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went forth from this county of Tompkins thirty or forty young men 

 to engage in building telegraph lines and the development of that 

 great enterprise. Upon the thumb and fingers of one hand can be 

 counted those who went from here whose fortunes — or at least 

 whose estates, for some of them are no longer in this life — are to- 

 day of more value than all the assessed valuation of the real and 

 personal estates of the entire town of Ithaca. These young men 

 were thus led off into a new branch of industry and they accom- 

 plished grand results. Just so Mr. Sibley's endowment here will 

 lead other young men into original fields of enterprise and give 

 them opportunities which would otherwise be beyond their reach. 

 Within the past ten years we have witnessed many wonderful 

 developments in the uses of electricity. The invention of the tele- 

 phone has added more than fifty millions of dollars to the wealth 

 of our country while that of the electric light has added millions 

 upon millions. These and similar inventions are to be improved 

 upon and supplemented by the young men who are to be educated 

 in the Sibley College of Mechanic Arts. 



ADDRESS OF THE HONORABLE STEWART L. WOODFORD. 



The programme tells us that at four o'clock this afternoon 

 the unveiling of the Agassiz tablet is to take place at the Chapel. 

 The hour has passed, and we are still here admiring Mr. Siblev's 

 picture and recounting his good deeds to our University. If, 

 however, you wish to carry out the programme and attend the exer- 

 cises at the Chapel, it is your good fortune that my regard for the 

 truthfulness of the official circular compels me to be very brief. 



Memory goes back to-day, Mr. President, over the years that 

 have passed since the thought of this University first took shape. 

 That thought has never been better expressed, will never be better 

 told, than in the language which Senator Morrill used in the origi- 

 nal charter, the bill passed by Congress giving public lands to 

 colleges. He said that the gift was to establish colleges "where 

 the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and 

 classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such 

 branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the 

 industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." 



