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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1899)
YALE ALUMNI WHEKLY _—_...... reports as Labor Commissioner were very widely read and very favorably re- ceived. The fact that he was not re- appointed by Governor Lounsbury is a fact related to other considerations in State government than fitness for office and the -approval and appreciation of those most concerned. WORK IN DEBATE, Professor Hadley, the leader of the revival of debate at Yale, is certainly most interesting as he takes his place as the leader of Yale. When he, with Mr. Raynolds as a co-worker, and occasional assistance from other mem- bers of the Faculty, placed himself be- hind the feeble: forces of debate, he showed an appreciation of a great need at Yale and a great opportunity. His record in that work is too much a part of current history to need repetition. Like his instruction, it was original and suggestive and inspiring, helping men to develop their own resources and to know their own ground. : This incident is illustrative of his appreciation and knowledge of the life of Yale and his earnest loyalty in pre- serving and developing the best side of it. To the average Yale man no characteristic of the President is more interesting or more important than this. The Campus is an open book to him and it is an immensely interesting study every day. As far as the presiding officer of Yale can influence the records of that volume, no one need fear that what may be written into it under the influence of the Hadley administration will be other than wholesome and simple and honorable and genuinely democratic. IN HIS OWN COLLEGE COURSE. Professor Hadley was very much of the life of Yale in his own day. He was a member of a society in each year,— Delta Kappa in Freshman year, Delta Beta Xi in Sophomore year, Delta Kappa Epsilon in Junior year and Skull and Bones in Senior year. His father is said to have been opposed to the society system, but the son not only identified himself with it in College but has kept up his connections ever since and seems to recognize in it a natural organization, bound to exist in one form or another, in the main well- constructed and most useful and im- portant in influencing undergraduate sentiment and life. In his sketch of Yale in the book published by Harper & Brothers on “Four American Uni- versities’ a few years ago, he made a very skilful analysis of the general system of society honors, developing principally the fact that it was largely, if not entirely, based on a man’s posi-. tion as a member of the community, that is, as in one way or another con- tributing something to Yale. - Professor Hadley is a member of the Graduates Club of New Haven and the Century and Reform Clubs of New York. He takes a good deal of active exercise in tennis and golf, and closely follows the main intercollegiate sports. He is a believer in athletics. He is an unusual whist and chess player, al- though of the latter game he used to say in his college days he wished he could play as well as he did when he was nine years old. He is described by those who know him as a man well versed in practical affairs, including the charge of money and investments. “In Economics,’ says Mr. Deming, he may fairly be classified as a tentative and professional free trader; in relig- ion, a Congregationalist; in general politics an Independent.” HIS BELIEF. A word more is in order as to his religious attitude. Professor Hadley is a communicant in the College Church and a regular attendant there. He not infrequently addresses the meetings at Dwight Hall in the evening and ‘is al- ways very eagerly listened to there. At the meeting of the New York alumni in the Winter of 1808, he said, conclud- ing certain remarks on temperance at Yale: “I like to fall back on the words of Arnold of Rugby: “It is not our chief concern whether this should be a col- lege of one hundred and fifty boys, or of three hundred boys: but that it should be a college of Christian gentle- men. | EXECUTIVE CAPACITY. | Prof. Hadley’s power -as an execu- tive is yet to be tested. The only considerable position in which he might have had an opportunity to demonstrate this was his Deanship of the Graduate School. But there were circumstances in connection with that office which make it quite impossible to judge definitely from that. The only thing that experience showed, was that he was a believer in the highest possible stand- ard of work, that the quality of Yale scholarship interested him much more than the quantity of Yale scholars. The writer has never heard more than two points raised against the fair pros- pect of his success in his present posi- tion. One is his extremely sensitive, nervous system, which some have feared would not stand the strain of this load of responsibility. It seems very unrea- sonable to borrow trouble on this score. He is a man who lives a very rational life and who fully appreciates the rela- tions of things in a well ordered day. There is quite as much reason to believe that the influence of the new position would be towards quieting and steady- ing rather than towards exciting and wearing down. | There are, in the second place some who have questioned whether Professor Hadley would be willing to go ahead, out of his own confidence against great opposition, in times of change and con- flict. As far as he has been able to show himself in the short time lapsing since his election, he thas given the impression of a man with very definite ideas of what he wanted to do, and with a very settled purpose of carrying out those ideas. He has shown great frank- ness in discussing the different matters that crowd for attention and.a desire to get all the advice possible. AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION. In the introduction to his Economics, Professor Hadley refers to his wife as “one on whom I have depended both for criticism and assistance at every stage of the work.” Such a statement does not come at all as a surprise to those who knew Mrs. Hadley. It is not possible to say much under this head, although it is a most important consideration. But it must at least be set down, for the sake of a complete record that one could hardly be thought of who could be counted ‘on to meet with more success the duties and oppor- tunities of the wife of the President of Yale. Mrs. Hadley was Helen Harri- son Morris, daughter of ex-Governor Luzon B. Morris, Yale ’54. She is a graduate of Vassar and active in the alumnae work of that college. © LINEAGE. It remains only to give a few lines concerning the. family of Professor Hadley, and a further quotation from Mr. Deming’s sketch will best cover the point: “Arthur Twining Hadley has an aca- demic lineage. His grandfather, James Hadley, was a professor of Chemistry in Fairfield Medical College, Herkimer County,- N. Y., an institution now extinct. He was that Prof. Hadley by whom Prof. Asa Gray of Harvard was first urged to the botanical study which gave him later renown. The name of the new President’s father, James Had- ley, is an illustrious one in Yale’s long roll of famous instructors. He was eminent in literature and scholarship, as strong in mathematics as he was in Greek, versed in many sciences and many tongues, author of the Greek grammar which was long a standard text-book in American colleges . and schools, and a teacher to this day held in loving memory by thousands of Yale graduates who recall a gracious per- sonality of the class-room, blended with an erudition as modest as it was deep. Another uncle of the President-elect. was George Hadley, a professor in Buffalo Medical College, and a younger uncle, Henry H. Hadley, was professor of Hebrew in Union Theological Sem- inary, and at the Yale Divinity School. On the sidé of the mother, before mar- riage, Anne Twining, a daughter of Stephen Twining, formerly steward of Yale College, may be named an uncle. Alexander Twining, President Wool- sey’s room-mate in College, a promi- nent civil engineer, who laid out a num- ber of Connecticut railroads, and most of whose original lines have been fol- lowed in the recent elimination of curves on the New York and New Haven system.” The Student Celebration. The confirmation of the election of the new President by the sovereign undergraduate body was swift and em- phatic. A company of Seniors, led by J. K. Clark and E. T. Noble, began the - ceremonies immediately after supper, at the Senior fence. A megaphone and a -march round the Campus and through all the parts of Sheffdom, which took perhaps fifteen minutes, resulted at the end of that time in a well ordered force of from 1,000 to 1,500 students. As soon as there was enough of a crowd, which was in about a minute and a half after starting, a long cheer with Hadley at the end was added to the attractions of the megaphone. The regiment first drew up in solid formation in front of President Dwight’s house, but repeated calls brought no response, and the procession was taken up along Hillhouse avenue towards the house of Professor Hadley. As soon as the asphalt and spacious borders of the avenue were reached, the whole regiment, with a whoop and a cheer, broke into the Omega Lambda Chi step. As the line turned towards Whit- ney avenue, the pace was quickened and then quickened again and in a ‘moment turned into double quick and then into a panic, as every man in the line rushed for a point of vantage in front of the house of the President- elect. There was some especially fine cheering in front of the house. It could be heard in various parts of the city, a mile or more away, with the name of the new President on the en‘. The appearance of Président Hadley meant another outbreak, this time a purely spontaneous one which was so enthusiastic and so prolonged that it took a great effort to secure silence enough fora speech. Professor Hadley spoke very briefly in the following words: PROFESSOR HADLEY’S SPEECH. “Gentlemen—I thank you cordially, with all my heart, for your prompt readiness to share the responsibilities of making Yale’s third century worthy of her first and second. I say this in all seriousness, that Yale depends for her success on the fact that everyone works together and the head and all the men must cooperate and be in sympathy. I am proud and glad to see that I have your sympathy. I never felt it harder to know what to say. It is too serious an occasion for a light speech, too light for a serious one. But I can assure you that I thank you, relying on your sup- port in making Yale greater than ever before. I say good-night, with thanks and good wishes to everyone.” PRESIDENT DWIGHT’S HAPPY RESPONSE. There was some magnificent cheer- ing as soon as the speech was over and then the line re-formed and started to make another attack on President Dwight. An indefinite number of vol- leys of the Greek yell finally brought the President to the doorstep.. He was in a very happy mood and pleased everybody in the big crowd. His speech was as follows: : “T judge, gentlemen, from the matter to which this day is devoted, you have come to inform me of my election to a Senior society. I am greatly obliged to you for the invitation. I am of that society and it becomes you to go around to the Junior man. [We have.] Did he accept? [Yes.] If he did, all I-have to do, as a Senior, is to make a speech to him, recommending him to follow his illustrious. predecessor—in the coming year. “Now, gentlemen, I am much obliged for this most hearty greeting. I am very soon to be one of the young gradu- ates of the Class of Ninety-Nine, and I can tell the younger classes that it will take a great deal of effort to equal our past. If they behave themselves as well as we have, they will have my approbation as well as yours, and, my classmates, I have noticed that each college class about this period of Senior year settles itself in the opinion that the college has reached its highest period of development at this time. In at the zenith of its glory. wie the following month of October, I notice that they think it has reached its lowest period ‘of degeneration. “I spoke to a Ninety-Seven man ‘in the October after he graduated, and I asked him, soberly, if he did not think the College had. degenerated. He said he thought it had. Each college class in October thinks the same. I think, my classmates of Ninety-Nine, it is now I ask you impartially if this is not so. Your decision will be made next May, next _ June, in 1900, in 1901, in 1902. It will be found by the most judicious in each of the classes that the college is then at the highest point of its glory. My classmates of Ninety-Nine and I wait for October and then we can satisfy ourselves of the degeneration of this year. : “Gentlemen, we are now at the zenith of our glory; I am the President now and you are the company who support me. I wish you all a most delightful life to the end of your college course and afterwards. It has taken me fifty years to go through college. I have grown happier and I wish everyone in it may grow happier. I wish you all happiness, peace, prosperity, all the best that Yale can give.” ne eee His speech was constantly interrupted by laughter and cheers. When it was over there was a general good night to President Dwight, and then they marched back to the Campus. there was a bonfire of old-fashioned dimensions and earnestness, Freshmen being the purveyors therefor. This meant a lively Campus well into the night. vw > Corporation Meeting. At the regular May meeting of the Corporation held Thursday, May 25, the resignations of the Treasurer of the University, Mr. W. W. Farnam; Sec- retary of the Corporation, Mr. Franklin B..Dexter avy { Dr. Louis S. DeForest, Clinical Professor of Medi- cine, were accepted. The Treasurer wil] remain in office until Dec. 1, 1899, but the others will end their work at Com- mencement. = It was also announced that Professor Charles E. Beecher, Assistant Professor of Paleontology, had been appointed Curator of the Geological Collections, succeeding the late Professor O. C. Marsh. The other appointments were: Dr. George L. Amerman, Yale ’90 to be Registrar of the Sheffield Scientific School; Dr. George F. Eaton, Yale ’oa _to be instructor in Comparative Osteol- ogy in the Scientific School; Mr. M. Matsumoto reappointed to be Assistant in the Psychological Laboratory; Mr. M. K. Geiser, a student in the Graduate School, to be Assistant in History in the College. : A gift of $5,000 from Mrs. Thomas G. Bennett, of New Haven, was reported. It is to be added to the foundation of the Winchester prize in the Art School. Another gift for the Art School of $1,000 was received from Henry F. English, of New Haven, which will be added to the fund of the Alice K. Eng- lish prize in that School. It was voted to proceed at once with the erection of the Law School front, thus completing the building. At a subsequent meeting of the Cor- poration shortly after ‘the first meeting, Professor Arthur Twining Hadley, Yale ’76, was elected President of the University. ae Short sketches of the officers who resigned at this meeting and of those affected by the votes of the Corpora- tion, are reserved for a later issue of the paper. — : <> Ra Crew at Gales’ Ferry. The University Crew, substitute and coaches reached Gales Ferry, Monday afternoon, June 5, on Col. A. Hart McKee’s yacht Parthenia, after a trip of four hours from New Haven, and went at once to their old quarters at Capt. Brown’s house. At the time of going to press the Crew had had one trial over the course, the time of which was not given out. The men are all in good condition, and are rowing with more power than for a couple of weeks past. Dr. Gallaudet 1s assisted in coaching by Messrs. Cowles and Arm- strong, oe Here - *
