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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,
