Show o OUR UNIVERSITY The Past Present and Future of Utahs First Territorial Institution Insti-tution of Learning Professor Orson Howards Able Addrcis Before the Alumni Association on Wednesday EvenIng Last Something for Utahs Young Men to Read and Think About An Eloquent Speaker The following is the verbatim report of the address delivered by Professor Orson Howard B S at the meeting of the Al umini Association of the University of Deseret on Wednesday evening last at the residence of John R Park The speech lies caused many complimentary mentary remarks and Tits DEMOCRAT therefore gives i in full The day which records tho founding of tho State college should bo of equal importance import-ance to the day that records the birth of the State The one commemorates the beginning begin-ning of a commonwealth the other commemorates com-memorates the founding of the institution which is to mould the factors of that commonwealth com-monwealth The strength of any community of men depends upon the strength of tho individual upn dividual characters of the people composing that community A government is no better than its citizens a religion is no better than those who worship at its shrine the moral atmosphere of a neighborhood can be no purer than those who breathe it a language can be no better than those who speak it The best government that ever brought protection to the fireside of the peasant will fall when the citizen falls The best religion that ever gratified tho aspirations as-pirations and the adorations of man will bo dragged into the grossest superstition and idolatory by that monster ignorance The moral atmosphere of any community is contaminated by the single breath of one sinful person Che best language that ever formed the medium of communication of thought and feeling between man and men will die with the people who speak it The root whoh supple nourishment to tho government gov-ernment the religion the morals and the language of any association of men lies in the individual The institution of learning being a it is the most important factor for moulding the characters of the men and women of a state is the most important institution in-stitution in the state This institution should be guarded and nurtured as no other institution of the state It should be a continuous fountain of intellectual and moral life to the people The day which celebrates the graduation of its students should be a gala day and a holiday to the community in which it is situated Tho University of Deseret was founded in the year 1850 the year that California became be-came a State Utah was then the only resting rest-ing placo between tho Missouri river and tho Pacific slope Her territory extended from the crest of the Sierras to the summits of the Rookies She was mistress of the intermountain region Now we are surrounded sur-rounded by rival States and Territories In their towns we see temples of education arising and in their border villages the school bell is fast silencing forever tho monhng howl of the coyoto These western States and Territories are remarkable for their ready adoption of improved methods of labor and their application of machinery to the manual industries and wo look for alike a-like readiness in establishing their educational educa-tional system on the most approved and broadest modern basis I wo would keep pace with the intellectual progress and culture cul-ture around us we must devoto more atton tion to our schools England is trying to oonnterpois the vast natural resources of America by the superior education and training of her workmen I has often occurred oc-curred to me that I should like to examine the various industries and professions our Territory to see how many of the master workmen have been produced at home Thirteen years hence and a half century will have passed since the University of Deseret was in corporated I we pause and consider the mighty changes that are worked within the active life of a man we may bq led to expect too much of an educational educa-tional institution within the same length of time I we compare our own institution with some of our younger but perhaps more flourishing universities we are likely also to be misled The University of Deseret for many years after its incorporation incorpora-tion had but a nominal existence We can hardly dato it as a school for instruction above tho common branches farther back than the year 1869 But it is not tho past which I wish to emphasize but the future I is true that the University has had some difficulties to contend against But if we compare it with the early life of some of our older institutions these difficulties sink into insignificance When we read of the first half century of struggles of Harvard Yale fire disaster and against war fe and poverty surely we ought to be inspired by the lessons their history teaches us The breadth of the field and the difficulties that we see should but stimulate u t make the conquest the moro rapid and tho more complete com-plete And this gathering is prophetic of a wider influence and a greater usefulness of the University of Deseret We ought to begin to ask ourselves the questions Who rears our buildings Who superintends our mines Who aro our most successful stockraisers farmers and merchants mer-chants Are they men who have been reared trained and educated at home or do they como from elsewhere We sometimes say a great deal about supporting home manufactures Let us not overlook the fact that brains is the support of overthing I wo do not give the men and women of Utah the proper training t fit them t become be-come the architects of the various occupations occupa-tions and industries they must be the hod carriers and the mixers of mortar We should then see that tho young people of Utah are being fitted to become master workmen and not merely hewers of wood and drawers of water And we should not stop here The age in which we live is remarkable re-markable for the addition of facts to the store of human knowledge Especially is this true in the domain of natural knowledge knowl-edge We live in one of the choicest spots of the earth for tho study of the natural sciences sci-ences Our lands and waters teem with interesting in-teresting species of the animal kingdom our mountains and valleys are covered with the botanists delight our canyons contain the records of the past written on tho broadest broad-est pages and in the largest characters awaiting the geologist to rend Everywhere around us lie tho gems of Utah needing but tho trained eye and tho skillful hand to set them in the crown of knowledge |