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YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
SUBSCRIPTION, - $2.50 PER YEAR.
Foreign Postage, 40 cents per year.
PAYABLE IN ADVANCE,
Checks, drafts and orders should be made payable to
the Yale Alumni Weekly.
1l correspondence should be addressed,—
ae vale Alumni Weekly, New Haven, Conn.
The office is at Room 6, White Hall.
ADVISORY BOARD.
C. RoBrnson, 53. J. R. SHEFFIELD, 87,
W. Skippy, 65S. J. A. HARTWELL, ’89 8.
P. LINDSLEY, 75 8. L.S. WELCH, ’89.
E. Van INGEN, 791 S.
H.
WwW
0.
Ww
Ww P. Jay, 792.
. Camp, ’80.
. G. DaGGETT, ’80.
EDITOR.
Lewis S. WELOH, ’89.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
WALTER Camp, ’80.
ASSISTANT EDITOR,
‘EK. J. THompson, 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., JAN. 6, 1898.
FOR ASSOCIATION SECRETARIES.
This is the season of alumni associa-
tion meetings, and it may not be neces-
sary to remind the secretaries that we
want to hear from them very promptly.
In any case where the secretary. ar-
ranges with some other member of the
association to report the meeting we
~would like to have the fact made
known to us. What we desire is the
most readable and reliable and com-
plete report, and we also desire it to be
forwarded promptly. We trust this
year’s reports of the gatherings of
alumni will be more satisfactory than
any yet printed.
_— ws
> Om ahr
HOW MUCH DO WE PRIZE YALE
DEMOCRACY ?
It will ever be hard, as far as one can
judge from the past and present, to
pick out his College and University as
a place where a man need have much,
if any, capital, besides that under his
own hat and in his own heart, in order
to obtain an education which he has
strongly resolved shall be a part of his
equipment for life. The means of self-
support have been elaborated very
recently in the WEEKLY, and the arti-
cles in that line, from the pen of one
who knew well whereof he wrote, have
been, it may be hoped, reassuring to
many and of practical aid to not a few.
Although the means indicated were so
numerous and various, it seems to us,
on re-reading the list, as though it
might yet be extended at great length.
In the line of the chronicling of news
for the press of the country, to take a
single illustration, the opportunities for
the man who combines the ability to
put together facts in a clear and reada-
ble (not fanciful) form, with a modicum —
of common sense in observing the
relations of things, are very great.
This kind of work has in recent years,
and does now, yield unusually good
revenue to a number of men. And the
more fair and faithful a man is in it,
the better, in the long run, is his com-
pensation and many opportunities he
can find for serving his College in a
very real way. Good illustrations of
this could be given. And it goes with-
out saying that the training of the work
in clear expression is very nearly in-
valuable, whatever may be the line of
the student’s final choice. This is as-
suming, of course, that it is faithfully —
and conscientiously done. And so, in
this department alone, the incentive to
the man who has to carry himself, is
strong and the hope excellent that his
work shall have a reward entirely apart
from monthly settlements.
In a more purely, or more nearly
literary work the opportunities are still
greater, although, of course, stich abil-
ity is rarer. When one sees, however,
what return often comes from very
mediocre efforts in such lines and con-
siders the ability for very excellent pro-
ductions on the part of others, who
simply lack confidence, it is easily seen
how much farther this kind of work
could go in helping many men to
secure their education.
ed
But this is only elaborating a single
line and, as has been said, it is not much
to be feared that the opportunities of
this place for those of little or no means
shall fail to be recognized. In this fact
itself, of course, there is a very impor-
tant part of the foundation of a genu-
ine democracy. Without such possi-
bilities, it could not exist in its best
form. And when to this it can also be
truthfully added that the reputation in
the student body of any man is, at the
worst, not affected by the fact of his
self-support, but that he is generally
more thought of for it, then it would
seem that Yale democracy is secure.
Perhaps it is. But we have seen
it somewhat weakened at times in
the last decade by influences for which
the students themselves were in no way
responsible, and perhaps not the Fac-
ulty. And we see now, though the
spirit of the place has temporarily
recovered from such influences, that
this democracy does not accomplish its
perfect work because of the physical
fact of a_certain amount of separation
along the lines of means.
The Corporation says it must get the
highest amount of revenue consistent
with the general expenses of living in
New Haven, from its dormitory equip-
ment; and so the price of rooms is set
by the commercial value of the particu-
lar building and the scale is adjusted
as it would be by any private real
estate office: The result. of this is; of
course, that the line is drawn in the_
matter of residence according to the
means of the students. It is very much
to be doubted if dormitories were ever
given with this idea in mind. The
most natural thought on the part of the
giver.is that he is simply allowing the
College to house the greater part of
its family itself, in a comfortable way,
rather than forcing it to go outside the
limits of the College grounds, at in-
crease of expense, inconvenience and
discomfort.
eae eee
But the Corporation says that if it
did not get as much revenue as it is
possible out of dormitories, Yale would
run behind.
The point is whether the student’s
environment and the effect upon his
character, is to be considered a car-
dinal point in the government of Yale
—that is, not any less important than
the method of instruction in the prin-
cipal studies and the character of the
men who instruct and influence the
students. The regulation of instruction
at Yale and the choice of men is not
altogether governed by commercial
considerations. Yale instruction must
be of the first order and the men who
give it must be the best men available.
It is a part of the immemorial tradition
of the place. It is an ideal," set up by
the founders and perpetuated by gener-
ation after generation, from which no
Corporation would dare to deviate, but
which each set of trustees feels called
upon rather to develop and to raise
still higher. Should the Corporation
of Yale say that the depreciation of
certain securities would make it neces-
sary to cut the salaries of the principal
professors and to lop off certain
branches of instruction, its members
would undoubtedly be soon informed of
how far short they fell, in the minds |
of their fellows, from the standard of
what the governors of Yale should be.
The men of Yale would ask them why
they had not frankly come forward and
said to the graduates and to the friends
of Yale that the University was in need
of money for carrying on its instruction.
We confess to much surprise that
the frequent advance in the price of
rooms at Yale, with a scale set in cer-
tain buildings which is practically pro-
hibitory to certain classes of students,
has not raised in a more general way
a similar protest. It is a tradition of
the place that there should be no bar-
rier to the most perfect association
between men on the score of the differ-
ence in their bank accounts; and this
fact has counted greatly for the glory
and benefit of Yale.
‘But for several years the government
of Yale, in regard to the student’s en-
vironment, has gone on the same prin-
ciples as govern the environment of
men in the outside world. Such a plan
leaves the Campus far from the ideal
place of which we grow eloquent at
alumni meetings. It makes it simply a
reproduction of the world outside. It
allows no particularly favorable influ-
ences for the development of those
traits, which must become very strongly
implanted in youth, if they are not to
be crushed out-afterwards by the con-
ventions of worldly wisdom.
Do we really want to teach men here
to gauge men by what they are, rather
than by what they have or what posi-
tion their family holds in the world?
~ When a millionaire’s son comes within
these gates, do we principally desire
for him that he may be pushed up
against a farmer’s sturdy son and re-
ceive from him such benefit as can
come from association with a man of
simple force and strong principle and
inherent love of that which is good and
true—these things alone, without the
pleasing accessories of finish which
wealth can give? Do we especially
desire, when the boy comes to New
Haven with only his own hands and
head and spirit to carry him and having
had little opportunity to know men and
the ways of the world, that he be sure,
as soon as possible, to meet one who
has had the advantage of all the refin-
ing processe which money and social
situation can command? And do we
wish these two, in as early and frequent
association as possible, to altogether
forget the dollars-and-cents difference
in their condition and the distinction
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.
ae (UM
NEW YORK LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY,
346 & 348 Broadway,
NEW YORK.
eer
DEPENDENCE ano INDEPENDENCE
There is only the slight difference of two
letters between these two words, but the dif-
ference in the meaning is almost indescrib-
able, and their personal application to every
man of a character too real to be ignored
Every person of manhood’s years to whom
Providence has given the opportunity, should
make against the uncertainties of the future
such provision through sound life insurance
as would insure a measure of independence
and provide sustenance in later years without
requiring a call upon the charity of others.
Every husband who has the ability (and
many more would have if they determined on
it) should make such provision for his wife.
_ Every father should arrange in this way
for the comfort of his children, in view of
the fact that he may be taken from them be-
fore they are able to care for themselves.
For multitudes there is no possible way to
secure true independence except through life
insurance. A comparatively small yearly
saving for this purpose will insure comfort
in oldage to the insurant himself and certainty
of support to his family if death should call
him away from them.
Self-denial in early life and consecration to
the best interests of the home and loved ones
are forces which, if cherished, would inspire
most wage-earning husbands and parents to
the effort necessary to secure independence
for them, whether they journey along with
them till all reach a personal competency or
leave them in their earlier years.
Every man has a duty to the family ‘he has
brought into existence, as well as to the com-
munity in which he lives. The one should
not be left dependent upon the other.
A policy in the Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany of New York, even though it be but a
small amount, will prove an effective barrier
between the family and the poorhouse, even
if all other schemes for money-saving fail in
their object.
In every town in this ‘broad land of ours
can be found some one who knows about
this Great Company, or who holds one or
more of its policies. He can tell you of its
advantages, and the Company’s nearest agent
can tell you of its many forms of insurance.
Yale Law School.
For circulars and other information apply to
Prof. FRANCIS WAYLAND,
‘Dean.
of lineage? Do we wish them, above
all else, to find out, each what is in the
other, and rate him accordingly, so that
after four years together, they may go
out into the world, the one fearing
nothing in the way of the advantage
which others have from wealth or posi-
tion, and the other rating nothing half
as high as character?
Or do we think this thing will take
care of itself, and we can do anything
whatever, however unfavorable to ideal
conditions, just because Yale students
have generally been manly fellows and
given a healthy tone to the life here,
and because the traditions of Yale are
all that way?
Or really don’t we care? If we do, it
is a good time to say so, when Yale
has again shown the power of her
better self after some years in which
that better self was partially eclipsed.
Or do we still wish to go on very
blindly, and so invite a more complete
eclipse? If not, why is it not well
when we meet around the jovial alumni
banquet board to take a few minutes
from singing and from glorification to
talk about these things?
<p, <>.
Be TAG
Prof. Henry S. Williams was elected
Vice-President of the Society of Ameri-
can Naturalists, which held its annual
meeting at Ithaca, N. Y., last week.
The American Historical Society,
which finished its annual sesion in
Cleveland recently, elected Prof. Geo.
P, Fisher of the Yale Divinity School
to be its President for the ensuing year.
By the will of the late Mrs. Henri-
etta Rush Fales Baker of Philadelphia,
the University of Pennsylvania gets in
the neighborhood of $700,000 for vari-
ous departments and endowments.
President Timothy Dwight will speak
at the celebration of the 50th anniver-
sary of Girard College the first week
of January.