of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 421

in national and international affairs. If elsewhere in this Country observers
may not be apprehensive, here in the Capitol City, it must nave been borne
Rome with special significance to you who are 'graduating, that before your very; eyes were being unfolded dramatic events and far-reaching. decisions.
These events and decisions wall influence to the very cose the. future, not only
of this. Country with its 130, 000, 000 free people, but: of the entire civilized
world—if, indeed, the world of today may merit that term..

Graduating classes of the past have found the world or the Nation in
turmoil, and thousands of Georgetown's sons have later found themselves
engulfed in conflicts that have followed such turmoil. There were sons of
Georgetown in the War of 1812. —The Civil War of '61-'65 found them among
the Blue as" well as: the Gray. The Honor Roll of your University for the
first World War gives silent but irrefutable testimony to the valiant, part
played then by young men who, like you, had known happy days on George-
town's historic campus.

All went forth from an institution whose concept of education was signifi-
cant, just as your concept of education today differs vitally from the world's
definition of the term..

In those bygone days, as now, the purpose of a Georgetown education was
the harmonious development of mind and heart and will. Every advance in '
the methods of imparting the latest factual information and scientific develop-
ments, has been adopted. But of first importance, however, has been the
implanting of the ideals of truth and justice, to guide the future life of the
student into ways of right living, based on sound thinking.

It has been given to students here to imbibe at the fountain of Jesuit
philosophy, a philosophy that places fundamentals first, and builds true char-
acter upon that. solid foundation. Under this philosophy everyone is taught
to evaluate properly the things of life. He is instructed that man is a
responsible creature of inherent dignity with a soul that one day must answer
to its Creator. He is filled with a sense of respect for the inherent rights of
others, that he may so order, his own life as never to interfere with the God-
given rights of others. He is trained to consider the advancement and the
rightful happiness of all human beings as the first consideration in any society
or any government. He learns that such a society of government exists only
for free individuals, and has no particular basis for existence except to serve
those who compose it.

How important such a philosophy of life is to the young men of today,
who will be our community and national leaders of tomorrow, is easy to con-
ceive when one looks about in the world today and gives thought to what has
taken place. Whole nations have been ruthlessly invaded and destroyed by
the forces of governments built on ideologies directly and everlastingly opposed
to the principles of justice and humanity that have been inculcated in your
minds. The happenings of the past 18 months are typical of what the result
will always be, when rulers forget their obligations to the ruled and set
themselves up as a something apart.

Many, possibly all, of those present here today, were privileged to be born