of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 411

compromise here. You can stand before the world and say of your Country
that it has nothing on its national conscience; —no record of broken promises?
no act of shameful cowardice or betrayal; no bloody crime committed against
a smaller nation.

On, the contrary, the history of America in these past 30 years is the
history of idealism. Perhaps idealism has been carried to a fault. But America
took the lead in attempting to build a lasting peace after the World War. It
believed—yes, naively believed, according to some opinion—that other men in
other lands should. have the same blessings of equality and self-government
that our citizens possess. It has become the habit to laugh a little bitterly
over the phrase "make the world safe for democracy. " But our people did ac-
tually believe that when they entered the last war. "A war to end wars"—that
is another phrase to lift a cynical eyebrow. Well, they believed that, too.

And it would be deplorable to see a generation of American youth growing
up without that idealism, uncomfortable as some of its reminders are. For
without ideals, without faith in fundamental things, America would change
beyond all recognition. Rather should our Nation go on being hopeful for the
good, the true and the just to survive, than to devolep a national cynicism
along these lines.

The challenge of the present crisis, however, puts tremendous responsibility
on colleges like St. Joseph's. It also offers an inspiring opportunity. The
elementary and secondary schools have an important role in training young
people in the responsibilities of citizenship and in those techniques necessary
for them to earn a living, and to progress toward the ultimate goal of a happy
reunion in the kingdom of their Maker. But the colleges must do more—
they must furnish in an age of turbulent confusion the leadership that will
strengthen and preserve the democratic spirit and the democratic processes.

The colleges have done a splendid job of technical training. Technicians
of the very highest order are being graduated every year. The marvelous
scientific development of our age is testimony to the brilliant work of minds
trained in institutions such as this. The signal contribution of the university-
trained medical profession in making human life longer and more livable is
: especially praisworthy. Our law schools are turning out attorneys with tech-
nical training that is. beyond comparison with the training of lawyers of several
decades ago. Businessmen now leave college with a remarkable grasp of the
theories of economics, and the history of business organization, banking, ac-
countancy, and corporate finance. Scholars of literature, language, history,
and the arts now leave college with richer cultural heritage than ever before.
There has never been a time when the tools of scholarship—libraries, labora-
tories, museums—were so readily available for the use of scholars as now.

But in imparting this technical learning, the duty of the college or uni-
versity only commences. It is not enough that their graduates should know
facts. They must use them to promote institutions and philosophies that con-
tribute to human happiness rather than detract from it. The college must not
only discover and teach facts. It must also point the way toward using them
for social ends. The college cannot afford to be passive or indifferent to the