Votume VI. No. 13.
FRANCIS AMASA WALKER.
Tributes from President Dwight and
Professor Farnam,
In the death of General Francis A.
Walker, our University, in common
with the Institute of Technology of
which he was the honored President,
has lost a friend whose service in the
cause of learning and science will long
be remembered. From 1873 to 1880 he
held the chair of Political Economy and
Dur-
ing this period he was an efficient and
History in our Scientific School.
unselfish worker for the interests of the
School, and a genuine affection for it
was awakened within him which con-
tinued with equal strength, and was
often clearly manifested, in the years
that followed his call to another sphere
of duty and service.
As an instructor here he was ever a
stimulating force for his pupils, inspir-
ing them by his energy and enthusiasm
and guiding their minds by his wisdom
and knowledge.
to feel the impelling power of the man
whom he saw before him, or to be quick-
ened in thought and in effort as he
witnessed the daily life which the man
was living. As a thinker and scholar
his ability was recognized here as it was
wherever he was known, and more
fully and appreciatively the longer he
lived among us and the better he be-
came known to us, To his wise coun-
sels and his generous efforts, the School
owed much in the matter of its growing
prosperity. The whole University was
honored by his presence within its walls
and was helped by the influence of his
intellectual power and his scholarly cul-
ture.
To his associates in the Faculty he
was always a warm and kindly friend—
full of sympathy, ever ready to do good,
and constantly adding by his thoughts
and his thoughtfulness to the happiness
of life. His departure from us was a
cause of deep regret, when he was
called away from his daily association
with us. Butthe kindly friendship re-
mained, unchanged on his part, and on
ours ; and no man has, in all the years,
been a more true and faithful lover of
Yale than he has been. It is with most
sincere sorrow that we have heard of
his death, and our tenderest sympathy
goes forth at this time to all who loved
and esteemed him.
His memory will be cherished by all
Yale men who knew him—the memory
of a genuine man, a true scholar, a
warm-hearted friend, a cultured gentle-
man, a highly honored and honorable
member of the great University brother-
hood. May the life which now opens
before him be filled with rich and sweet
thoughts and with ‘generous and manly
action-—such is the desire and such the
No student could fail
‘recall a characteristic incident.
NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1897.
prayer of our hearts as we give him our
last farewell.
TIMOTHY DWIGHT.
From Professor Farnam.
To the Editor of the Yale Alumni Week-
1.
Sir—In the short time allowed me, it
is impossible to give any extended
sketch of General Walker’s life or a
careful estimate of his position as an
economist. But I am glad to pay a per-
sonal tribute to his character, and to
mention a few facts regarding his rela-
lations to Yale. |
He began his work here in January,
1873, the appointment of Professor Gil-
man to the presidency of the University
of California having created a vacancy
in the Governing Board of the Sheffield
Scientific School. Gen. Walker did not,
however, fill the chair which President
Gilman left. The work was reorganized.
Prof. Brewer assumed the instruction
in Physical Geography, formerly given
by Prof. Gilman, and the chair of Politi-
cal Economy and History was especially
created for General Walker.
During the following year, while I
was a Senior in Yale College, I obtained
permission to attend General Walker’s
jectures on United States History as a
guest, and I well remember his ener-
getic, earnest manner, and the vividness
which he put into his subject. I also
One
day the appointed time for the lecture
came, but General. Walker, who was
usually the very embodiment of punc-
tuality, failed to appear. At the next
exercise he explained that he had been
working in his room so zealously that
two hours seemed as one and that he
went to his lecture-room just an hour
late. |
His official connection with the Scien-
tific School lasted less than nine years,
and two of those years he spent in
Washington, conducting the 10th cen-
sus. Yet he had a warm affection for
Yale and a great fondness for New
Haven. He was always glad to return
to our city and was a loyal supporter
of Yale methods and the Yale spirit
in matters of scholarship, no less
thaninathletics. He regularly attended
all of the great football games of the
season and knew the names of each
member of the eleven and each substi-
tute, his athletic record, strong and
weak points, and everything else worth
knowing about him. He was a con-
tributor to the Yale Review, and though
ali of our economists here differed with
him on the subject of bi-metallism, I
have every reason to believe that this
difference of opinion never affected the
friendliness of his personal feelings.
General Walker was one of those
remarkable men who have such a
capacity for work, and such executive
ability, that they never seem in a hurry
or short of time. A few years after he
had assumed the presidency of the Insti-
tute of Technology I had occasion to
call on him in his office in Boston. He
seemed to be writing industriously at
his table, and I therefore apologized for
interrupting him and said that I feared
he was too busy to see me. But he
cordially assured me that he was not
busy at all, and with the air of a man
who has been killing time in some
trivial occupation, told me that he was
merely writing a new edition of his
Political Economy. He then devoted a
good part of his day to showing me
what I wanted to see in the Institute.
_ More recently it has been my good for- .
tune to be associated with him in the
work of the Committee of Fifty for
investigating the Liquor Problem, and
I have been impressed with his willing-
ness to spend his time in the service of
others. Though an extremely busy
man, he always seemed to have time
for the meetings of the sub-committee
of which he was Chairman; he was
-ever prompt in meeting appointments,
always courteous, suggestive and help-
ful in the transaction of business.
He combined in a remarkable degree
the trained mind of the scholar, the
energy and system of the administrator,
and the tact and urbanity of the man
of the world. Hence his treatment of
economic questions was concrete and
practical, not abstract, and his whole
influence was wonderfully stimulating
to younger men. I regret that in these
hasty notes I cannot express more
adequately my appreciation of the sin-
cerity of his character and the power of
his mind, or properly convey to your
readers my sense of personal loss in his
sudden death.
= HENRY W. FaRNAM.
Tuesday evening, Jan. 5th, 1897.
A Sketch of His Life.
General Francis Amasa Walker, Presi-
dent of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, died suddenly at his home
in Boston, Mass., on Tuesday, January
5th, from a stroke of apoplexy.
He was born in Boston on July 2nd,
1840, and was the son of Amasa Walker,
a well-known political economist. Gen-
eral Walker received his early educa-
tion in the public schools of North
Brookfield, and, in 1856, entered Am-
herst, graduating in the class of 1860
with high honors. He began the study
of law, but when the war broke out he
enlisted, and was made sergeant-major
of the 15th Mass. regiment. Gen.
Walker served with distinction through-
out the war, taking part in many en-
gagements and was steadily promoted.
He was wounded in the battle of Chan-
cellorsville,-and in the battle of Reams’
Station was taken prisoner.
Upon his retirement from the army
he taught in the Williston Seminary, at
Easthampton, Mass., for two years,
after which he accepted a position on
the editorial staff of the Springfield
Republican, where he remained until
appointed, by Pres. Grant, Chief of the
Bureau of Statistics, in 1869.
In 1870-72 he held the office of super-
intendent of the 9th census, and during
the year 1871-72 he was also commis-
sioner of Indian affairs. :
He was called to the professorship of
political economy and history in the
Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni-
versity in 1873, and held that chair
until 1881, when he was elected to the
presidency of the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology. ;
Since 1881 he has been president of
the Massachusetts Institute of .Tech-
-University,
‘Former
Price Tren Cents.
nology, where he introduced the studies
of history and political economy. He
was for two years lecturer in Johns
Hopkins University and was for a short
time a lecturer in political economy at
Harvard University. He has been
president of the American Statistical
Association and president of the Ameri-
can Economic Association, was the chief
of the Bureau of Awards at the Centen-
nial Exhibition of 1876, and commis-
sioner from the United States to the In-
ternational Monetary conference in
Paris in 1878. In 1880 he was elected
president of the American Economic
Association.
President Walker has received the de-
gree of LL.D., from Amherst (his alma
mater) from Columbia, Yale, Harvard
St. Andrews and Edinburgh Universi-
ties.
The International Geographical Con-
gress at Paris in 1875 gave him a medal
of the first class for his statistical atlas
of the United States. In 1876, he pub-
lished one of his most important works,
‘‘The Wage Question.”
Service for University Men.
Next Sunday a_ service of even
greater interest than the Ian Mac-
laren meeting, announced in the
Weekly a few weeks ago, will be held
in New York City and the attention of
Yale men is especially called to it.
Fresident Gilman of Johns Hopkins,
Rishop Potter of New York, Dr. Van
DeWater, the Chaplain of Columbia
-and President Low .§ of
Columbia, will take part in the special
service for university men in the
Calvary Episcopal, church, Fourth
Avenue and Twenty-first Street, Sun-
day evening, Jan. 10th at 8 o’clock.
-.-members . of. their col-
glee. clubs are invited to
secure .reserved seat tickets and
send their names jn advance
as willing to join in the proces-
sional with their academic costumes,
The disappointment. cf many who
lege
-failed-to secure admission with tickets
at Ian Maclaren’s. service has led to
the issuance of a limitednumber of re-
served seat tickets, good until 7:15.
These may be had upon a} plication.
There will be a Yale day at the
Students’ Club Sundéey afternoon at
4:30. President Gilman of Johns Hop-
kins will meet the Yale men for a
quiet social time at 4:30, and at 5 will
give a brief address. There will be
singing by Yale men. Yale graduates
of recent years will act as a Reception
Comnuittee to present the men to
President Gilman. All Yale alumni
are cordially inivited to be present on
that occasion.
——_—_>o___—_—_-
Scientific Monthly Prize.
The editors of the Yale Scientific
Monthly have decided to offer a cash
prize of twenty-five dollars to the au-
thor of the best original article writ-
ten for the Monthly, in competition
for a position on the Hiditorial Board.
This limits the competion for this
prize to members of the Junior and
Freshman classes. Preference in
awarding the prize will be given to
the choice of a live subject of general
interest, and above all to literary
style. The award of the prize will be
made in May, 1897, when the Board
from the class of ’98 is elected.
