Graduation Address

Governor General's Address Upon Receiving Degree of Doctor of Laws (3 July 1923) (UA Case 66, Section 3)

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen,--

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kind greeting which you have given me today. In this university I feel that I encounter the embodiment of the best traditions of New Brunswick and it is a source of real joy to me to be received by your students of today--who are the citizens of tomorrow--with the same kindness and sympathy that I have met at the hands of so many distinguished men of this province how at the head of your affairs who were once students here, and who, so many of them have talked to me with pride and affection of their much loved University.

In receiving the degree of Doctor of Laws from this famous institution I feel that a bond has been made between us that cannot lightly be broken and I am indeed proud to have my name amongst that great list of distinguished men of the University of New Brunswick.

I confess that I am, myself, somewhat at a loss to find a subject to address to such an audience. On the one hand are the faculty of this University, men who have devoted their lives to the acquirement of knowledge and the exposition of the learning that they have gained. On the other are the students alive with critical faculty of youth and accustomed to the high standard of excellence which characterizes the education they receive here.

One is taught in the strategy of war that best method of defence is offence, and since it is obvious that upon this occasion I am upon the weaker side I will go boldly to the attack and talk to you about education.

The Extension of Education

To my mind the outstanding feature of this last quarter of a century has been the extension of education throughout every section of the community. The movement, I admit, is still in its infancy, much of the education given is defective and it is obvious to all those who have looked into the matter that there is yet far more to be done. But the point that is quite clear is that everyone is alive to the necessity. There is no civilized Government today in the world that does not expend large sums upon education. The Church herself devotes a tremendous amount of thought and energy upon this great question.

If then Church and State are united upon spreading knowledge and regard it as a matter of such great importance, it is surely well worth while to make some study of what education is and the motives which induce Church and State to give it this high place.

What is education? To me, it is the enlarging of the capacity for acquiring knowledge.

Humanity is subject to the same laws as the rest of nature. When growth ceases decay sets in, there is no standing still. You must never cease to learn. It is only by the continued mental growth of the individual that the State remains spiritually and materially and free from the lethargy of decadence.

The motive of the Church is surely very clear to us and may be summed up in man's duty to use to the best of his ability the gifts with which he has been endowed by God.

What then are those of the State? Good Government is the direction of individuals of the community governed for the general advantage of all classes of that community. It is surely obvious therefore that just as a country is counted rich by the amount of its developed natural resources, by the perfection of its agricultural production, and the quantity of its manufactures, and trade, so it is wealthy according to the mental development of its citizens.

Have Lost the Ideals

Where then is the defect? What has come to us that we do not appear to reap the reward of our mental industry. I think the answer lies in the fact that some of us have lost the ideals that should inspire education. In the new found power that we first feel in our intellectual development we become egotistical and set too high a value upon our own importance. We ask, how can I make the most of my education, how can I most quickly ensure my own success? Such individualism may bring its own reward in riches or fame, but it brings no happiness to others and repays none of the debt which it owes to those who made that success possible.

No education is better than education without ideals, and here I would like to quote to you the words of Monseigneur Mathieu, Archbishop of Regina, spoken in an address upon the present social question:

"It is not enough that citizens be made to understand society as a necessity and that it is their duty to prefer general to self-interest; nor will it do for them to admit they must obey their superiors and that they owe one another mutual duties. Such usage of strict justice would only waft into the social body a coldness, a dryness which would check her work. Hers would be the fate of an engine insufficiently oiled and road stuck."

"What then is to be done? It is that the citizens be united in the bonds of charity: they must respect, must love the ones appointed to govern them: they must love one another, help one another, let the most fortunate give a helping hand to the needy, the better educated come to the rescue of the uncultivated: those that are at the head of every social group should devotedly assist the ones places beneath them: all of men must be sensible of the solidarity which binds them into one body. Let but that feeling exist and sacrifices of even the most painful kind are made easy and cheerful."

It is the duty therefore of students to learn to the best of your ability while you are here, so that you may be worthy to inherit the place in the community which those before you have attained for themselves in it and for the community in the world. But work for yourselves only and education is a weakness instead of a strength and you will be in danger instead of a help to your country.