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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1900)
398 WATE AU MNEs WER LS merely an inspiration to those who have the good fortune to listen to his spoken words, but afterwards, through the pub- lication of his lectures in book form, a means of helping a wider audience than any which can assemble in New Haven. A series of books, in which these lec- ture courses for successive years are published, will give to the American people a truer idea than they ever had before of the spirit in which Yale is Stage with the political problems of the ay. TWO OTHER IMPORTANT COURSES. This wider influence of the gift of Mr. Dodge may serve as a type of the way in which Yale University as a whole de- sires to reach, and ought to reach, a larger public than that which can as- semble in its class rooms. For many years the Scientific School has provided a course of public lectures. This year a gift of $5,000 by Mr. Rutherford Trowbridge, in commemoration of his father, has enabled the Art School to do the same thing; and the University has, in like manner, enabled the Musical De- partment to provide public lectures of the same kind. As a means of still further extending the possibilities of University lectures, we are indebted to Mrs. Bromley, widow of the late Isaac H. Bromley, for a gift of $5,000, whose income is to be devoted to a course of lectures on some subject connected with journalism, literature or public affairs, with the provision that as often as once in four years the lecture shall be on a subject connected with journalism—a fitting memorial to a Yale man _ so ie eg honorably. known in all these ines. WORK FOR THE COUNCIL. With this increasing number of lec- tures, the problem of so organizing them as to avoid conflicts, and give them the. greatest usefulness to the public, has become an increasingly difficult one. It will offer one of the chief subjects for action on the part of the University Council during its opening meetings in the coming year. Preliminary arrange- ments for this matter are now in the hands of Professor Phillips, who has done so much with the ‘Teachers’ Courses in years immediately past that he understands, as no else can, the pos- sibilities of this form of university ex- tension at Yale. It is a great pleasure to announce that the New Haven Uni- versity Extension Center, composed of citizens, hitherto disconnected with the college, shows such readiness to cooper- ate in every detail of this matter as to help greatly in making the way clear from a financial and administrative standpoint. -GETTING TOGETHER. The work of University organization, in its narrower sense, progresses slowly. So much had to be done in the way of adjustment of the interior relations of the several departments that it was thought best to postpone the activity of the Council until the opening of the next academic year. In the matter of ath- letic consolidation a beginning has been made by the voluntary action of the various student associations, in placing their income under the disposal of a joint board, of which Mr. Walter Camp is the active agent and adviser. It is hoped that in the coming year these matters may so far progress that the athletic field will become the property of the Yale Corporation, and Mr. Camp receive, as an appointee of the Corpora- tion, the full recognition which is due to the importance of this subject and the services which he renders in connection with it. _ The subject of organized assistance to students in their efforts at making their way through College in the face of pecuniary embarrassments, is one with which the University authorities are planning to deal systematically. Mr. Cornelius L. Kitchel has been appointed to a position which will combine three distinct duties, and, it is hoped, will -re- sult in the more successful performance of each of them than has hitherto been possible. In the first place, he will have charge of the administration of bene- ficiary aid in the Academic Department, and, as the work grows, not impossibly in other departments also. Second, he will discover and organize, as rapidly as he can, the opportunities for self-support which are open to the students of the University, and will place those seeking employment in communication with those who have occasion for their ser- vices. Third, he will, as far as possible, do the same thing for graduates of the University, especially those connected with the teaching profession, helping them to find positions where their abili- ties will be properly utilized. The first of these duties has been performed in years past partly by the President and partly by the deans of the several de- partments. The second has been at- tempted, but very imperfectly, by the Cooperative Association, and sometimes by those in charge of Dwight Hall. The third has been under the general control of Professor Phillips and Professor Wright. It is hoped that, by combining all these closely related duties in the hands of one man who makes that his special subject of study, the opportunities for their wise exercise may be extended in- definitely. Should this prove feasible, it will be of the highest value to those men who form the backbone of the institution,—the men who come here in spite of difficulties to work their way to the possession and use of an education. BI-CENTENNIAL FUNDS. The date of the complete execution of these Bi-centennial plans depends upon the promptness of the response of the alumni and friends of the College to the appeal of the Bi-centennial Com- mittee for funds for their construction. As a center of University life, binding together not only the different depart- ments, as they exist side by side to-day, but the College generations of the past with those of the present, they will prove of incalculable value; but they are clearly not objects for which the general funds of the University, already strained in their application to strictly educational purposes, can be called upon to contrib- ute. Equally inadmissible is it to save money in their construction by any cheapening of material or reduction in size. They are justifiable, and justifiable only, as a monumental work, built -for the ages, to commemorate the two cen- turies of Yale life that are past, and to stand for many times that period in the future. — The present condition of the Bi-cen- tennial subscription is as follows: Amount subscribed or pledged unconditionally to the general RG ssp ee $490,000 Pledged conditionally, in case three additional subscribers shall be found to give $100,000 each, thus making possible the complete carrying out of the building plan. (The thanks of the Alumni are preémi- nently due to Mr. M. C. D. Borden, of the Class of 1864, for his active efforts in con- nection with this part of the Die. ey ee eek eee oot Given or pledged since the open- ing of the Bi-centennial sub- scription, but for special pur- poses other than those of the general building fund........ 250,000 Total gifts received or pledged $1,090,000 The special purposes for which these gifts were offered have been, in the most important cases, acknowledged in the foregoing report. In addition to the gifts above men- tioned, there have accured to the Univer- sity during the year by testamentary be- quest $100,000, free of tax, from the estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt; a sum estimated at $50,000 from the estate of Charles J. Stillé, late Provost of the University of Pennsylvania; $30,000 from the Peabody Trustees in connec- tion with the estate of Professor Othniel C. Marsh; and $15,000 from the estate of Catherine W. Jarman. These, with a few minor legacies, make a total of al- most exactly $200,000. A Of special note among our gifts is the beautiful gateway between Durfee Col- lege and the Chapel, erected by members of the Class of Ninety-Seven in memory of Theodore Westwood Miller, who feil at the battle of San Juan Hill. YALE’S LOSSES FOR THE YEAR. During the past year four members of Yale’s teaching force have passed away: Jules Luquiens, James Campbell, Edward J. Phelps, and Henry C. Robin- son. Professor Luquiens was a man of quiet devotion to duty; less widely known, perhaps, to the general public than some other members of the Faculty, but filling one of the most difficult places in the whole teaching force with rare judgment and success. Dr. Campbell had devoted to the service of the Medi- cal School the closing years of a dis- tinguished professional career. Among the many men who have given much to that School, with no reward except that which comes from the assurance of do- ing public service, his name _ stands preéminent. Professor Phelps’s career was so well known throughout the civi- lized world that no words of apprecia- tion of what he was can do any justice to our loss. With him there has passed away a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of affairs, whom Yale delighted to honor, and through whom she received yet larger honors in return; a man who, by his combination of wisdom, dignity and experience, served as an inspiration to all who came in contact with him. Mr. Robinson’s teaching at Yale was but an incident in his unceasing public activity. None the less will his loss be deeply felt and mourned in the lecture rooms of the Law School, and in gather- ings of Yale men everywhere. It would be wrong to close this report | without a word of grateful acknowledg- ment of the zeal with which the various administrative officers, deans, directors, and members of the several faculties, as well as the students in the different de- partments, have shown in the service of Yale University. Not in their official relations only, but in their everyday life and work, they have shown that spirit of cooperation and of. self-devotion which has been the source of. Yale’s power in the past, and gives the promise of its yet larger success in the future. In a footnote the following gifts are recorded: ‘ Besides the gifts acknowledged in previous pages, and the gifts to the various building funds (general, law, medical), which will be subsequently acknowledged when the subscription is more complete, the following deserve special mention at this point: From Mrs. Virginia H. Curtis, $1,000, to found a prize in English in memory of her son John Hubbard Curtis of the Class of Eighty-Seven. From Professor Albert H. Cook, $500, to found a prize in Greek Philosophy in honor of Professor Jacob Cooper of the Class of Fifty-Two. 7 From Professor George J. Brush $1,000, for a special fund in the Scientific School; and from an anonymous friend $2,550 for the general funds of this School. From Mrs. Henry F. English an addi- tion of $1,000 to the Alice Kimball English prize fund in the Art School; and from President Dwight a donation of $1,000 to the general fund of the School. A fuller account and acknowledgment of gifts will appear in the Report of the Treasurer of-the University for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1900. A similar complete list of gifts to the Library will appear in the Librarian’s Report for the same period. wes a a GENERAL ALUMNI MEETING. Classes Represented in Alumni Hall —Presentation of Miller Memorial. The general meeting of the alumni, in Alumni Hall, Tuesday morning, June 26, was called to order by Thomas ~ Hooker, ’69, at 10 o’clock, and Hon. John Patton, Jr., was made presiding officer of the meeting. After prayer by Rev. William E. Park, of Gloversville, N. Y., Henry M. Dechert, ’50, of Philadelphia, was intro- duced and spoke for that Class. He said that in the fifty years his Class had been out of College there had been -marvelous progress at Yale, as the mag- nificent new buildings testified. During his speech Mr. Dechert gave the ad- ministration of President Woolsey credit for the first great start that Yale had, and that of President Dwight credit for the present prosperity of the Col- lege. He expressed faith in the leader- ship of President Hadley and the fu- ture of the University. Judge Lyman D. Brewster, of Danbury, Conn., speaking for the Class of Fifty- Five, expressed the hope that President Hadley would see to it that the old free. literary societies were re-established. He felt sure that with such a leader as Yale now had she would go on increas- ing in breadth and liberality and strength. Xenophon Wheeler. of Chattanooga, Tenn., responded for the Class of Sixty. He noted the great changes that had come over the old Campus since his . graduation, but was not sure that the addition of great buildings helped the growth of a college. He was followed by Hon. F. W. Kittredge of Boston, who spoke for the Class of Sixty-Five. Mr. Kittredge, after giving a brief re- view of the Class and the great part it took in the Civil war, said although Woolsey and James Hadley and New- ton were missed all were glad to see that Yale was moving steadily onward and upward. The length, breadth and height of the Hadley University, he thought, were equal. General Henry B. Carrington of the Class of Forty-Five was followed by Randall Spaulding, ’70, of Montclair, N. J., who touched rather strongly on what seemed to him Yale’s policy of educa- tional isolation. He thought that in _ discussions of educational questions in the past years, Yale’s representatives had neither been seen nor heard, and when she did make herself felt it had been in the way of obstruction. The speaker recalled some lectures in his own col- lege course which had been lacking in interest, showing that the instructors did not have insight into the student’s mind, without which there could be no inspiration. He thought also that col- leges in general should be worked more closely with the preparatory schools, as there was such difference in the en- _trance requirements of the different in- stitutions that the preparatory schools were of a necessity split in pieces. The speaker thought all this had now about passed and a new day was dawning. He spoke particularly of the sympathy the present administration of Yale was showing towards the new movement, and the desire to get better acquainted with the teachers in the secondary schools, and with their methods. He closed with a tribute to President Hadley, who, he said, was upheld by the entire class. Samuel R. Betts, of New York, spoke for the Class of Seventy-Five. ‘This meeting puts*me in mind of an under- taker’s session,” said Mr. Betts, refer- ring to the preceding speeches which had been given quite largely to remins- cences of dead and absent classmates of the speakers. “If these meetings can’t produce something better in the way of speeches I will be one of a large num- ber to give an alumni breakfast here in the future. In that way we may get something in a more cheerful tone.” Mr. Betts said one of the most pathetic things about the reunion to him was that the class had been asked to gather “where the Fence used to be.” Mr. Betts lamented the loss of the old Fresh- man Society, where all were tumbled in together to show what was in them. He spoke feelingly on the death of Guy Howard in the Philippines, and ac- counted it as probably the greatest honor the Class had achieved to have a man of Howard’s stamp, who had given up his life for his country. In the course of his speech, Mr. Betts re- ferred to Robert J. Cook, Yale ’76, as the “best amateur rowing coach the country had ever seen, a man who was first, last and all the time for Yale, keeping what he had for his College alone.” John E. Cushing, ’80, of New York, spoke for his Class, dwelling on the training Yale gave men for the world outside, which he thought superior to that given by any other university on the continent. As Mr. Cushing finished, President Hadley appearing at the back of the hall, was given a great recep- tion. He took his seat upon the plat- form. Prof. J. W. Platner responding for 65 said that Yale stood for a training in manly character wherever Yale men were-known. . George ~Parmly Day, 97, spoke briefly for his Class, which he said was known as the “notorious Class of _ Ninety-Seven,” which had tried to make itself heard on the Green along with Mr. Bryan and a brass band. After touching on the closeness with which the New York members of the Class had kept together since graduation, chiefly through the means of the Yale Club reunions, he spoke of the death list which had grown so long, and par- ticularly of the death of Theodore Westwood Miller, to whom a memorial gateway had been built by contributions from the Class, between Durfee and the Chapel. Then turning to the Presi-
