with 
 wise fore-thought and courageous 
 hearts to lay broad and strong 
 the foundations of this great 
 commonwealth they proceeded 
 as far as their impoverished con- 
 dition and sparse population 
 would permit, without delay or 
 misgiving to redeem this Consti- 
 tutional pledge, and declared that 
 "in all well regulated govern- 
 ments it is the indispensable duty 
 of every Legislature to consult 
 the happiness of a rising genera- 
 tion and endeavor to fit them for 
 an honorable discharge of the 
 social duties of life, by paying 
 the strictest attention to their 
 education, and whereas an Uni- 
 versity, supported by permanent 
 funds and well endowed, would 
 have the most direct tendency to 
 answer the above purpose," &c., 
 &c. Therefore they incorporated 
 the University of North Carolina. 
 
 The Convention of 1835 1^^^ 
 the requirement of the University 
 in the Constitution. 
 
 The Convention of 1861 did 
 the same. 
 
 The Convention of 1865 re-en- 
 acted the provision. 
 
 The Convention of 1868 did 
 the same. 
 
 The people, by an immense 
 majority, ratified the University 
 by separate vote in 1873, and 
 gave the management to the 
 General Assembly. 
 
 The Convention of 1875 re-en- 
 acted the University provisions, 
 and the people ratified their action 
 in 1876. 
 
 So that the people have impos- 
 ed it on the General Assembly, 
 at seven different epochs, to 
 support and maintain the Univer- 
 sity, and the Constitution, under 
 wdiose protecting a^gis we now 
 live, bears this imperative injunc- 
 tion from the people to their 
 representatives: 
 
 Art. IX, Sec. 7. "The General Assem- 
 bly shall provide that the benefits of the 
 University, as far as practicable, be ex- 
 tended to the youth of the State free of 
 expense for tuition. 
 
 So that the University does not 
 lack the sanction either of the 
 Constitution or of the people. 
 Under the loving care of the 
 people of the State lead by these 
 wise master builders, much more 
 than from the liberality of our 
 General Assembly, the University 
 grew in the lapse of nearly a cen- 
 tury to be a great institution, the 
 nursing mother of the ingenuous 
 youth of the State without dis- 
 tinction of party or sect. Em- 
 bracing all her children in her 
 great catholic heart, she has 
 always striven to allay sectional 
 feeling, to moderate sectarian 
 heat, to cultivate and encourage 
 a broad, ardent love for the State, 
 a veneration for her early history 
 and traditions, an appreciation of 
 the domestic virtues of her citizens, 
 and a love of liberal learning. 
 
6 
 
 Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 From 1856 to 1861 were her 
 years of greatest prosperity, and 
 the catalogues of that period 
 show an average of about four 
 hundred (400) matriculates for 
 each year; and, by private dona- 
 tions and the savings from its 
 large fund received for tuition, she 
 had accumulated a good endow- 
 ment. The State had given the 
 University it controls and man- 
 ages, not one dollar directly from 
 its treasury, except an inconsider- 
 able sum at the commencement, 
 but the prosperous condition of our 
 citizens, the want of similar institu- 
 tions south of us from our own 
 border to the Rio Grande, fur- 
 nished the University with 
 sufficient means and stiidents to 
 enable it to make vigorous head- 
 way and to place it in the front 
 rank of the educational institu- 
 tions of the country, those light- 
 houses of republican liberty 
 and national safet)'. 
 
 In 1 86 1 came the war between 
 the States. I will not lift the 
 curtain which time, the kindest of 
 friends, has- drawn over those 
 dark days of blood and nights of 
 anguish. Sufficient for my pur- 
 pose to say, that after a while the 
 dark clouds of war and recon- 
 struction drifted away before the 
 face of the Sun of Peace; but the 
 University sat " mourning for her 
 children and would not be com- 
 forted because they are not," her 
 endowment was gone, her halls 
 
 were desolate, her professors 
 dead or scattered, her glory 
 departed. 
 
 In the beautiful village of Chap- 
 el Hill where it seems to me the 
 trees are the noblest, the leaves 
 the greenest, the sun the bright- 
 est, and the air the softest, where 
 the summer loving martlet might 
 make her perpetual home, the 
 State owned $200,000 worth of 
 property, libraries containing 
 25,000 volumes, and buildings for 
 the accommodation of 400 stu- 
 dents. The only inhabitants of 
 these magnificent University 
 buildings were the portraits of the 
 good and great Carolinians who 
 from their niches in the Society 
 Halls looked mournfull}' and 
 reproachfully upon this scene of 
 desolation. All was "as idle as 
 a painted ship upon a painted 
 ocean." 
 
 In 1875 you, gentlemen, and 
 other friends of liberal education 
 in the State came to the rescue 
 and gave to the University $20,000. 
 $15,000 of this sum of your dona- 
 tion was spent repairing and 
 putting in order the property of 
 the State. 
 
 The Congress of the United 
 States in 1862 gave to the State 
 of North Carolina land scrip upon 
 the following conditions: 
 
 1st. Sec. 4. That the moneys arising 
 from the sale of the scrip and interest 
 shall constitute a perpetual fund, the 
 capital of which shall remain forever 
 undiminished, and the interest shall be 
 
Address before the Alumni Association 
 
 inviolably appropriated to the purpose of 
 the Act * * to the maintenance of at 
 least one college, where the leading object 
 shall be without excluding other sci- 
 entific and classical studies to teach such 
 branches of learning as are related to ag- 
 riculture and the mechanic arts. 
 
 2nd. Sec. 5. If any portion of the fund 
 be lost or diminished, it shall be replaced 
 by the State, and the annual interest shall 
 be applied to the purposes of the Act. No 
 portion of the fund shall be applied to 
 the purchase, erection, preservation or 
 repair of any buildings, and if the money 
 is riot expended for the purposes of this 
 Act it shall pay the same back to the 
 United States. 
 
 The State could not comply 
 with these conditions in any other 
 way than by giving the land scrip 
 to the Univ^ersity, and the Gener- 
 al Assembly in making the gift 
 coupled with it the following con- 
 ditions: 
 
 Acts of 1866-7, chap. 251. To comply 
 with the Act of Congress just recited. 
 
 To establish in addition to the reg- 
 ular curriculum of the University, two 
 professorships in which the leading object 
 shall be, without excluding other scien- 
 tific and classical studies, to teach such 
 branches of learning, as the General As- 
 sembly may prescribe, in order to promote 
 the liberal education of the industrial 
 classes in the several pursuits and pro- 
 fessions of life. I 
 
 To educate free of expense for room 
 rent and tuition one youth from each 
 count)'. 
 
 and these conditions have been 
 carried out in their letter and 
 spirit. 
 
 The Board of Education at 
 that time, 1866, having the con- 
 trol of the scrip, sold it for 
 $135,000, and a subsequent Board 
 invested $ 125,000 of the proceeds 
 as follows: $80,000 of bonds, not 
 
 special tax, and $160,000 of spcial 
 tax. This investment, of course, 
 proved a total loss. 
 
 In accepting the land scrip 
 from the United States, the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of North Carolina 
 agreed to pay interest on the 
 proceeds, or pay back to the 
 United States the whole amount. 
 As the investment had been lost, 
 the General Assembly, 1874-5, 
 C. 352, according to the terms of 
 the trust, issued a certificate of 
 indebtedness to the University 
 for $125,000 and pays the interest 
 on this certificate semi-annually. 
 The Trustees of the University 
 then with the private donation of 
 $20,000 before alluded to, and 
 the $7,500 derived from the 
 donation of the United States, 
 in 1875, elected a Faculty, pre- 
 scribed a course of study and 
 opened the doors of the Univer- 
 sity to the youth of the State. 
 
 Their success has been greater 
 than the most sanguine had even 
 dared to hope for, and after a 
 close observation for nearly eight 
 years of the course of study, the 
 modes of instruction, and of the 
 morals and habits of the students, 
 I do not hesitate to aver that no 
 institution in this land of colleges 
 and universities, regard being had 
 to the means at its command, is 
 doing better, more practical and 
 effective work, than is our Univer- 
 sity. It is educating free of charge 
 for tuition, fifty-four young men. 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 It furnishes Bingham with two 
 of his teachers; it has given Hor- 
 ner an accomplished assistant, to 
 Lynch a teacher, to the public 
 schools of Wilmington, a superin- 
 tendent, to the schools at Golds- 
 boro, Durham, Fayetteville New- 
 bern, Wilmington, Raleigh, Char- 
 lotte, and to the Graham Normal 
 College, and the schools of other 
 places, forty-seven teachers, and 
 now the President of the Univer- 
 sity has applications that he 
 cannot fill. To the agricultural 
 department of the State it has given 
 its geologist, mineralogist and two 
 chemists, to the mining interest 
 of the State a skilled metallurgist, 
 and to all the avocations of our 
 citizens a goodly number of 
 educated, well trained, thought- 
 ful, active, successful business 
 men. 
 
 At no period of its history has 
 it had higher claims upon its 
 alumni, upon the General Assem- 
 bly, or upon the people of the 
 State. It has infused a new life 
 into the educational work of the 
 State. Normal and graded schools 
 have sprung up in various sections 
 and greater advance has been 
 made in the work of the public 
 schools, in the cause of popular 
 education, in the last eight years 
 than in • any fifty years of our 
 previous history. 
 
 But gentlemen, the University 
 is not doing the work it ought to 
 do. It is doing all it can with the 
 
 money at its disposal — but it is 
 cramped, cribbed, coffined for 
 want of means. 
 
 In i88i the General Assembly 
 appropriated $5000 a year to its 
 support, the first dollar ever given 
 regularly from the State treasury. 
 This act marks an era of whole- 
 some advance in our legislation. 
 So we see, that the constitution and 
 repeated acts of the legislature 
 have declared it to be the policy 
 of this State to extend to the 
 youth of North Carolina a Uni- 
 versity, as well as a common 
 school education, " free of expense 
 for tuition," and that the principle 
 of State aid being settled, the 
 only queston at issue now is as 
 to the amount to be appropriated 
 from the public funds, and when 
 this appropriation shall be made. 
 Now, gentlemen, it v/ill be my 
 object to show that the act of 
 1 88 1 is the first step in the right 
 direction, and that it should be 
 followed at an early day by a 
 farther, prudent and well guarded 
 advance along the same path, and 
 that it is the duty of this associa- 
 tion to use all its influence to 
 accomplish this long looked for, 
 long desired, and most necessary 
 result. A result 'demanded by 
 the spirit of the times, by the 
 necessities of our condition, by 
 the very law of our existence as 
 a state, by the fearful illiteracy of 
 our people, by the peril with 
 which this illiteracy threatens our 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 republican institutions, and by a 
 wholesome regard to our material 
 growth and to our position and 
 influence among our sister States. 
 
 The most careless observer of 
 the current of the public thought 
 of the day cannot help noticing 
 that the people, the public journals 
 and the legislative bodies of the 
 various States and of the Nation, 
 are considering most anxiously 
 and universally three questions, 
 viz: Public education, civil service 
 reform, and the modes for raising 
 revenue. Solve the first correct- 
 ly and the solution of the two 
 others follow as necessary corol- 
 laries, and this not only by settling 
 the principles which are to con- 
 trol legislation, but the details by 
 which the practical working of 
 V these principles are to be secured. 
 
 Public opinion is not only the 
 supreme law but it is the tribunal 
 of the last resort which is to 
 interpret and execute this law. 
 It is the law-maker and at the 
 same time the interpreter of all 
 laws, and the power which, at 
 the last rights all wrongs, makes 
 all laws, settles all controversies 
 is manhood suffrage. ''Quid leges 
 sine tnoribiis vane proficiunt" has 
 passed into an axiom in this coun- 
 try. It is of first importance, 
 then, that public opinion should 
 not only be honest, but intelli- 
 gent. It is the conviction, 
 coupled with the love of his fel- 
 lows, that compelled the intelli- 
 
 gent mind and loving heart of 
 Peabody to consecrate part of his 
 fortune to the education of the 
 Southern youth. The same convic- 
 tion has built Johns-Hopkins, Cor- 
 nell, Vanderbilt and Packer Uni- 
 ersities. The same conviction, 
 coupled with an intelligent appre- 
 ciation of the money value of 
 education as an investment, and as 
 the most effective agent in pro- 
 moting the material prosperity of 
 a commonwealth, has forced into 
 the constitution and into the acts 
 of the legislature of the States, 
 North, South, East and West of 
 us, provisions and appropriations 
 for public schools and universities. 
 No where do you find these two, 
 public schools and universities, 
 dissociated or antagonistic. 
 
 What appropriations do other 
 States make .'' 
 
 Other States make appropria- 
 tions to higher education as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Virginia — annually— University, $30.00000 
 
 Militarj' Institute . , . 15,00000 
 
 Agricultural College, 20,000 00 
 
 Hampton School (col), 10 000 00 
 
 Also to relieve the Military Institute of debt 
 
 paid annually since 1876 10,00000 
 
 Total, ....••■..••■.. #85,00000 
 South Carolina appropriates annually, . . . #30,000 00 
 Missouri " "... 51,75000 
 
 Maryland " "... 53.890 00 
 
 Louisiana " "... 30,000 00 
 
 New York " " . . .319,00000 
 
 Kansas " " . . 33,00000 
 
 California " "... 170,00000 
 
 Geoigia " "... 29,000 co 
 
 Mississippi '' "... 45,000 00 
 
 Colorado " "... 45,00000 
 
 Nebraska " "... 38,00000 
 
 Minnesota " " . . .*73,ooooo 
 
 Wisconsin " " ... 68,000 00 
 
 Iowa " << . . . 62,000 00 
 
 Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
 lege has #17,000 annually from the State. 
 Its income (excluding tuition) is #27,000. 
 It receives one student free from each 
 
 county • 
 
10 
 
 Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 Georgia University has an income of $17,914 
 
 (exclusive of tuition) 17,91400 
 
 Tennessee Agricultural College fund amounts 
 
 to $24,210, which goes to the University. 24,21000 
 Maryland Agricultural College has.income of ti3,5oo 00 
 Alabama " " " " f24,ooo 00 
 
 Kansas ** " ** " f20,ooo 00 
 
 Michigan _ :' " " " 135,00000 
 
 *And repairs. fTuition free. 
 
 And now the President of the 
 United States and the executives 
 and legislatures of the several 
 States, our own included, are 
 knocking loudly at the doors of 
 Congress, demanding appropria- 
 tions from the U. S. treasury 
 for public education. 
 
 In the States of the North 
 and North-west, these large ap- 
 propriations from the public treas- 
 ury are supplemented by the 
 most munificent private dona- 
 tions, and yet the demand is for 
 more money. So far as we are 
 concerned, it is impossible for us 
 to go along as we have been do- 
 ing. As you see by the imper- 
 fect list I have just called over in 
 your presence, the States all 
 around us are supporting and 
 making their Universities first- 
 class institutions and opening 
 them free of expense for tuition 
 to their own youth, and thus, by 
 keeping their young men within 
 their own borders, they have di- 
 verted from our University this 
 rich source of income in bygone 
 days. The University must rely 
 altogether now on three sources 
 for support and growth : ist 
 State aid; 2nd private donation; 
 3rd receipts for tuition. 
 
 Private donations cannot be 
 
 reckoned upon: ist, because our 
 people are too poor; but 2nd and 
 principally because our rich men 
 have not formed the habit of 
 giving to public institutions of 
 this character, and are lacking in 
 public spirit. The only donations 
 of money since 1875 have been 
 from Dr. Deems, W. H. Vander- 
 bilt and B. F. Moore Honor to 
 whom honor is due. 
 
 The next source, receipts from 
 tuition, is alike uncertain and 
 insufficient. 
 
 No college is doing or can do 
 its work without an endowment 
 or appropriations from the public 
 treasury. The Universities of 
 Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Vander- 
 bilt, Johns-Hopkins, of Michigan, 
 Virginia, and all the other lead- 
 ing colleges with their hundreds 
 0/ students, could not live without 
 endowments or annual appropria- 
 tions. How then can it be done in 
 North Carolina where there are not 
 to-day at all our colleges seven 
 hundred students, and these divid- 
 ed among four institutions.-' 
 
 The only source then left to 
 the University is State aid. 
 Should this be given. ^ I answer 
 yes. 1st, because it is the duty of 
 the State to educate its citizens, 
 and all of its citizens. Who else 
 can or will, do the work, or if 
 some other person or number of 
 persons can be found to do it, 
 would the State be justifiable in 
 surrendering this work to another.'' 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 II 
 
 Shall the church be the sole 
 educator in the higher branches 
 of educations ? 
 
 Now I have as great reverence 
 for the church and its ministry as 
 any man living. I regard the one 
 as the body of Christ, and the 
 other as men called of God to 
 instruct and lead us in the way of 
 righteousness, and yet it seems 
 to me that the church ought not \ 
 to be allowed by the State to do 
 this work. 
 
 1st. Because if left to it, it 
 will not be done, it has not 
 the means. The various denom- ] 
 inations of the Christian church \ 
 will not unite to do this work, and j 
 no one has sufficient means or I 
 following to establish and main- \ 
 tain a University. The result 
 will be an attempt to keep up as 
 many colleges as there are de- 
 nominations, and consequently a 
 failure. 
 
 2nd. It is wrong in principle. 
 Turn this work over to the vari- 
 ous Christian denominations, and 
 the result would be disastrous to 
 both the cause of religion and of 
 education. How long would it 
 be before the demand would come 
 up that the school fund and the 
 schools should be apportioned 
 among them according to their 
 respective numbers ? What is 
 this but the demand now made 
 by the Catholic church for its 
 share of the school funds in New 
 York; and then how long before 
 
 the offices of the State would be 
 distributed among them accord- 
 ing to their estimated numbers, 
 religious creed, not fitness, be the 
 test of qualification for office, and 
 finally a most unnatural union 
 between Church and State, ce- 
 mented, and men proscribed, and 
 excluded from participation in 
 public affairs, because of religious 
 belief.'' Besides it will not stop 
 here, it will enter into all branch- 
 es of trade and industry. Mer- 
 chants, mechanics, lawyers, phy- 
 sicians and schools will be patron- 
 ized according to their church 
 affiliations. God help a land to 
 such ills a prey. Men can no 
 longer be hanged or quartered 
 for religious opinions, but they 
 can be starved and disfranchised. 
 In North Carolina, thus far we 
 have happily escaped these evils, 
 and I feel well assured that 
 to secure further exemption it is 
 only necessary to direct public 
 attention to this matter. 
 
 The State is interested in the 
 welfare of all her citizens. She 
 knows no rank of high or low 
 degree, no sect, no party. All 
 are her children and all alike her 
 care. 
 
 2nd. A University is a necessi- 
 ty for carrying out our public 
 school system. The Superinten- 
 dent of Public Instruction and 
 the Governor both tell us that 
 there are 490,000 children within 
 the school age in the State. Who 
 
12 
 
 Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 is to furnish the teachers for this 
 good army ? They will be had, 
 must be had. Shall we import 
 them and with them a great many 
 other things that we do not want 
 and ought not to have ? Shall 
 our children be taught to love 
 their State, cherish its institutions, 
 to venerate the deeds and civili- 
 zation of their ancestors, and to 
 perpetuate what is wholesome 
 and good in our laws and cus- 
 toms, or shall they be taught to 
 look upon their fathers and moth- 
 ers,as little better than barbarians, 
 our whole social atmosphere as 
 full of nauseous vipers generating 
 assassins and street murderers. 
 
 Gentlemen, the first requisite 
 for an efficient public school sys- 
 tem is competent teachers. 
 Where are they 1^ come from.' 
 from the North or within our own 
 borders ? We must have a train- 
 ing school for teachers. 
 
 3rd. It will pay as an invest- 
 ment. 
 
 Young men who are thirsty for 
 knowledge, who want to know 
 something more of the world be- 
 neath, above and around us, and 
 who wish to promote the happi- 
 ness, and well-being of their 
 fellows, can and must, if they have 
 the means, go beyond the limits 
 of our State and drink at other 
 fountains; while the great mass, 
 not able to go abroad, will find 
 the struggle against adverse for- 
 tune too sharp and cutting, and 
 
 sink back into poverty and dis- 
 content, and it is this class, the 
 poor youth for whom we must 
 provide. Shall the poor man's 
 son have no opportunity to drink 
 at the fountain of learning.-' 
 
 Since the reorganization of the 
 University it has saved by educat- 
 ing our boys at home $75,000 or 
 $100,000 annually. Examine the 
 catalogue of the Universities of 
 our sister States since 1875, and 
 you will see that the number of 
 our young men educated abroad 
 is very small compared to what 
 it was ten years ago, and this 
 money is all saved to this State, 
 because spent within our borders. 
 
 But, gentlemen, when we look 
 at the frightful statistics of the 
 illiteracy of this State as they 
 appear in the census tables of 
 1880, who can estimate what 
 would be the gain to our State if 
 only one-half of this large number 
 could be educated and enlighten- 
 ed, and who does not stand ap- 
 palled by this dark cloud as it 
 stretches its lengthening shadow 
 over every interest of the State. 
 
 The figures, gentlemen, are not 
 flattering to us but truth requires 
 that I should give them. 
 
 Of our white population 22. 14 are illiterate 
 
 " colored " 51.07 " " 
 
 of white voters 58.218 
 
 of colored " 87.076. 
 
 To the patriot, to the philan- 
 thropist, to the property owner, 
 what horrible forebodings against 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 13 
 
 the peace and good order of our 
 society, against the security of 
 private property, and the orderly 
 administration of public justice 
 do those fearful figures evoke. 
 
 " Education is a civil as well as 
 a parental duty. It is the essence 
 of true manhood. By no other 
 means can man make the best of 
 himself and fulfill all his obliga- 
 tions. It is his inalienable birth 
 right. Maximum education makes 
 minimum government possible 
 and secures Maximum liberty." 
 
 Republican institutions cannot 
 stand without the support of an 
 educated constituency. Liberty 
 cannot exist without intelligence. 
 
 But, gentlemen, I will not dwell 
 any longer oh this part of my sub- 
 ject, for the evils of illiteracy and 
 the need and wants of the South 
 in this respect have been in the 
 last few days so eloquently and 
 fearlessly portrayed in this Hall 
 by that distinguished philanthrop- 
 ist and orator, Dr. Curry, that I can 
 not attempt to gild the refined gold 
 of his thoughts and words, but I will 
 make this apology for my seeming 
 temerity in saying even this much, 
 that when I accepted your invita- 
 tion to address you to-night I did 
 not know that I should have to 
 follow that distinguished gentle- 
 man. 
 
 The advantages of an education 
 are always appreciated by a people 
 in proportion as they enjoy them. 
 In communities where education 
 
 is most needed, it is least appre- 
 ciated, and in addition to this 
 natural obstacle, the educational 
 problem at the South is compli- 
 cated with that other problem of 
 race difference, which forces us to 
 double every dollar we have to 
 expend for most public purposes, 
 and it is unjust to the people of 
 this State to say that they have 
 not exerted themselves since the 
 surrender, in the work of educa- 
 tion, for they have done and are 
 doing well, much better than 
 might have been expected under 
 the circumstances, and much 
 more than many States who have 
 been so ready to find fault with 
 them. To tell us of the illiteracy 
 of the blacks is simply to say that 
 we have had negro slavery. Peo- 
 ples not similarly situated can 
 neither understand nor appreciate 
 the troubles that beset this ques- 
 tion, but, gentlemen, we know, 
 we appreciate them and we alone 
 must solve the problem and work 
 out our own deliverance. 
 
 The illiteracy of the South is a 
 standing menace to our institu- 
 tions and we must do our best to 
 remove it, or an alien power will 
 intervene to our injury and to our 
 mortification. If we refuse to 
 look after the education of our 
 whole people, the portion we neg- 
 lect will by this be forced into 
 undue prominence before the 
 people of the United States, and 
 the treasures of the North be 
 
H 
 
 Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 expended for their use and we 
 left with our limited means, and 
 under many disadvantages, to 
 work out unaided the great prob- 
 lem of the education of our 
 white children. 
 
 I know our people think it hard 
 to pay taxes to educate another 
 race, and they are getting restless 
 under the tax, but we must do it, 
 or a greater evil coupled with 
 shame awaits us. Now so far as 
 the University is concerned this 
 race question is out of the way, 
 it cannot trouble us. 
 
 Again in educational matters, 
 men of thought and of education 
 must take the lead, and the invita- 
 tion should always be to the un- 
 educated classes, come up higher ? 
 Inducements must be offered. Men 
 must be invited to educate their 
 sons, and the means must be put 
 within easy reach. There is no 
 such thing as perpetual motion in 
 education. Now, gentlemen, I 
 propose to go back to the theories 
 and principles of our forefathers. 
 
 The men of the South in the 
 past have always thought broadly 
 and planned grandly, but they 
 have failed to execute their grand 
 ideas. They were giants in 
 thought, but babes in execution. 
 
 Now we are entering upon a 
 new era of action, and we must 
 carry out practically the concep- 
 tions of our fathers, or we must 
 fall behind in population, in 
 wealth, in public spirit, and in 
 
 everything that makes a people 
 great, happy and self-reliant. 
 
 In North Carolina, Georgia and 
 Texas, during the last ten years a 
 new impulse has been given to 
 educational work, and as a con- 
 sequence these States are the 
 only States throughout the entire 
 South that have increased in 
 wealth in the last decade. 
 
 In Texas and Georgia tuition 
 at their Universities is free and 
 in North Carolina partially so. 
 
 While this is an era of unusual 
 activity in thought, trade and 
 commerce, it is at the same time 
 eminently materialistic, every- 
 thing is valued according to the 
 way it pours out (as we say) gold. 
 This is one of the perils of the 
 day, but for all this we must enter 
 the arena and take our part in the 
 struggle, but let us take care that 
 while we use the material world 
 it does not drive from our thoughts 
 and from our system of education 
 the immaterial and the spiritual 
 and strand our people upon the 
 frozen shores of infidelity and 
 scepticism. There is a terrible 
 dualism in man, an angel has him 
 by the hand, a serpent by the 
 heart. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, what is the 
 most efficient agent for cor ectly 
 educating the people .-* I answer 
 in the words of the Act of the 
 General Assembly of 1789: "A 
 University supported by public 
 funds and well endowed would 
 
Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 15 
 
 have the most direct tendency to 
 accomplish this purpose," 
 
 1st. Because, as I have endeav- 
 ored to show, it is the civil duty 
 of the State to educate all classes 
 of her citizens. 
 
 2nd. Because as an investment 
 it pays. 
 
 3rd. Because a University can- 
 not be supported otherwise. 
 
 4th. The States all around us 
 have adopted the plan of Univer- 
 sity education free of expense for 
 tuition, and what commends itself 
 to the judgment of our sister 
 States must call for like action on 
 our part, as we have a common 
 hope, a common destin}-, and 
 common perils. 
 
 5th. Because otherwise the pub- 
 lic schools must languish for want 
 of competent teachers. 
 
 6th. Because in educational 
 matters there must be a head to 
 give direction, impulse to the 
 work and to excite a desire 
 among the people for more light, 
 more knowledge, and a higher 
 appreciation of the inestimable 
 benefits of education. Fill the 
 University with students and you 
 crowd all our colleges. 
 
 This has been demonstrated. 
 Since the re-organization of the 
 University in 1875 all our colleges 
 have increased in numbers and 
 there can be no antagonism be- 
 tween them. 
 
 The denominational colleges 
 cannot complain of the State's 
 
 opening the doors of the Univer- 
 sity free of expense for tuition to 
 the youth of the State, but the 
 particular friends of these institu- 
 tions will be stimulated to endow 
 these colleges so that their use- 
 fulness may be increased by 
 offering the same facilities, and 
 thus the means of higher educa- 
 tion put within the reach of all. 
 
 Certainly these institutions 
 ought not and will not stand in 
 the way of public education. 
 
 In our Federal government the 
 State is the unit, and each State 
 has an individuality, produced by 
 difference of settlement, climate, 
 avocation, population, and interest, 
 which it is best that it should main- 
 tain as one bulwark against con- 
 solidation. But each State should 
 attempt to fuse its people. What 
 would tend more to break down 
 the distinctions of class, to dig- 
 nify labor, to bridge the chasm 
 between labor and capital, to 
 efface the suspicion and jealousy 
 with which the poor regard the 
 rich, than to have all classes 
 associated in the friendl}' daily 
 intercourse of college life, where 
 there is no aristocracy but that of 
 mind, no wealth but the love of 
 letters, no titles of nobility but 
 those worn by the successful 
 scholar, when the son of the me- 
 chanic may put the farmer's boy to 
 his mettle, and both tread upon the 
 heels of the rich man's son who 
 lags in the race.'' 
 
i6 
 
 Address before the Alumni Association. 
 
 The University is doing much 
 of this good work now, and the 
 boys from what are called the 
 humbler walks of life, are pushing 
 aside the sons of fortune and 
 carrying off the honors of the 
 institution. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Alumni, see 
 to it that at no distant day the 
 University has all the money it 
 needs, to teach the farmers of the 
 State how best to till its lands, 
 the mechanic how best to use its 
 wood and stone, the manufacturer 
 how best to spin its cotton, the 
 rail road man how best to make 
 his bridges, grades and curves, 
 and all of our citizens how to 
 make the best of themselves and 
 fulfill all their obligations to the 
 State. See to it that its doors 
 shall be opened to the youth of 
 the State free of expense for 
 tuition. This can be done with- 
 out increasing appreciately the 
 present rate of taxation. 
 
 Gentlemen, let it be your 
 pleasure as it is your duty, to see 
 that a gymnasium is erected at 
 the University, where the phy- 
 sique of our young may be culti- 
 vated, their bodies developed as 
 the perfection of manhood be 
 well as their minds and thus 
 
 reached — " mens sana in cor pore 
 sano." 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I have done. 
 I have spoken earnestly, because 
 I feel deeply; I have spoken 
 plainly, because I thought plain 
 words were best; I trust I have 
 offended no one. If I have, I beg 
 that he will remember that I am 
 a native of this State, born in the \ 
 little town of Edenton, that rests \ 
 upon the white waters of the 
 Albemarle as an emerald in its 
 setting of silver, that I am an 
 alumnus of the University, loyal 
 to its past and hopeful of its 
 future, that I have been honored 
 by the people of the State far 
 beyond my deserts, that I love 
 the people of my native State, 
 that I have shared their griefs 
 and sorrows and hope to share 
 their joys and glory. I love every 
 inch of North Carolina soil, from 
 where our ocean Bluebeard locks 
 within his sandy prisons the white 
 clad brides of the sea, to where 
 the Grandfather and Black moun- 
 tains keep their silent, tireless 
 watches over the "land of the sky." 
 
 May our Heavenly Father 
 shower His richest blessings upon 
 the State, upon the University, 
 and upon each of you.