YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY _ 265 ALUMNI IDEALN, More Suggestions about the Presi- dency from Graduates, A CITIZEN DEMANDED. A Boston lawyer says: “The President of Yale must be a man of highest character. He should be respected and influential among men of his profession, and he should have influence and interest in all affairs in- volving good citizenship and the public weal. I do not believe a man is com- petent to lead the life of a community of American boys who fails here; there is no use of American colleges more important than the establishing of a high ideal of a citizen’s duty, and his attitude toward public questions. “The President of Yale should be a man far-sighted and sagacious. He should realize that even on the thres- hold of a third century of life Yale is still only laying foundations, and that to meet the demands of otr vastly growing country, it is impossible to build too broadly. The department which seems visionary to-day, will teem with intellectual activity in another decade or quarter century. If funds are not to be had, at least this alert outlook on the coming demands can be a charted sea, to be conquered as fast aS means are forthcoming. lf ship-building is to be a great field for Americans in the near future, then we should be ready to supply the men to design and improve. “Of course, the President should be scholarly, if not a scholar. He should be an American from his feet to the crown of his hat. He should be soaked in the traditions and the ambitions of Yale University. - “Tf there is not a Yale man to meet these exigencies, then let us run on under a regency until Providence finds some one whose career can be started at Yale and whose later life from about forty years to seventy can continue the potent course of mind-training and character-building which we are proud of in Yale.” : CHARACTER AND DRIVE. “D” believes in. manly character and in expansion, writing thus: “T would choose for the Presidency of Yale a broad-minded, intelligent, magnetic, enthusiastic young Christian gentleman. I care not a fig whether he be clergyman or layman. By a young man, [ mean one not over forty years: of age. If he were sound- hearted and level-headed he could not move’ too enthusiastically or too rap- idly, to suit me, in increasing Yale’s greatness and power. Like St. Paul, he should be, in the best sense, ‘all things to all men’—politic, urbane, winning, quick to grasp every oppor- tunity for making and keeping friends for Yale. Tactful and sympathetic, he should win the hearts of the students by manly appreciation and perception of their abilities and their aspirations. “He should be so broad as not to fall into the ruts so dangerous to the progress of a pedagogue and should be tall enough, so to speak, to be able to survey in a general way the full area of the educational field. “He should have a good general idea of financial matters, with a realization of the fact that a full purse, when wisely used, can be made the means of ac- complishing vast good. He should be thoroughly imbued with the feeling that the broader the opportunities offered to secure an education at Yale, the bet- ter, in the long run, for the country and mankind, and being thus imbued it should be one of his chief aims to gather, within the walls of Yale, the largest possible number of students. “He should foster the proverbial Yale democratic spirit, applaud and laud every worthy demonstration of Yale sand, and, placing himself at the head of the great Yale procession, he should lead it on toward everything that makes for the glory of Yale and the uplifting and advancement of a pro- gressive world.” THE ELEMENT OF PERSONALITY, A man of literary life and of life among men emphasizes the personal element thus: 3 powerful for high ambitions in the minds of youth as that of a man of “He should be a man of commanding : personality. There is no influence so outgoing force and who is worthy of admiration. He may not teach or lead chapel services or be heard twice a year, yet the mere presence of such a man as Mark Hopkins or Woolsey is a powerful influence for true manhood, —because of the high ideals they stand for and the largeness of their own lives. “Second: He should be a man in touch with the movement of the age. This is a progressive world. No man can lead who is not close to the great world-movement. I do not think the question of profession enters in at all all. We should not stop to ask ‘Is he 4 minister or lawyer or scientist?’ “T care not whether he be a great scholar in the sense of being a special- ist, but he should be a man of large, ripe experience, familiar with the best thought in all departments of life. Neither would I worry much over the question of his being a financier. A college is not a bank or a merchant house. I had rather send a boy for a four-years stay with Mark Hopkins in the Maine woods than to send him to the most richly endowed university which has no great men. It may have both endowment and men. So while a President should not be chosen because of his talent for begging, yet he should be a man of keen, far-sighted, executive ability. “Third: Get a man who stands for something in the eyes of the country at large. - : FROM ANOTHER COLLEGE, A member of the Faculty of an insti- tution in the Middle West writes thus: “JT should be sorry to see a man chosen who would try to break with Yale traditions, and attempt to com- pete with Harvard and other institu- tions in the development of the freest possible elective system. It seems to me that the tendency toward specializa- tion in this country is excessive, and, in the end, will be unfavorable to cul- ture. It unduly develops individuality, and narrows the range of one’s intellec- tual sympathies. This I may say, al- though I was one of those instrumental in introducing a wide elective system in the college with which I am con- nected. “T should be glad to see a man chosen wHo would strive to strengthen » the teaching force of Yale, in order, first, to increase the number of teachers in proportion to the number of students, and, second, to increase that element in the Faculty distinguished for strong teaching, as distinct from mere scholar- ship. The scholarly element should not be neglected, especially with the view of making the graduate department more effective. It goes without saying that for a great institution like Yale the man selected should be a man of more than ordinary executive ability. “President Eliot is my notion of a college President; with this qualifica- tion, that a mind like his, under Yale conditions, should be expected to reach somewhat different conclusions.” THE MIDDLE WEST IDEA. A business man in one of the large cities of Ohio sums up the conclusions of the sentiment in his part of the country as follows: : “The alumni of the Middle West wish for the President of Yale a man who shall above all things be practical. They want a scholarly man, but some- thing more than a student. The great business interests of the University seem to require an experience with the world. With all respect to the Church and to the churchmen who have been Presidents of Yale, we do not wish to see the next one a minister. The ex- panding University with its hundreds of instructors requires executive ability of a high order and a knowledge of men and a practical judgment of their fitness for special duties. We wish a man young enough to have before him many years of active usefulness. There is not so much need of one who will solicit gifts and bequests, as of one who [Continued on 266th page.]| @ In i858 Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER saidof Brown’s BRONCHIAL TROCHES “T think better of that which I began thinking well of.” _ @ Fac-Simile Dr. Henry VanDyke has accepted the chair in English Literature, re- cently established for him at Princeton. THE WAY TO GOSTIO 3 i: Is... H. Gaze & Sons, Tourist Agency, Established 1844. R. H. CRUNDEN, General Agent, 113 Broadway, New York. ig Si Pees OR ies Thos. Pease & Sons, Agents, 402 Church St., New Haven, Conn. Forty programs of tours to all countries now ready: Will be mailed post free. Write us where: you are going. Individual trips; Escorted parties to Palestine, Egypt. Around the world Tourist Gazette, 100 pages, all about travel, free. From the “Hartford Courant,’ Jan. 25, 1899. THE PHCENIX MUTUAL LIFE. Its Excellent Statement for the Past Year. The forty-eighth annual statement of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company is published elsewhere this morning and gives gratifying evidence of the wise management and healthy progress of this large Hartford concern. The gross assets exceed $11,660,- 000, having increased over $600,000 during the past year. The surplus is now over $660,000, and the amount of insurance in force is $51,170,782, represented by 31,592 policies. The assets are all figured at conservative valuations and are worth decidedly more than they are set in at. The company has dis- posed of about $50,000 of its real estate dur- ing the year, and has added over $500,000 to its stocks and bonds. Its strength is very great and it has the confidence of all in the insurance business as well as the general public. The drift of new business toward the Phoenix Mutual is shown by the figures. During the past three years the new policies issued were respectively 5506, 6570 and 7757 for respectively $9,871,601, $11,770,989 and $13,068,715—an increase of over 2000 in number and $3,200,000 in amount in two years. io : The growth of the company is strikingly illustrated by looking back a little and com- paring the figures of say, 1889 with those of 1898. They are as follows :— 18809. 1808. Policies in force, . 17,101 31,592 Outstanding insur., . $23,955.464$51,170,782 New premiums rec'd, 39,187 368,659 Renewal prem. rec'd, 609,513 1,552,260 The policies in force have almost doubled in number and more than doubled in amount; the new premiums have increased tenfold, and the company has stepped into a large and honorable place among the life insurance interests of the cityandcountry. Its manage- ment, under President Bunce, Vice-President Holcombe and Secretary Lawrence, has proved a noteworthy success, as the figures amply demonstrate. EUROPE M4 J 2'2 FRONT- HEIGHT-BACK 2 F. B. WALKER & Co. 3 TAILORS SUCCEEDING F. R. BLISS & CO. CHURCH AND CHAPEL STREETS FRANK B. WALKER CHAS. P. WALKER Vjory’s -_ = ace 8 Louis Linder. COLLEGE PHOTOGRAPHERS, 1024 Chapel St., New Haven. Branch of No. 935 Broadway, - New York DIEBOLD SAFE & LOCK CO., H. W. BEADLE, GEN’L AGENT, 79 Duane Street, - New York. TNE TP De a wy B AB. . New YoRK OFFIcE, 3 [eexaans2 9 a)