Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Engineering Hall (1894) (and Inauguration of President Draper) [PAGE 68]

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of those studios which have to do with men, in their relati ons with one another, in. hiding, of course-, studies in sociology, in political t onomy, ami in lit rature. Besides the pow er of perception, the reasoning faculty, and the judgm< . there is a n o t h e r necessity of the most absolute and imperative n a t u r e . W e may have the powers of perception develop. 1 so as to enable us to see instantly the most subtle relations of all t h e ordinary objects brought before us* we may have our reasoning faculties so developed that we can put together the facts we perceive and draw accurate conclusions as to the results t h a t will follow; we may in addition have those qualities of good j u d g m e n t that will anticipate what men will do u n d e r all ordinary conditions; and yet, if we have*not the impulses to use these abilities in the right direction, there is no a s s u r a n c e that they will not be used for the injury rather t h a n the benefit of mankind. Knowledge is power; but power, unguided by right motives and impulses, is as likely to h a r m m a n k i n d as to help it. W h e t h e r the locomotive will t a k e its p a s s e n g e r s safely to their destination, or take t h e m to destruction, d e p e n d s upon the way the guiding switch is t u r n e d ; and if the determining will has not a purpose t h a t will t u r n it in the right direction, the more the power, the g r e a t e r the danger. It follows that in all our education we must have a training of the moral faculties or there can be no assurance that the powers and accomplishments we give our sons and d a u g h t e r s will be used for the good of societv. I desire to present this necessity with e m p h a s i s ; for, as civilization becomes more and more complicated, and the pressure here and there comes to be more and more severe, we shall find that there is no guarantee that intellig( nee will be p u t to good uses, save in the general prevalence of correct ethical standards, and the supremacy of right moral motives. W h a t but a general absence of such motives can explain the appalling revelations recently made of the condition of the great city of New York?