Wilkes-Barre Times Leader from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • Page 40

19 FRED M. LAFAYETTE COLLEGE UNDERSTANDING OF Kirby Hall Which Houses The F. M. Kirby Chair Of Civil Rights Is Lauded By The Press As A Practica I Step Forward Iiiiwisfippt1iiiiiiafc I i i TuriES-LEADER, W1LKES-BARRE, PA MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1934 KIRBY'S GIFT TO MAKES POSSIBLE A BETTER THE PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRATIC i i if J. a i GOVERNMENT 11 i 'flip1 a i I 1 i'S' .4 If 1 A IS it because it was my privilege to hav been associated with recent ffort In th comunlty to secure a proper recognition of the possibilities of Lafayette In our own community." Governor John S.

Fisher of Pennsylvania wrotji: "Thank for your favor of th 14th Inst, enclosing copy of the Deed of Gift to Lafayette College for th 'Kirby Hall of Civil In establishing this Department, you ar performing a patriotic and much needed service. In latter years, I hay mad complaint that the schools and colleges have been neglecting the study of government. If there 1 any one thing that should be msde mandatory In the curriculum, it is civics." "Wanted: A Kirby" Edward L. Katzenbach, Chancellor of th Diocese of New Jersey, wrote; "I hav been following with very considerable. Interest th work which you hav been doing at Lafayett leg.

It would very fin If a larger number of men who possess the means would tak similar steps. Perhaps It would go a long way toward the promotion of good In this country." Another Interesting article, entitled, "Wanted: A appeared In the Grand Rapid Herald, and read in part: "Lafayett College in Pennsylvania ha Just received a splendid gift, Mr. Fred M. Kirby, of Wilkes-Barre, ha given it $100,000 to endow a 'Professor- ship of Civil in essence, It is the perpetual guaranty of a course in American Constitutional History and Principles. Nothing could be more vltil than that the great universities of America should develop graduates who have a correct conception of American institutions and Intelligent fidelity to the Constitution of th United Bute.

Entirely too little stress I laid upon thl objective on th average Th trend of th times educationally ha aaemtd to be to make student ready to earn a living, without much-regard a to whether they ar ready te help perpetuat th State. Yet the effectual defense of th Constitution in both letter and spirit is prerequisite to the maintenance of a stable) society In which th trade and profession and th art of commerce can prosper. The form, which gave prominence to Fred M. Kirby's gift Supplementary to this, Frd M. Kirby received hundred of letters from prominent men throughout th country, of which a few reproduced.

"If permit this Government to die It wIU 6 folly to expect another Ilk it to erected upon it ruin. When th principle upon which It is founded ar abandoned and th glorious structure erected thereon has perished, It will be forever. There will no Angel of th Resurrection to roll away th stone from th Sepulcher of Liberty. Ther will no Easter Morn for a crucified" Constitution. The Honorable John Henry Kirby, Houston, Texas." An authority on th Constitution of th United States of America.

Haley Flske, President of th Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, wrote: "It is a very original Idea jthat you hav had and a very clever and useful one. I congratulate you over your conception and your method of carrying it out." Hubert T. Parson, President of the F. W. Woolworth Company, wrote: "I think that you hav done a splendid piece of constructive work which will Instill in th mind of th young man in Lafayette College a true appreciation of the rights and privileges of labor and capital In this great country up to what it is at the present time, and we must not lose sight of that fact for the future." E.

E. Loom is, President of th Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, wrote: "You have done a splendid thing In the establishment of th Fred Morgan Kirby Professorship of Civil Rights at Lafayette College. Business Leaders Pleased "The day will come, I hope, when there will be Fred Morgan Kirby chairs teaching such good American doetrlne In every one of the colleges on the line of the Lehigh Valley." A. Barton Hepburn, Chairman of the Board of the Chase National Bank, wrote: "It 1 a most commendable action on your part, involving a it does a new departure from the stereotyped endowment You must have thought this out carefully." Honorable John H. Kirby, President of th Kirby Lumber Company and an authority on the Constitution of the United States, wrote: "I much feared that th race of old-fashioned men who believe in individual- -ism and that all men ar endowed by their Creator with certain inallenabl.

rights, had, under the idealism and vague philosophy of President Wilson, disappeared from among our citizenship. It I refreshing to know that a very virile on still Uvea, who is willing to expend a portion of his saving in passing on to posterity some comprehension of the fundamental principles upon which their liberty is predicated." C. 8. Woolworth, Chairman of the Board of the F. W.

Woolworth Company and a close friend of Fred M. Kirby, wrote: "I want to ssy to you that I feel that you have done a mighty good thing. This action on your part will not popularize you with the Socialists nor the Bolshevik, but 1 good sound common sense, and I congratulate you on what you hav don In this respect." Press Adds Praise Henry Sturgls Drinker, President of Lehigh University, wrote: "Let me heartily congratulate you on this action of such value to the cause of education in our State, for which all persons interested In the education and -advancement of our people will be grateful to you." Colonel Ernest Gray Smith, owner of th Wllkes-Barr Times-Leader, wrote: "It is a pleasant surprise, received by a number of us from Northeastern Pennsylvania attending Commencement this year, to learn of your splendid gift and th purpose which Inspired Its donation. "Conveying the idea of returning to the sound, old and well-tried doctrines of Anglo-Saxon fundamental of civil rights In modern teaching, th gift naturally Invited much discussion not alone from its generous proportion, but a vindicative of returning reason and tried philosophy In what a college should teach. In both respects, your gift was an encouragement to tho who ar deeply interested in th futur of th college.

Our first thought was to writ to you a sort of round robin of appreciation. But felt It better to leave thl expression of our feelings to Individual letter or to personal Interview, as opportunity offered. And so here is mine. I am all th or happy about f'A DEEPER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS OF PATRIOTISM IS BORN" "THE FRED M. KIRBY HALL Ot CIVIL RIGHTS OP LAFAYETTE COLLEGE" Thit beautiful ttructurt, tontidered on of the finest college buildings, in America, was dedicated on May t9, 19S0.

It was designed by Warren A Wetmore, Architects of New York City. It is built of Indiana Limestone and Woodbury Granite at a cost of including equipment. It was erected to house the Department of Government and Law and the Fred Morgan Kirby Foundation of Civil Rights. (Continued on to Pag ette Lafay College EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA eighteen-carat field for his philanthropy. "Mr.

Kirby's own fortune grew in a business built upon dimes and nlckles, started by a poor man with) a idea and a lot of industry. "Lafayette College stands in a commonwealth created by Penn, whose platform was laid upon a solid foundation the right of Individuals to hold whatever religious faith' they pleas. Boston Takes Note "The college gets its nam from th famous French aristocrat and soldier who came to America to help Washington establish a government that led all the world In upholding civil rights. "So Mr. Kirby made a happy selection of the college which is to receive his beneficence.

He deserves the thanks of this state which now as never before sine Penn settled Jt, needs large doses of respect for the sacrednes of that which has been honestly won and saved." On th editorial page of th Boston Transcript Appeared an' artlcl which wa entitled, "Teaching InflividuM this article, reproduced in part, reads: "It has been a hundred years since Herbert Spencer was born, and seventeen since died, but it appears that his ln-, fiuenc 1 to cherished, and his teachings propagated, by a chair established in an American college for Instruction in the cause which was so dear to him, namely, the cause of th rights of th Individual. accepting th gift to found this professorship, Lafayette College must be awar that It is venturing to push its bark against th prevailing current Most of our colleges are teaching collectivism, nowadays, not individualism. 'Make each of us happy, that all may be happy is twisted about to read, 'Elevate the mass. If need be, by force and against the Individual Bulwark Against Socialism "This college does well to accept the gift, and ha, in the professorship which it will found, an opportunity to effect current thought and correct some current errors. Beyond all doubt th doctrine individual right, of individual initiative, of leadership on th part of the fittest Individuals is th American doctrlnei.

Throughout the Whole forma- On th following pagti, a ncord of on of th uUtwdlnr sifts to an American oller la writtM. Her it the dramatic and' Inspiring atorf of a plan brought to realization. The rred Morgan Kirby Chair of Civil Rights, which culminated in the creation of the Hall of Civil Rights, mark the completion a hiatorlo philanthropy. Gift To Lafoytttt In December, 1920,. Fred M.

Kirby, lh a letter to Dr. McCracken of Lafayette College, wrote: "Herewith I am handing you ten ertiflcatei for on hundred aharea each of the common atock of the F. W. Wool-worth Company, aggregating one thousand aharea, in the name of Lafayette College." With thlf short, terse announcement Fred V. Kirby brought to Lafayette College, and to himself, undying recognition as a leader la the movement to bring a fuller realization of the greatness of their government to the peopl of the United States.

Immediately letters of congratulation cam from all over the country; the press was unanimous in Its expression as to its valu. Th Philadelphia Public Ledger, in commenting upon th gift, said: "Fred Morgan Kirby is not a college i van, but he has definite ideas of what a oolleg should stand for. i Defines Civil Rights "Mr. Kirby. lives at WIlket-Barre and is vice-president of the F.

W. Woolworth Company. Just th other day he gav 100,000.00 to Lafayette College to endow a chair of 'Civil "What does mean by 'civil rights'? He set, forth clearly in his deed of gift what he means! 'Those absolute rights of person' In the possession of property and In the enjoyment of personal security. 1 "Russia is strangled today, largely because of the squeal of a host of half-baked university men turned loose with blatant notions that the possession of property is a crime, and personal security a rightful subject to the whim of mob law. "Mr.

Kirby wishes to teach young men a deep respect for all civil rights. As the map looks to us today in 1920, I should say that he picked out an -i tiv period of our history it has been the breath of our public and private life." Again, In th New York Times an Artlcl was published which Is reproduced In part: "Mr. F. M. Kirby, of Wllkes-Barr.

a trustee of Lafayette College, has given $100,000.00 to establish a Chair of Civil Rights. Th phrase sounds old-fashioned. Possibly many people hav already forgotten what civil rights are or war. Let hear th vigorous should say reactionary? language of th founder of this much needed endowment "What will the lntelligensla say to this idea of reviving th principles of th founders of th American policy? This insistence on the obsolete doctrine of individualism, on personal and property rights, this obstinate disbelief in th New Heaven or the other plaaa which th Socialists construct so glibly, must be painful to many of the young and to all the worshippers of collectivism and the infinitely meddling all-doing Socialist State, to the syndicalists, to th few but fit gods of the guild, to all aorta of How the stern old partisans of th tariff that fell from Heaven used to shudder at the insidious millionaires who were trying to seduce th youth of our land by founding Fre Trade' professorships I This Chair of Civil Rights must be a still more Iniquitous' effort to poison- th minds of th young against th sacred and th Immortal truths of Socialism. "Still, for th mer sak of novelty, Mr.

Kirby's reiteration of the old English and American creed of liberty is worth repeating: "The Instruction to be given ty th holder of the professorship shall always Include lectures on the Anglo-Saxon ideals 1 of the true principles of constitutional freedom, Including th right of on to own property and do with 1 it as he will, th right of life, liberty and th pursuit of happiness, and, incidentally, the right to sell his labor as he chooses and to enjoy th fruits thereof without molestation nor undue restraint, and the study of the attainment of these rights In the development of these Ideals in the history of th human race. Buffalo Adds Praise "These were the ideas that long pre- vailed In the United Stalea and gave it its growth, Its usefulness, and Its splendor. It is well that in at least one college they should be studied and encouraged; but what will th horror of th Socialists, who regard th college as their special preserves, to see a professorship of freedom of th rights of' the individual? Individualism, personal liberty, th rights of property why, amid the jargon of the moderns all these thing, th breath of life to the generations that won their hard-earned freedom, seem now almost like stories from th land of the spirits." An article in the Buffalo Courier read in part: "A course of instruction in the civil rights of individuals, meaning thereby all those absolute rights of persons, such as th right of personal liberty and th right to acquire and enjoy property as regulated and protected by law, to th end that individual initlatlv and effort may be encouraged and promoted and protected, and may receive Its Just reward, and that th fallacies of socialism and kindred theories and practice which tend to hamper and discourage and throttl individual effort and Individual energy may be exposed and avoided with sl firm belief that th protection of civil rights of individuals has contributed greatly to th advancement of the nation, and that th encroachments on th right will imperil th country and dostroy the properity and happiness of our people," Receives Many Letters These are just a few of th hundreds of news articles, both In editorial and publicity wmmm lib i i I 1 Jaw-. l-j 'U 1 mmm wpiiiiPiiBpiiiMSP lis gaff ill j.s;.;:-." 5 i WW ,4 SOUTH COLLEGE, STEEPED IN TRADITION AND DEAR TO THE HEART OF EVERY "SON OF LAFAYETTE" To FRED M. KIRBY, LLD.

Patron, Advisor and Benefactor of Lafayette College its President and other officers, his fellow member of it Board of Trustees, its Faculty, Alumni and Undergraduates extend in fullest measure sincere congratulation on the occasion of th 50th Anniversary, of th foundation at Wilkes-Barre of hi initial business venture. Hi name and the memory of hi character conviction and achievement are perpetuated at Lafayett by a generously endowed Chair of Civil Rights and a magnificent Hall of Rights which bear his honored name. THE COUNCIL ROOM In this beautiful mom the Board of Trustees meets. Directly overjhe fire place a portrait of Fred M. Kirby in oil', done by Salisburg, then famous English portrait jwinter.

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