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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1897)
ees. ATU Ming W SI YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY $2.50 PER YEAR. SUBSCRIPTION, - Foreign Postage, 49 cents per year. PAYABLE IN ADVANCE, Checks, drafts and orders should be made payable to the Yale Alumni Weekly. All correspondence should be addressed,— Yale Alumni Weekly, New Haven, Conn. The oftice is at Room 6, White Hall. ADVISORY BOARD. H. C. Roprnson, 53. J. R. SHEFFIELD, 87. W. W. Skippy, 658. J. A. HARTWELL, ’89 8. C. P. LINDSLEY, 15S. L.S. WELCH, 89. W. Camp, 80. E. VAN INGEN, 918. W. G. Daaaert, 80. P. Jay, ’92. EDITOR. Lewis S. WELCH, ’89. ASSOCIATE EDITOR. WALTER Camp, ’80, ' ASSISTANT EDITOR. - E. J. THomMpson, Sp. NEWS EDITOR, FRED. M. DAVIES, ’99. PRESTON KUMLER, 1900, Athletic Department. Davip D. TENNEY, 1900, Special. Entered as second class matter at New Haven P. O. New HAVEN, Conn., DEC. 2, 1897. THE DEBATE. As the WEEKLY goes to press the attention of the College world is cen- tered on the Yale-Harvard debate, ‘which takes place to-morrow evening ‘in College Street Hall. The debate bids fair to be interesting from several standpoints. The question is a popu- lar one and its phrasing admits of no ambiguity in .interpretation, a. fact which in itself assures a lively inter- change of argument from the outset. It remains to be seen what effect sev- eral innovations in the spirit and method of the preparatory work will have on the general character of the speaking, and we shall have more to say on this subject in next week’s issue. Meanwhile it is unneccesary to assure Yale representatives, and those who have devoted themselves during the past month to the training and criticism of the team, of the best wishes of the University for to-morrow night’s con- test with an honored and worthy rival. _———______ > o> —_—_--—- THE PHI BETA KAPPA QUESTION AGAIN. The announcement a few weeks since of the remarkably small number of men eligible to Phi Beta Kappa from the Class of Ninety-Nine, together with recent attempts to revive interest in the social side of this organization, has occasioned no little discussion of late among undergraduates. It will be re- membered that last Spring the Class of Ninety-Seven raised the requirements for society membership (to commence with the present Sophomore class) to a stand of 3.30, a much more radical move than that made by Ninety-Five and afterwards revoked by the Class of ‘Ninety-Six. The chief argument put forward by Ninety-Seven, based on the unusually large numer of Philosophi- eal and High Oration appointments in Ninety-Eight, was that the honor of membership was cheapened by the in- ¢rease in numbers. This decision, how- @ver, was made by men who had already received their keys, many of them for no more than a High Oration ‘standing and who would have voted Wery differently two years _ before. Were the interests of the subsequent ‘Glasses, which were to be affected by ‘this decision, sufficiently regarded in encourage and foster scholarship. It is not and never can be a social. club. Men receive elections on an intellectual basis for work done in the class-room, and into this selection the element of congeniality never enters. Inasmuch as the organization is not a voluntary one, like a reading, modern language or social science club, whose members are brought together by their interest in one special line of study, but is made up by an arbitrary selection of men who have the honor by scholarship alone along very different lines, mem- bership must remain a_ distinction merely and, as such, should be within the reach of all who have fairly earned it. The fact that there are three times as many men who earn this right to-day as there were 30 years ago does not prove to those who are still candidates that the honor of an election has been cheapened. They do not attribute the increase to less exacting marking or to the extension of the elective system, for their work is,'in the main, required, up to the time when the appointment list is made. They note that the classes have nearly trebled in size during the period in question and that there is no longer a sharp line of distinction be- tween the scholar and the literary man. Indeed it is a noticeable fact that there is almost always a majority of Phi Beta Kappa men among the TenEyck and Townsend speakers. There has been a gradual merging of the one class into the other, and the result has been a better quality of work along both lines of student activity. There are also in every college class a number of able men who, during the first two years of the course, have de- voted their energies to athletics or literary work, perhaps to the neglect of the College curriculum, and have re- ceived Oration or Dissertation stand- ings. By Junior year such men begin to turn their thoughts more seriously from the smaller world of College life to the future. A more earnest spirit pervades their class-room work, the studies are more congenial, often bear- ing directly on their future occupations, and very frequently honors are taken at graduation by men not in the first third of the class. A graduation election to Phi Beta Kappa is not only a highly coveted prize in itself, but, in the case of men of this stamp, is an honor to the College and the society as well. Under the recently adopted system there is little incentive for even the most conscientious of such men to make a well nigh impossible effort to be among the first 15 or 20 men in a class of 300. The lowest limit of the High Oration group is certainly a fair limit of divis- ion. It offers an opportunity for dis- tinction to the faithf1l student of aver- age ability and to those who are work- ing under disadvantages of preparation. Is the underclassman unreasonable in his protest against the removal of long established privileges from any man who has justly earned them? —__—_—_—_o+o The itinerary of the University Glee and Banjo Clubs, which we publish in another column, is of especial interest to our Western readers. The trip of the Clubs this year has been extended much further beyond. the Mississippi than usual. It is only necessary to call the attention of the graduates of the different cities to the dates of the con- certs. The Clubs depend to a great extent on the efforts of the Yale men in the cities they visit for the success of the trip. We trust the reception given to the Clubs will be of the warm- est character. YALE AND THE “ H’’? INCIDENT. Do not be deceived. Yale is not’a boiling caldron of excitement. The Campus isn’t hot. The elms and the dockweeds and Hotchkiss Green are safe. The people at Cambridge, who do things undreamed of at Athens or at Carson City, may continue punitive and disciplinary experiments ad libitum, ad infinitum. The Harvard Crimson may put into type epithets and adjec- tives that make the jubilaly on the ink rollers sizzle and smell badly. And the men of Yale will not be decoyed into saying: “Thus has Harvard acted; thus has Harvard spoken.” They know Harvard men,—very many of them— and much admire them; and prefer to take their idea of Harvard from these men and not from such things as have been said and done of late. And the students of Yale know better than to try to explain these things. Besides, they have better things to do. Semi-annuals are at hand and the Faculty threatens their goal line. And when they have a few spare minutes, they like better to talk it all over again, recalling how eleven boys went up from New Haven to Cambridge and held fifteen Harvard veterans at bay; and then came back, brushed up their game a bit and met fifteen more veterans and overcame them in about the finest, hardest football game you or anyone else ever saw (which fact was cheerfully subscribed to by this last set of vet- erans). : And the students of Yale are right in choosing their topics of conversation. —_—__+#—___—_- Wniversities and Their Sons. It is proposed to publish a work on the universities of the United States, with biographical notices and portraits of their sons, including in this term both graduates and those whose emi- nence has been such as to call for the recognition of the higher institutions of learning in the bestowment of appro- priate honorary degrees. The full title of the work is to be “Universities and Their Sons: History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universi- ties, with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees.” A leading object will be to show the connection of our universities with the real life and interest of our people. There will be a history of the develop- ment of each institution with a brief statement of its present equipment and biographical sketches, not alone of dis- tinguished graduates and laureates, but of the rank and file of university sons who have attained less conspicuous but not less worthy positions in the vari- ous walks of life. It is proposed to be- gin with the four great universities NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. JOHN A. MCCALL, PRESIDENT. This Company has been in success- ful operation since 1845, and has now over 300,000 policy-holders and over $200,000,000 in assets. It offers the most privileges and on the most favor- able terms, of any Company. Under its new system of classifying and com- pensating agents, it offers to young men continuous employment and a life income. Its policies and agents’ contracts will interest all students. oe 5 4 New YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, 346 & 348 Broadway, — NEw YORK. CUI BONO? At the close of the year it is both natural and profitable that each one should inquire into the benefit as well as the uselessness of many things. At sucha time let your ques- tions be applied to life insurance. There is nothing experimental about it. A large num- ber of insured people have died, and the good or ill of the system has become clear enough from examination of what good their insur- ance was to them or to their families. To very many it served to lengthen life, because of the freedom it gave from anxiety with reference to the fate of their dependent families. For the same reason it helped largely to make their last hours peaceful and tranquil. ‘Yet it may be said that multitudes are alive, to-day, who are not insured, and that they are as well and hearty as a year ago. What advantage, then, have the insured over these fortunate ones? The answer is brief and clear, the insured have saved in most cases what they would have otherwise used. They have laid the best foundation for future saving. They have the satisfaction of feeling that they have well done their duty towards those dependent upon them. They do not stand in jeopardy of every day fearing lest the future may find those unprovided for who have hitherto looked to them for support. And how about the uninsured? When they become convinced of the folly of their ways they will have to pay a permanently larger rate of premium, because they failed to comprehend the danger of carrying their own risks. If they wait longer they will be too late to insure atall. Or even should they be in time to avail themselves of present health and insurable condition, the premium will so increase, with increasing years, that they must be contented with an amount very inadequate to the real requirements of their families. The probationary stage of life insurance has long since passed away. It has fully jus- tified its right to the approbation of the wise and the prudent. No one in these latter days questions the benefit of life insurance, or the wisdom of the system, but simply asks the question of himself, How much good is it to me? Lest it should be one of the chief regrets of the passing year that you have neglected this great means of good, seize now the opportunity and let there bea New Year of secured insurance. Even before 98 comes in, see the nearest agent of The Great Mutual Life of New York, and through him place yourself beyond the reach of unavailing regrets. Yale Law School. For circulars and other information apply to Prof. FRANCIS WAYLAND, ‘Dean. which have held the earliest and high- est place in this country’s educational forces—Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia. The editor-in-chief of the entire work is GenerghJoshua Lawrence Chamber- lain, LL.D., ex-President of Bowdoin College and ex-Governor of Maine. An introduction will be written by Pro- fessor William T. Harris, ’58, United States Commissioner of Education. Special editors who will have charge of the representation of their respective universities are: William Roscoe Thay- er, A.M., Harvard; Professor Charles Henry Smith, ’65, Yale; Professor John DeWitt, D.D., LL.D., Princeton, and Professor J. Howard Van Amringe, Ph.D., LL.D., Columbia. The first volume will be confined to the history, description, etc. of the uni- versities and will contain about one hundred illustrations of views of build- ings, grounds and scenes. Additional -volumes will be devoted to biographi- cal sketches and portraits of alumni of the four universities and recipients of honorary degrees from them. Bio- graphical editors from each_ institution are as follows: Charles E. S. Wingate, Harvard, ’83; Albert Lee, Yale, ’or; Jesse Lynch Williams, Princeton, ’92; Henry G. Paine, Columbia, 80. The complete work will consist of “some five large volumes and the sub- jects of the biographies being so scat- tered, it is probable that three or four years more will be needed for its com- pletion. It is intended to bring out the first volume in ’98; the others to follow as fast as the collection and prepara- tion of the biographical material will permit. The work is to be published by the R. Herndon Company of Boston, and will be sold by subscription. 7 C. Ho. Sirsa,
