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Show j Rev. Father O'Ryan, the Brilliant Denver Vriter and Ora-; Ora-; tor, Discusses The Great Questions of the Hour Before j The Philosophical Society What the Last Century Has j Done and What It Has Not Done How Human Beings j Are Crushed to Death The University Settlement Movement Explained. Denver, Jan. 15. Father O'Ryan's taik before the Philosophical society, Thursday night lat, has been a buIj-j- 1 t of v. idespread discussion since the ji , eting. The following is the paper in I "1 luring the last election campaign I in l'eiivcr a clever phrase and name I iii-fiine with many a shibboleth. I do 5 ii a know who invented the name, f '( .'.i lie;.' the Fox.' Doubt k.-s some j jl newspaper reporter, one of the proph- jl t is i.l the ephemeral go.-pel of our day. II Tim' invention was more than clever B i! hinted at got;us. The name came h 1 1. I'. ire us to typify the lower and bas:-r n e incuts in one citizenship; it typified i ilit: saloon influence and the gambling I uppitit and tlx? rod-light district as- Msianee. all the low cunning and crude I ' s- ifitlir.ess that br-ar down heavily on civil- virtue and true municipal ideals.. "I don't know whether there was any one real individual hinted at or not. I , ni know that what the name suggested to' me. is multitudinous; he is everywhere every-where in our cities; he is active in our political life, lie has no ideals that go farther than his baser needs of the hour. He wil cry out 'Municipal ownership.' own-ership.' or "Parks for the people.' or aii other high name, just as a shib-I shib-I 1 oleth. and no more. To make politics E ' pay him, in a base way: to satisfy the IS beast in him for the hour or day: to Fee a job where he will be taken care of is the last and holiest ideal of "Coo- Ijj EXISTS IX ALL NATIONALITIES. ' -He spelN his name 'Cooney' some times, then he's, lriph, and tries to stand in with the police. Sometimes he is 'Kooiiech,' the the breweries and saloons sa-loons control his vote. He is "Coni" often, of-ten, and then a padrone own. l.:m. F.lind and ignorant, he us. s our sacred ballet and rtvoives S- for his method. And. alas! sometimes he is "Coney" just piafh American, and mine the less ci-graded for that. We all know him. . and many blame him and abuse him. I am not one of these. The older 1 grow r!- mere I know of m-n, the deper I learn that n.cn are largely what their opportunities and surroundings make tbein. Given certain environment, certain cer-tain poss-ioilities. the x' which is equal m the man is not an unknown quanti- IV. "I have be-n reading at the end of last year and the beginning of this . the closing year of a century, in inafia- zine and newspaper, the song of praise the. loud paean of applause of the nine-i nine-i teenth century. Cotton gin, steam rail- is way. teiegraph and telephone, mowing ; machine and sewing machine what has the century not given us.'.' Alas! it sickens my mind and heart to read the praise of all that is material. During the century the cities have grown; and j in the big cities of Europe, in our own Kie.it cities man has too often gone I under. 1 lived for a time in the con- I gesUki East End of London in the IcI .cks uis.tuct. i nave visiicj .u'ui Mi.vt in Chicago. I have seen millions mil-lions with, nit a noble possibility or i'bi.il. cimiied into squalid tenement houses., who live and die as brute;, many of them learning to s.narl at the opulence and luxury that passes them on the strct-t. And 1 say the nineteenth century has donu much, but undone many. One man. one true man. is , v. e:;h a million telephones. I . "A n.it ion's greatness lies in men. net I .teres. I A nosier mind is worth a million hands. si:.-1- lloyie O'Reilly, who understood i.r.l s.'.w with the true prophet's vision 1 tli-ii it is not material wealth makes I tie- i.-al worth of a people, but the ptu- ! th'.mst -Ivc-.s. elevated to noble sla- tv:- . drtriming high dreams and seeing J ...'' i.b-a's. 1 HTMAN I5EINGS GROUND TO ! DEATH. I ' '.,it,,! cin and railroad, steamship f Hi:d telegraph, telephone and sewing n: ehinn. Stephenson. Morfe. IeH. EJi- son ond the r 'M. whiK" we have been Pe r:f-ir?g you. good God! where have I "-.r poor gone?! The hundreds and j Thousands of the tenomoms of New T. 'k and Chi-agn they are worth -.'op- than all your inventors, and they are daily being killed, body ami soul, and the poor, thn toilers, are growing moio r.uir.crous and poorer, while the A -!iihv are growing wealthit;:" and !. ' The iKnver of the capitalist in Irs r.jvv ma.c hine, the trust, to grind the f.: . . t. cvrush the souls of the masses is fiVarged."' From liocky Mountain N"w!. Jan. 14. lyOO. "1 feel, myself, a dk-gus't with the age f.nd its mothods. I am impatient of the ::w that permit ? the frightfully un--,ual (Me.tribution of -the things that v.. ik- for human comfort and indi'-eet-i- for human elevation. How mui--t they , ! wh have never a ray of hopeful v.:r.hiri'? Do they mutter in their mis- :v. or have they heart enough left to vi'.iniur ft -the tvranny of cireum-Miihi'". cireum-Miihi'". aided by law? "They are born, they grow up in sight f th-World, the flesh and the devil. Tin- needv beaist within those around j tiiein I'm speaking of the congested di.-r rirts of sxeat citir is selfish; they littltj ndlribty; culture is an un-kn.rwn un-kn.rwn god to whom they built no temple: th ir daughters are prostitut--d; i heir siir.i-' highest ambition is to he the llashy, but idle, gambler or the bediamoncb d bai-keecier. "No! God forbid that I should blame them if they become incarnations of 'Cooney the Fox,' when the higher or-gani.-im, the clever sic-ouiKlrel, the political po-litical leader bribes them and they ac-t ac-t cpt the bribe. The philanthropist comes to them, or the lady with the tract. The first -too oi'ien catechises them, n-?.kct statistics out of them, gi'e-is his way and writes a magazine article, for which he I in paid, about them. The latter smells beer or -whisky on their breath, and y horrified as if -the only temple they have is not the bright saloon; she tebi? them to 'put on the Lord Jesus,' and perhaps they heard of Him, but -a? far an they know He has done nothing for Them. The county officer tabulates them and eends them, when sick, fat jKirk and our beanw which they can't eat; the charity organization scolds them; the slumming lady gives them a dO)e; in summer their children are friven. toy a few- charitably disposed, Bi-ith intermittent symptoms, an outing , m 1 for a day; and. above all, the Salvation i Army man ajid woman -cme with their drum and syn.bala and perfoim queer , actions, more funny than t:he Italian'o monkey before them knee drill and all that. "Ah! well, I've eaid enough on that aad side. What shall we do for them? They are men and women and little j children they have minds to broaden I and hearts to feel; they are our broth- i els. UNANIMOUS IN ONE THING. "Seme of you, ladies and i-entlemen, do nc believe, theologically and dogmatically, dog-matically, as I do concerning the per.in of Jei.us Christ. We are all unanimoui in one thing that if the world hai known the ideal man, it was He. What a synthesis of all that is noble and beautiful was Hig life. If men ali men, could only imitate Him in His fimpie life, in that charity and human kindliness, kind-liness, in that sympathy and true brotherly broth-erly love, how much brig'her and happier hap-pier would the world be; how much higher the every individual of the race. "Rut I'm preaching and don't want to ireach; I simply wish to make you feel that enthuislafim for humanity which gave birth to university or college col-lege settlements. "'Some sixteen years go, in 1SS3, to be exact, a few gentlemen oonnnected j ivith the great universities of England i established Toynbee hall in White- j chapel d'etrict, the most conges-ted lis- i trict of London. Arthur Toynbee had ' ! jfiJt died, in young manhood, at 31. He, a burning e-oul. feeling the enthusiasm of human; t-v, had overworked himself among the London poor, lecturing, advising, ad-vising, counseling, 3iming to uplift, to bring into contact with the civilization and culture of the day the poor East End werkinman. JIanv loved him; and when he died, really from overstrain, over-strain, a martyr to his love of man, the torch held by hid hand was snatched at by many. The result wais university or college Settlements. Toynbee hall, established es-tablished sixteen years ago, was the nrst of the.se. "What is the unr-ersitv. or college, ! or, if ycu will, social settlement? It received the name univeifcity or college settlement because the original idea acme from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and because, even still, an essential of the sittlemer.'t is that the re.-.idents and workers should be cultured men or women, that iis, university uni-versity or colleire peonle. "The thoughts and things which I spoke of in the beginning of this paper couched some professors and many students stu-dents twenty years ago. A young man full of love for his kind would leave the university for the big world of London, lie was a physician, perhaps, or often-er often-er a clergyman. He was located in Eant London. A new world, a world he knew little of before, there met him. Suffering, toiling, sinning mankind. A new university, too: for here were things to be learned, and depths to be that had never come into his university univer-sity curriculum. What was the good of civilization except to civilize, of culture cul-ture except to cultivate human minds and broaden and sweeten human life? I Peeley lived in Cambridge at the time; j the splendid T. H. Green was professor j of philosophy in Oxford. These and j manyVthers created an enthusiasm for j their kind which needed but the sacrifice sac-rifice of poor Arthur Toynbee's life in East London to quicken to deeds. NOT IN MACHINE-LIKE METHODS. "The university settlement was the fine beginning. It meant that those who had prolited by the finest of our 'modern civilization, those who had. been touched by the culture of the age, those who in all that is best in the world were rii, should voluntarily go among the poor of the congested districts- and live there and understand them and net in any old, harsh, forbidding for-bidding way of professional charity, not in any supercilious1, condescending fashion, but as kindly brothers to 1 brothe rs go live among the wretched masses of over-populated, fetid Vhite- j c-hanel. 'Twas a splendid idea, an idea instinct with all that noble generosity that Christian and unbelievers associate associ-ate with the thought of Je.su? Christ. "In 1S3 Toynbee hall was established in Whitechapel; it was a university settlement because of university men. A home was built, with living rooms for twenty residents, the workers and teachers, gymnasiums, lecture hall?, tennis halls, meeting rooms, bath rooms, were opened. The resident.1-;, twenty in all, were of university training. train-ing. They lived among the poor. They showed they wished to know them socially; so-cially; they visited them and invited! them to visit. The settlement was pri-1 marily a home, with educational facili-l tie?, social training, literary, artistic I in every way, along every line an uplifting, up-lifting, educating force, a life of cleanness- and wholesomeness among the uncleanly un-cleanly and unwholesome, a life that brought culture into contact with ignorance ig-norance and brutality, which announced an-nounced as its gospel that civilization must do its uplifting and benelicent wdrk for the many, not for the few, for the whole, not a part of humanity. Its purpose was to correct and equalize w hat the sedfishnes? of man in his prog- j ress had left uncorrected ajid unequal, to lift the lower to the higher, to makej the extremes meet, to sweeten their taste whose fathers had eaten sour grapes, because ncr.e. el?e were left them by the greediness of a selfish age. "From the beginning the movement waa a success. Today there are nightly between 15.000 and I'O.OOO students, and in seventeen years past many thousands thou-sands have used the benefits of the institution. in-stitution. It is not a lecture hall, it i? not a charity organization, it is not an amusement place, it is not a night school, it is not a lordly, condescending movement of the rich among the poor, it is not a church movement. It is all these. It is the exuberance of the sympathetic sym-pathetic human heart and cultured mind flowing, not over into, but among and with the lowly current of the poor and ignorant of the toiling mass. "Poor laws had pauperized; charity organizations had failed; the dole? of kindly hands had not benefited. What was needed was the contact of purpose-fi.', purpose-fi.', educated, sympathetic men. who were lilied with the enthusiasm of humanity hu-manity for their kind- . "The university settlement was a home where the educated residents lived simple, cleanly lives, learned to know their poor and unfortunate neighbors, neigh-bors, began to call on them socially, and without the professional charity worker's statistical manner, or tract distributor's superior holiness: as men to men, as humanity seeking its kind, as the great deep, at last, calling unto the great deep. "The hall became a social home, a home for recreation, above all, an educational edu-cational home. Its purpose was not to teach trades or give so much learning by which to earn money, but to bring ail that civilization at its highest and university cultiure mean to those whoe lives were uncharmed by them. "The residents in the settlement remain re-main a year or two as long as arranged, ar-ranged, or they find time and purpose for the work. They may have their city work, may be physicians, lawyers, or what not through the day. In the evenings they meet socially and in lectures lec-tures do their best for their neighbors, j The universities of Oxford and Cam bridge largely furnish the changing residents, who pay their own board in the home, which is always pimple. "The residents fall back for lecturers en the universities: the home is connected con-nected with the university extension movement. '"What then is a university or college col-lege settlement? It is a settling among j the leas fortunate, the uncultured, in j the congested districts, of educated men or women who bring with them along with an enthusiastic love of their ! kind, the best of our modern civiliza-j civiliza-j tion to diffuse it by social contact. Toynbee hall has given birth to many settlements. In London to Oxford house, the Bermondsey settlement, Newman house, Trinity court. Mans field house. Browning hall, Caius hall, the Southv.ork Ladies' settlement. Mayfield house and others. Settlements Settle-ments are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, etc. "In 18S7, the Woman's University settlement in London was founded by Miss Elder and Miss Gruner; they live among the poor, in the poorest district. dis-trict. They are on the school boards of their districts; urge and advance everything helpful and educational for women and children. MOVEMENT WIDELY SPREAD. "The movement has spread to our own country. Who does not know of Hull house, Chicago, founded by Miss Adams and Miss Star, now over ten years ago. It is in the Nineteenth ward, among the poor. It has not kept entirely to the original idea, which waa that giving dole? fosters pauperism: that was because of circumstances. It is educational, helpful, along every line of human betterment. It. has its social evenings for the neighborhood; j its kindergarten, its reading, rooms, li- ! brary. bath rooms, its workers and ; visitors among the very poor. Its good work in the Puiiman strike, in the ex- j posure of the sweat shop evils, has i been recognized. We have the New York Settlement society, with Seth Low at its head, and its neighborhood 1 guild, the Andover settlement in Bos- j ! ton, a woman's settlement in Rivlng-ton Rivlng-ton street, New York, and another in Philadelphia. "I have no statistics of the success j of them all. The underlying itlea i3 the success of the century. Sociology as ! a science has benefited; the students ! have benefited, the residents have j surly enlarged themselves. i "The university settlement has been no paid philanthropy, no professional charity. The hearts of men and wo- i men, their whole being have gone out I j to their kind. That is success enough. "Of course, 'tis amateurish work, full I of mistakes and misplaced kindliness. That is 'he glory of the college settle- I ment. Make them accurate and statistical, sta-tistical, take the warm heart away and their bloom is gone, their flower has perished. "In London, I know, the Tonybee hall and other settlements have done great work. They make for civic virtue, j they help to eliminate 'Cooney the Fox;' they force it on the crude intel- j lect that might be anarchistic, that af- i ter all and at bottom, men love men ' and their welfare; and what the classes j and masses need is to know each other j a little hetter and kindly human sympathy sym-pathy will be found everywhere. Tony-bee Tony-bee hall; the ideal first settlement, arranges ar-ranges for discussions in economics between be-tween the trades unionists and the millionaire mil-lionaire indeed, in a wider sense than any university, it is a university. TO CULTIVATE CIVIC VIRTUE. "The university settlement in the large city's congested district Is the true way to cultivate civic virtue;, is stronger than the policeman's club to disarm the shouting anarchist. It makes use of every good organization; of every charitable body, it meddles not with sectarian prejudice; although the individual resident is quite at liberty lib-erty to urge the Catholic or Protestant to live up to and attend the church of his belief. "Could it grow into every city's life, would cultured men, with it at their back to assist them in thatwhlch is t C I foremost in our modern civilization ! the university live in the poorer neigh-! neigh-! borhoods, as neighbors, live among the I very poor, in social contact with them, j aiding them by lectures, influencing ' them by the wholesomeness and cleanliness clean-liness of their lives, organize them where would 'Cooney the Fox be? Eliminated or sublimated. "At present what is our way of civilization? civ-ilization? A few of our children only can attend the high school, fewer the university. Education may make the scoundrel more scoundrelly. I believe it ha? its effect, its great effect on morals. mor-als. I am the foolish kind of optimise yet, perhaps, have seen as much and more of varied human life than anyone any-one here who believes that culture can humanlv cleanse a man. To be sure, I believe "God's help is needed to climb to the highest of human possibility; that, I also believe, will never be refused re-fused to him who strives. i,fti,.:ni!.,vi r.t- nnn-fhristinn in the I theological sense, Oh, my brothers, at j times, weak and sinful and selfish as I we are, these at least are worth living j for our brothers." |
