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tions or rather my associations with Mr. Sibley extends back over 

 a period of thirty years, covering all of the time since the organi- 

 zation of the Trustees of this institution and ten years prior in 

 which we were closely connected in the telegraph service. In all 

 of these years our personal relations have been of the most cordial 

 and friendly character and time has only served to increase my re- 

 spect for him. 



Mr. Sibley commenced life as a poor boy without any of the ad- 

 vantages of position or wealth and literally made his own way. By 

 industry and energy he made himself master of whatever task fell 

 to his lot and often accomplished results where others less resolute 

 would have given up in despair. He accumulated considerable 

 wealth in commercial pursuits and at an early day became associ- 

 ated with others in the development of the telegraph interests of the 

 country. He was the master spirit in the great enterprise of ex- 

 tending telegraph lines across the continent and bringing our Pa- 

 cific coast within the range of electric communication. Later he 

 was largely engaged in the construction of our splendid railway 

 system and has also been identified with other important business 

 ventures. In many ways he has wielded great influence and has 

 accumulated a vast fortune, a very liberal portion of which he has 

 devoted to the cause of higher education, not only in establishing 

 the department here of which you, sir, have spoken so eloquently, 

 but also in the building of an elegant library building at the Uni- 

 versity of Rochester. Beside these he has built churches, founded 

 schools, and indeed it is impossible for me to recount half that he 

 has done in these directions. 



The department which Mr. Sibley has founded here at the Cor- 

 nell University is calculated to exert an important and beneficent 

 influence. It will lead the young men who come here to a new 

 departure in the way of education, and will fit them for better 

 work, enabling them to avoid the beaten paths of competition, in 

 which men are treading so closely upon each other's heels as to 

 leave but little margin for profitable employment. Perhaps an il- 

 lustration of the advantage of directing young men just commenc- 

 ing life into fresh channels of employment may be given by a 

 single word in reference to this locality. Within forty years there 



