_{1955 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

 

‘Don’t Give Us the Usual F eed,’

Wisconsin High Students Told Prof

™ TO WISCONSIN HIGH BY PROF. KARL PAUL LINK]

DELIVERED

AM NOT unmindful of the honor that this class has be-
stowed upon me. For those who do not know what the

procedure is in selecting “the parent speaker,” it should
be mentioned that election is held by secret ballot. This is
one of the few elections held in Madison whose outcome is
not determined by some kind
of political bosses, pressure
- groups, the press or radio or
the power of the Deans and.
Vice-presidents. The secre-
tary of the class informed me
that I could say what I
-please, .

The tact of this class might
be debatable. But I hasten
to add that no one could ac-
ecuse it of lacking courage.

‘The arrangements for my
appearance here were made
a few days before the senior
Senator from Wisconsin ad-
dressed the students of Wis-
consin High. Shortly after
Sen. Wiley’s appearance I
met several of the senior
boys. One of them piped up:
“We are all set to hear you
at Commencement—but don’t
give us the usual feed.” This
remark startled me. I re-
plied that since I am not up
for election to public office,
not aspiring to be either a
Dean or a Veep, had no
secrets to conceal, I would avoid the “usual feed.”

_ Before I consider some of The Synthetic Lore of 1955—~
I wish to say a few words about this class, its performance,
its teachers, and this school.

In the past four years I served as taxi driver for several
members of this class. I have also seen a good many of
you frequently from the window of my office while you
lunched and played. :

It is my sincere opinion that this class is a very good class.
This class might well be among the very best this school has
produced.

This is a good class when judged by any standards. You
have been spared many of the dangers that have plagued
comparable classes in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Moscow,
Stalingrad, Tokyo, and Hiroshima.

You have been diligent in study; and democratic in your
social activities. You have acted well on the stage. You have
a very creditable record in sports, even though Hal Metzen
and his staff cannot use those great athletes from the out-

Prof. Karl Paul Link

 

 

lying areas made ineligible by the existing rules.

The good record achieved is not due to inherited genes,
or to the relatively favorable home environment. Credit
must also be given to Principal. Goldgruber and his asso-

ciates for managing you in.an intelligent, patient and under- ©

standing manner,
* * *

Monument to Educators
ISCONSIN High School graduates good classes for two
reasons. The student ability is above average and the
bulk of the teachers are really devoted to the cause
of education. These teachers have the dual responsibility of
teaching the students and the practice teachers majoring in
Education. This is not an easy task. Frequently the high
school students know more about a given subject than the
practice teachers from “the hill.”
Apropos your building—it is apparent as it now stands—
Wisconsin High is a monument to some bold educators of the
past years whose dream has not come into reality, Look at

\

that blank north-wall. The present structure was supposed.

to be only the beginning of things.

There is no assembly hall, no lunch room, no study hall;
the gym space is too limited. The offices of the teachers
are woefully inadequate.

What this school needs is a union or some pressure group
that will promote its causes. Its causes are just as important
as those of the cranberry growers, the mink farmers, the
Wisconsin canners,.the cheese makers, the highway builders,

or the Wisconsin National Guard.
* * x

‘Ours Is a Great Country’

T IS the custom of Commencement speakers to dwell on the

greatness of these United States. 1 shall assume the

usual platitutes, beatitudes and fat-ti-tudes of the day.
Yes, we have per capita, more plumbing, electricity, auto-
mobiles, radios, TV-sets, and phones. We have the fastest
trains and planes, the biggest bull-dozers, the tallest build-
ings, the most productive factories; more cola drinks, more
tractors, fatter hogs and more corn than any other people in
the world.

We are on the whole better fed, better clad, better housed,
better governed than most people. We can vote. :

Our science leads on many fronts. For this position we
are in part indebtec to the European dynasties that caused
such people as the parents of Dr. Robert J. Oppenheimer who
headed the A-bomb developers te emigrate to our country.

We are also indebted te the European dictatorships who
caused the late Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi and many
other brilliant men to seek freedom here.

This imported talent along with the great vigor of our
technology—and according to some—the profit system—have
made America one of the great industrial powers in the

 

 

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THE CAPITAL TIMES: Tuesday, July 19, 195517

5—Autos for Sale 129—Autos_te._ Sale
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‘ history of man.

This science and technology has been super-imposed on the -

ideas of Liberty, Freedom, Justice and Opportunity forged
by the founders in the Declaration of Independence, which
according to Abraham Lincoln is—“an instrument farged not

only Zor the benefit of Americans on this continent, but one .

destined to lift the weight from the shoulders of the peoples
the world around.”

Another. important factor_contributory to our technologic -

might is that hy virtue of our geographical isolation the world
wars have not been fought on our land. We have been spared

the devastation that modern science produced.

" Our science, industry and technology have had the benefit

of many of the best minds that Europe has produced. It is
Synthefic Lore to deny that we could have achieved our pres-
ent position without the help of this foreign born. talent. It
is Synthetic Lore to deny that without our revered apostles
of Freedom and Justice such as Jefferson, Lincoln, the late
Justice Holmes, the United States would have been the land
of their, choosing. . .
: * * *

The Anti-Roosevelt Lore

OST.of you graduates were born in 1937. This was the

first-year of the second term of the only man who was

it four times elected to the Presidency, Franklin D. Roose-
velt.-

___Whtn thost of you were eight years old, he died suddenly
from a brain hemorrhage. You have only a fringe memory
of the sorrow and concern that his death caused.

__~- I do not question what has been taught you in school about
¥.D.R. and his New Deal, and the leadership he gave during
World War II.

But 1 do wonder if what you have been taught on F.D.R.
has stuck under the impact of a one-sided press, radio and
TV newscasters, and the malicious mouthings of some of our
politicians,

The meanest “Synthetic Lore’ rampant today is the con-
spiracy to push the period of Roosevelt’s impact on America
and the world as far as possible into history, or if it is men-
tioned to distort and discredit him.

The period of 1933-45 while Roosevelt was president have
been referred to by Wisconsin's Junior Senator as “the period
of treason.”

It was “treason” to set up legislative machinery to put
the American. economic system back into operation in 1933
when a severe depression gripped and nearly strangled this
country. “Treason” to assemble the best talent available—re-
gardless of party affiliation—for the problems at hand.

It was “treason” to feed hungry people when agricultural
surpluses were going to waste on our farms. “Treason” to
protect our soil, to rehabilitate river valleys via TVA and the
like and bring electricity into the rural areas.

It was “treason” to put the jobless to work. “Treason” to

 

provide decent housing, to help writers, artists, poets, play-
writes, scholars, actors and scientists, professional people of
all kinds, through government sponsored work projects.

It was “treason” to aid countries fighting Hitler and Musso-
lini. And here is the nub, it was “treason” to go into war
against Hitler and Mussolini. “Treason” to recognize the
US.S.R. in 1933. to help her via Lend-lease in 1941 when she
took the full force of Hitler’s war machine. It was “treason”
to open a Second Front in Europe in 1944, and to sit at con-
ference tables with representatives from Britain, Russia and
China to create the United Nations. |

Recommends Crane’s Book

SUGGEST that you read the book by. Milton Crane “The

Roosevelt Era.” This is not one-sided hero worship. It

is an effort to communicate the words of many authors
—friendly and critical—to reveal something of the ideas, the
problems and the actions of men and women in Roosevelt’s
America. It puts into the record thoughts that breathe and
words that burn on the “still sad music of humanity.”

You need to read this book to understand the period in
which you were born. You need to read it to learn about
Roosevelt’s critics and how it came about, though the press
and big business were almost solidly against him—the citizens,
of these United States put him into the White House four
times.

It was Roosevelt who listened to Albert Einstein and his

. associates in the fall of 1939. The day when Mass could be
the t

converted into Energy was on reshhold of big scale real-
ity, and he appointed a committee known as “advisory Com-
mittee on Uranium.” :

Among the last words that came from Roosevelt in 1945.
were: .

“Today we are faced with the fact that if civilization is
to survive we must cultivate the science of human relation-
ship, the ability of.all.peoples, to live together and work to-
gether in the same world at peace.”

This generation must learn that these last’ words stand as a
beacon and a hope. For man now knows that to live.by the
atomic-sword means to perish by the atomic-sword. We can
now have the choice between radioactive cinders and exten-
sive lethal fall-out—-or coexistence. ~

You can gain hope, courage and wisdom by understanding
America’s record during the first ten years of your life.

And so as you come of age, work diligently to develop
your talents. Work is the best thing to make us love life. But
carry yourselves beyond school and work by reading widely.
Study and weigh that which may not be approved by the
McCarthyites. Oppose any form of tryranny over the minds
of men, Without freedom of thought and expression no man
is free.

Over 2,000 years ago Apostle Paul said, “Prove all things
and hold fast that which is good.”