Vou. IX. No. 20.
LONG ISLAND YALE MEN,
An Ovation to the President and in-
formation from Him- Choice
Greetings from Harvard.
The annual dinner. of the Long
Island Alumni Association, at the Ox-
ford Club in Brooklyn on ‘Tuesday
evening, February 6th, was a very char-
acteristic Yale success.
was to a large extent an ovation to
President Hadley, who made his first
oficial appearance before the Long
Island alumni. Harvard was repre-
sented by Charies* C: Beaman ‘ and
Princeton by Jesse Lynch Williams,
both of whom were received with en-
thusiastic cordiality. Other guests of
honor, seated at a table overhung by
an immense Yale flag, were Horace D.
Taft, 83; Supreme Court Justice, Fred-
eric A. Ward, ‘62; Thomas Thacher,
‘71, and John K.-Creevey,-’66.' Joseph
A. Bar Je Tresident “or ‘tire: Long
Island Association, presided. F
The first speaker of the evening was
President Hadley,’ to whom and to
whose predecessor Mr. Burr, in his
introductory remarks, paid a_ high
tribute which was_ received’ with
marked approbation of all present.
President Hadley, in his response, re-
ferred to the Brooklyn alumni as a
gathering of typical Yale men. It was
from such a class of college men, he
said, that the University and the
cause of modern education, drew in-
spiration and hope for the _ future.
He had just returned from an extended
western tour, during which he had at-
tended a large number of Yale gather-
ings and the thing that had impressed
him most was the fine quality of men—
Yale men—whom.it had been his privi-
lege to megt.. It was the best evidence
of what fiad been done by Yale, and
of what she was likely to do hereafter.
It was interesting and encouraging to
note, continued the speaker, that al-
though there were plenty of universi-
ties west of the Alleghanies that en-
rolled 4,000 men and more, Yale, with
its 2,000, still managed to hold its own,
chiefly because of. the high character
and sterling achievements of its grad-
uates.
A COMPARISON WITH THE LINCOLN AD-
MINISTRATION.
“The constituency of Yale,’ said the
speaker, “is national, not local. I have
sometimes heard Yale compared to-the
presidential administration of Abraham
Lincoln, and I think it is a comparison
that Yale men can afford to accept.
Now, what were the characteristics of
Lincoln’s administration? It was surely
not infallible; it made many mistakes,
military and financial, which the critics
of the present day have little difficulty
in pointing out... But if Lincoln had
taken the advice of these same critics
in the dark days of the war, it is quite
certain that the war would never have
been finished. The chief credit of Lin-
coln’s administration, I think, is that it
went just as fast as the circumstances
would permit. Lincoln was just a little
ways ahead of the people: he was a
real leader; he felt his way. And that
is just what Yale is doing. If any one
started out to make a university, I am
sure that he would not make one like
Yale. Yet Yale to-day is greater and
means more than any mere theorist
could have imagined. We have our
traditions, which are the growth of the
years; some of these we want to get
The meeting |
NEW HAVEN, CONN., WEDNESDAY, FEB. 14, 1900.
rid of, but not so fast that we shall
loose all those traits that have made
Yale what she is to-day. We must not
lose the democracy, the Christian char-
acter, the loyalty which we love to call
by the name of the Yale spirit. (Ap-
plause. )
“We have two sets of problems be-
fore us at the present time—one of
them material, the matter of buildings
and finances; and the other the prob-
lem of organization and construction.
We must formulate a policy upon both
these sets of problems. Our partial
solution of the first I suppose you are
tolerably familiar with. You have prob-
ably seen the plans of the Bi-centen-
nial buildings, which are now in the
architect’s hands. In the later Spring
we hope to break the ground for the
Dining Hall and the Auditorium, and
to begin the quadrangle which is to be
_ the center of the larger Yale life of the
future.
THE FAYERWEATHER DORMITORY.
But this is not all. The generous
gift of Mr. Fayerweather, in spite of
the protracted litigation, is at last in
shape to justify us in beginning a build-
ing which we shall name in memory
of the donor. This will be a part of the
quadrangle begun by White; it will be
erected to the east of the latter build-
ing and will be comparable with it,
and will be the beginning of an avenue
of approach to the Bi-centennial build-
ings. We also propose to cut an arch-
way through Durfee, similar to that in
Vanderbilt. As soon as these new
buildings a-e under way we shall take
down North College and the Lyceum—
perhaps it would be more correct to
say that we shall cease to prop them
up.
SOUTH MIDDLE.
South Middle will be permitted to
remain somewhat longer. (Great ap-
plause.) There is an iconoclastic dis-
position among certain Yale men that
wants to do away immediately with
these relics of the past—these clerical
gentlemen, you know, are so radical.
(Laughter.) But if they had, as a
Sophomore, built their bonfires in front
of these o.u buildings, and conscien-
tiously slept through them as a tutor—as
I have—they would, I am sure, take a
different view of the matter. (Great
applause. )
GRADING THE CAMPUS.
“We shall also do something in the
way of grading the old Campus. Some
one has remarked that the Yale build-
ings have grown up in about the same
way as the courses of study—there are
no two of them upon the same level.
There are no two walks in the same line.
But there are certain improvements we
can make, even at this late day. We
cannot, it is true, have a fence to-day
on the corner of College and Chapel
Streets ; and I think that, in view of
the increasing population of New Haven,
it 18 just as well that it be moved into
the center of the Campus. And those
who have supposed that the Yale demo-
cracy is such a frail thing that it dis-
appeared with the old Yale fence will
be glad to learn that we can have that
ancient institution reproduced inside
the Campus, and that we are going to
do it.” (Applause. )
MR. BOWLES PLAN APPROVED.
President Hadley then passed to the
internal work of organization. He ad-
mitted that the organization of Yale
to-day was of the same chaotic char-
acter as the old architecture. He re-
lated a story of “Sam” Bowles, editor
Copyright, 1900,
by Yale Alumni Weekly.
Price 10 Cents.
of the Springfield Republican, who, be-
ing asked how he brought it about that
all the columns of his paper looked as
though they were written by the same
man, replied: “by swearing and swear-
ing and swearing.” In a similar way
President Hadley thought that the dif-
ferent faculties of Yale could be brought
into coordination. He referred to the
school of music recently established
and the: remarkable success it had
achieved. The University, he added,
proposed to establish a school of for-
estry in the same progressive way.
JUDGE TAFT’S APPOINTMENT.
And now that the destiny of the
Philippines, the speaker added, had been
put in the hands of a Yale man, the Uni-
versity would attempt to bring it about
that Yale men be given the preference,
in all undertakings of this sort—not
through favoritism, but through fitting
them for the work. There would be
an attempt made to make the closing
years of the undergraduate course the
beginning of professional training; and
to develop an elective system so that it
will furnish all the advantages without
the disadvantages of such a_ system.
The student, the speaker believed,
should be led gradually to specializa-
tion; not “to survey the broad field of
human knowledge in an easy way.”
All this, it was admitted, was very
indefinite; but President Hadley thought
that along some such lines as this there
was room for reform. The difference
in method between Yale and other in-
stitutions, he said, would not be world-
wide; Yale would cooperate with her
sister universities, but would make in-
dependent experiments as well. Presi-
dent Hadley received another ova-
tion at the conclusion of his address.
MR. BEAMAN FOR HARVARD.
After a selection from the Glee Club
contingent, Charles C. Beaman, Har-
vard ’6I, was introduced. He spoke
on “Harvard.” Mr. Beaman referred
facetiously to the New Yale, as illus-
trated in his predecessor’s speech. He
was especially taken with the idea of
schools of music and forestry. “It is
very convenient,’ he said; “when you
don’t like the music, you can take to
the woods.” The speaker declared that
-he had always been fond of Yale and
that ‘he had always been closely asso-
ciated with Yale men.
uated from Harvard, he said, and came
to New York “and advertised for a
quiet room in a small family,” he found
Judge Howland a member of that family
and he had always found him a valua-
ble friend since. “Besides,” added Mr.
Beaman, “I married a Yale girl.”
He thought the two universities were
so closely related and the fortunes of one
-were so closely allied with the fortunes
of another that they were in a sense
but one university. “When we are to-
gether,” he said, “we can’t pick each.
other out. Last Fall I had the grip and
when I got well enough to talk with
my nurse, I asked her where she came
from. She was a Kentucky girl and
very loyal to Kentucky too. ‘I think,’
she said to me, ‘that we ought to stand
up for our State, don’t you? I think
we ought to, even if its Indiany.’ And
that’s the way I feel about Harvard.
This matter of our college is something
we ought all to be proud of and fight
for, even as we would for our mother.
But it is something that we ought not
to pick fights about.”
A PLEASING RETORT.
Mr. Beaman described Harvard as
Yale’s grandmother, and referring to
President Hadley’s comparison of the
When he grad-—
present day Yale to Lincoln’s administra-
tion told a story of an old preacher who
prayed for the president in this wise:
“Oh Lord, bless the president and give
him that wisdom he so sorely needs.”
He referred to the great service New
Haven had done Harvard College in the
early days in the way of financial as-
sistance, and declared that it was a
benefaction for which Harvard would
always be grateful. He likewise
claimed that Harvard had done a great
deal for Yale. Of the ten trustees who
_gave the name of Yale to the New Ha-
ven college, he declared, nine of them
“wore sweaters with ‘Harvard’ upon
them.” There was some reason, there-
fore, in describing Harvard as Yale’s
grandmother; or perhaps it would be
better to describe them as sisters of
different ages.
ANOTHER STRIKE FOR THE OLD BUILDINGS.
“This business of founding a college,”
said Mr. Beaman, “required nerve.
And if I were a Yale man some of those
old buildings would be propped up until
I died. (Applause.) I love old Har-
vard, and, more than anything else, I
love those old buildings which the au-
thorities have not yet seen fit to tear
down. And I would rather keep old
Benjamin Silliman alive than a hundred
new men just graduated in music and
forestry.
HARVARD AND YALE.
“Gentlemen, we haven’t many such old
institutions in this country as Yale and
Harvard; and let us cherish them as
long as we may. And these old col-
leges should not form a trust—for, Mr.
President, we must always be in such
relations that we can invite each other
co dinner. There must always be com-
petition between us. It is true that we
might get up a combination—have
Hadley for president and Eliot for exec-
utive committee. (Laughter.) In this
way we might save a few salaries—its.
true this wouldn’t amount to a great
deal; but we might save them. But
after all it would not pay. For what
we want between these two colleges—-
and what we want above everything
else—is competition—and we want com-,
petition in which one of the two par-
ties comes out ahead; for if there's
anything I hate its a contest in which
neither side wins. Its hard to get
licked; but its worse not to have any-
one get licked. We want such a
friendly rivalry as existed a great many
years ago between a Yale and a Harvard
man who, after going hungry for the
larger part of the term, made a- wager
as to which could eat the largest
Thanksgiving dinner. The men trained
on different principles—one decided to
eo hungry for several days before the
contest in order to enter the game with
a good appetite, and the other decided
to eat as much as he could every day,
in order to train his powers in that
direction us to the highest pitch. The
latter came out ahead by a single. piece
of pie.” :
“That must have been the Harvard
man,” put in President Hadley, amid
great laughter.
“No,” replied the speaker,” it was the
Yale man. And who do you think it”
was? It was William M. Evarts and
his opponent was Judge Hoar, and that
was what I call true friendly rivalry—
the same sort that should exist between
the two institutions to-day. What was
finer than the recent Yale inaugural—
at which President Hadley wore his
Harvard hood and President Eliot his
Yale hood?”
