The Weight of the Future in 1916
Rev. C.E. Miller challenges Kennewick graduates to tackle the corruption and industrial oppression of their era.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Before an audience of three hundred people in the High School gymnasium, Rev. C. E. Miller, of the Methodist church, delivered the annual baccalaureate sermon to the 1916 graduating class. Among the thoughts shared were: 'A generation ago the avowed purpose of the Christian college was to develop character, but today it is to train for the service of society. These three agencies—home, church, and school—must go hand in hand or the generation will fail. Corruption in politics, oppression in industry, dishonesty in commerce, double standards in society, and impurities in personal life must be corrected. The members of this class may have a part in the great purging of things.'
“Corruption in politics, oppression in industry, dishonesty in commerce, double standards in society, and impurities in personal life must be corrected. God requires it.”
In 1916, graduating classes were being tasked with 'purging' the systemic corruption of their time. Today, graduates face similar anxieties about industrial control and political integrity, proving that the struggle for a clean, fair society is a perennial American theme.
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