Walter Prescott Webb speaks at Steen鈥檚 inauguration
A Corner of the Old South
Dr. Ralph Wright Steen assumed his job as the third President of Stephen F. Austin State College on November 1, 1958. He was formally inaugurated on February 7, 1959, with the address given by Dr. Walter Prescott Webb, one of the South鈥檚 great scholars and historians. Webb was famous for his works on the Great Plains and the American West. When asked by one Easterner why he never visited the East, Webb responded: 鈥淚鈥檝e been East. I鈥檝e been to Nacogdoches!鈥� Webb was a close personal friend of Dr. Birdwell鈥檚 and had even helped Birdwell to establish the East Texas Historical Association in the late 1920s. The Steck Company, which had published several of Dr. Steen鈥檚 textbooks on Texas history, published the Webb inaugural address because it had, in the publisher鈥檚 words, 鈥渁n important message for all of us who are interested in the South.鈥� Dr. Robert Maxwell called Webb鈥檚 visit to the campus 鈥渁 high point in Stephen F. Austin history.鈥�
Dr. Webb first met Steen at McMurry College; later he taught Steen at the University of Texas. In his advice to the new president, Webb even quoted the advice he had given to Dr. Logan Wilson when the latter became president of the University of Texas in 1953. In short, Webb warned that the job would be tough, lonely, political, and would have no immunity, no tenure, and no quarter in which to hide. 鈥淔rom our safer academic foxholes of tenure we watch them come and go, and we often wonder why good men accept such exposed positions.鈥� The hardest decisions, however, were not political: 鈥淣o politician and no human being can help the president make the hard decisions; and it has been said that the better the man the harder the decisions are.鈥�
Webb鈥檚 main message centered on the place of East Texas in a larger setting of the American South, as his title suggests: 鈥淎 Corner of the Old South.鈥�
鈥淭he whole United States consists of three great regions which are generally accepted by us all, the North, the South, and the West. It is obvious that Nacogdoches does not belong to the North, geographically or culturally. That leaves us to place it as between the West and the South. ... West Texas belongs to the American West, and East Texas belongs to the Old South. The pines on this campus furnish all the proof we need that this East Texas is a part of the Old South. The houses reflect the fact; the accents of the people indicate it; and the old families with their aristocratic traditions, presumptions, offer ample proof that this is a little corner of the Old South.鈥�
鈥淪ince this is true, then the problems of this college situated in this westernward corner of the Old South are pretty much the same problems that face all the colleges all over the Old South, not only the colleges, but the universities as well.鈥�
While he knew everyone was expecting him to talk about the new hot topic of integration, perhaps even dreading what he might say, Webb advised Steen to avoid the issue because it really was 鈥渘ot germane to the future, to the opportunity, and to the highest obligation of this institution.鈥� In essence, Webb advised the new president to 鈥減low around one great obstacle in order to get on with its crop.鈥� He called the race problem 鈥渁 log that is too heavy to move and too green to burn.鈥� His advice to Steen: 鈥淲hat I am advocating is a positive rather than a negative approach to the problems of the South, to the problems of this corner of the South known as East Texas.鈥�
He traced the legacy, the under-development,and the backward looking attitude of the South, and then credited the Depression and the New Deal with turning the history of the South around. As for the future, Webb continued. 鈥淲hat the South needs today more than any other one thing is for people to catch a vision–not of a glorious past, but of a far greater future.鈥� Webb anticipated that his words might be falling 鈥渙n skeptical ears,鈥� so he summarized: 鈥淭he South, like Br鈥檈r Rabbit, has fortunately fallen into the brier patch of opportunity.鈥� If it used its newly found oil, water, and financial resources, there was no stopping the area from being prosperous.
In obvious references to Steen, Webb said the South needed 鈥渕ore people who understand the advantages it has, and the forces that are operating to give it a great future. These people need to see a vision of the South, not as it once was, but as it is and can be.鈥� The old teacher then told his pupil Steen: 鈥淚 have tried to give him a perspective on the region in which he operates and which he will serve. I would like to engage his interest in the program I have suggested, and I would also like to engage the interest of his regents, his faculty, his patrons, and all the citizens of East Texas. I would like for all of them to catch the vision of what this country might be, can be, and ought to be.鈥�
Webb concluded by quoting two Englishmen. From the poet Shelly: 鈥淭he seeds ye sow, another reaps.鈥� From General William Booth of the Salvation Army, Webb quoted something which he said should 鈥渂e framed over the desk of a new president:
"Sow the seeds and fear not the birds for the harvest is not yours."