THE CALL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2130, 12 July 1907, Page 1

THE CALL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

STEEN UO US—COMPLEX—DEMOCRATIC. PROFESSOR STARR JORDAN’S MESSAGE TO YOUNG MEN.

“THERE'S ROOM AT THE TOP.” If everv young man in New Zealand could be privileged to hear Hr. Starr Jordan’s interpretation ot tie call of the twentieth century., ;» s he expounded iL to a large and delighted audience at the Opera House last

evening (sav.s the AVanga.nui Gliron- | icle of Saturday last), d would be an exceedingly good thing tor the colony or the dominion, or whatever it is to he in the future. It was a magnificent message, delivered quietly and impressively by a great personality. The President-ot the worldfamed Stanford University and duet of an army of professors, a great leader wlm lias himself struggled to the ton, is eminently qualified to point the way to those who i n the eagerness of youth are thronging towards the ladder of success. rotsuch as these Dr. Jordan’s message ringing deep and true as it does, is fulfof hope and encouragement. To the idlers, to those who linger by tlie wavside careless of their opportunities and blind to the responsibilities of their manhood, the “call ot the century has no meaning, the three leading characteristics of this century, Dr. Jordan assumes, will he such as to demand the best that men can wive It will he strenuous, complex '’democratic. Strenuous because there arc so mam- tilings to be done and such little time in which „o do them The world would have to Imrrv if it was golnw tQ fqlfi-! *V S task, and we of the Anglo-Saxon race must keep in the forefront of every forward movement. The great discovery of the last century was the reality of external things. Men had maslured the secrets of great forces, and had opened ti.e wav to great inventions. The world had been made r ,renter and t)io world had been made "mallei:—greater by tjie extension of human privilege and achievement, and smaller bv the bringing into touch the people bv whom it is mI habited. And all this made for noniplexitv in social, politcal, and indusi trial affairs. It followed, then, that ; it must be an age of work. The cen- ’ turv wanted the man who could do . tilings. It did not matter who the • man was or where lie came front or 31-hat his father did, so long as he

himself could do the particular work required of him. Menco tlie century must be democratic. The century wanted, and would have, strenuous mail, and it would got that man hv the realisation of the great geometrical truths that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points—by going straight for the man best qualified to achieve the object aimed at. Democracy, as Emerson' had said, meant opportunity, not equality. Democracy meant equality in only one sense —equality of start, but otherwise it was an ever-increas-ing inequality. Democracy meant that every man should have the opportunity of developing all that was 'n him. A "■onerous education should be a birthright of every child in a self-gove i ning country. Ability counted for nothing without character. There was no wav of getting equality without keening the strong ones down. This century therefore would be democratic, because it could not help itself. America meant opportunity- New Zealand meant opportunity. 'l’ho basis of American education was that the State wished to train the people that it needed. The nation devoted a third of its revenue to education, and the result was making itself felt for good among all classes. There was plenty for a young man to do if he would only do it. But there were young men in Wanganui to-day just as there were everywhere else, for whom the twentieth century would have no room twenty years lienee. These were they who were to be found in the haunts of idleness, in the hotel bars, at the street corners, and in tlie gambling houses. As Mark Twain had said, the people who could Hot do any good above ground should get under it and do some fertilising; but there was somethin ■ better for humanity to do than inspire cabbages. There was room at the lop, but, as the jiork packer bad said to his son, “'Tlie elevator isn’t rtinniii" and if you want to get there you’ll have to struggle up. ’ There was room at the tot) in electrical engineering, plenty of room in tiiis colony, where the waterfalls were oulv waiting to he captured. There was room at the ton in mining, civil, structural, and indeed every phase

of engineering. There was room at the ton for lawyers and doctors. There was room, indeed, in every walk of life —at the top. lint the century was going to he exceedingly cruel, and would nive no (piarter to those who would not help themselves. The idlers and fools wore doomed to ho crowded out. The young men who wasted their time would he ruthlessly pushed on one side. Ho strongly

advised tin* young iiumi of to-day not to waste time. As the before-men-tioned pork-packer .had said to his I son “You'll moot |>Jo iitv of fools in I the day time without going out and rounding up the main herd at night.” I Tilt Professor went on to say that the century was demanding of every

man Unit lie should bo trained for bis work. Therefore the university course must be broad; tile man must not bo raised to an iron standard, but the standard must be brought to the mail. If the. university, with its broad scope, could do nothing for him, nothing could do anything for him. The best thing that lie could do was to get to work inspiring the cabbage. The twentieth century required men of character, men singlehearted, for their purpose. _ A “smart” man—-smart in the sinister sense —would fail if lie lived long enough. Half the value of a worker lav in loyalty, hut there was a feeling destructive of loyalty growing among workers, and a worker who failed in his loyalty lost in value to himself, to his employer, and to his country. The century demanded hopefulness, a robust spirit. The people must believe that they were worth while, and believe in the things that they were doing. There was not a single virtue that did not put money into a mini’s pocket, and there was not an evil trait that did not lower a man’s salary and cut into his happiness. The virtue most valued by the twentieth century was the virtue of the sober mind. The brain was a piece of machinery so"" important that everything else depended upon it. It had been said that a hoy was better unhorn than

untaught.' Men in various ways — liv drink, for instance—induced the brain to utter falsehoods, to say that a man was exhilarated when lie was not, rested when he was not. Already the steamship and railroad companies wore netting rid of the man who got up in the morning with a (lark brown taste in the mouth and carried t.lmt taste into his business. The man who was to win must be careful in every way to retain his abhor mind. The most important tiling that he could say to the young Ilian was that lie should live from day to day in such a way as to actually become the man he ought to

1)0. Dr. Jordan’s last word to every young man present was— “Choose ! Ji'or. the hour of your choice is the crisis of your life!” Mr. liouis Cohen, a member of the Senate of the University of New Zealand, presided, and on his motion seconded by His A\ orsliip the Mayor (J[r. C. hi! Mackey), Professor Jordan was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, which was supplemented by three, ringing cheers by the boys, of the ’Wanganui Collegiate School,