ABSTRACT
The Federation of University Students asked me to come here and speak to you on the reform of education. Anyone who dared speak of reform, or even insinuate that it was appropriate, was ipso facto declared a madman and an outlaw. Humanity would still be pursuing its existence in a hole in the ground; for everything that has made it possible to emerge from the cave and the primeval jungle appeared in its first hour as a highly dubious undertaking. Every day the conviction forces itself on me with new clarity, that too much security demoralizes men more than anything else. The most moderate of men would have been ostracized for the mention of reform. Such was the case of Antonio Maura, who had been raised to the height of power by the conservatives themselves. A people dormant for centuries is beginning to stir, with those sleepy, jerking motions of a person about to awake and rise to his feet.
