New-York tribune., 1890-05-21
THE FTSKE WILL CONTEST.

The McCraw- FiSllc will contest which was
finally disposed of adversely to the interests
of Cornell University by the decision OF the
United States Supreme Court on Monday, was
an unfortunate affair from beginning to end.
Even TO the chief successful contestant, the
widower of the gentle and noble-hcared
woman whose bencfcent purposes have thus
been nullfcd the word cablcd from Wash
incton TO his luxurious Florentino home yes
terdav can have brought little pleasure. 1t is
true that nominally he has been successful ;
the will has been broken. and his struggle
against the university authorities has ended
in their final defeat. Whatever enjoyment
NAV be derived from this reflection is his. But
beyond this his victory Is almost a barren one.
In fact il is not too much to say that If Pro-
fessor Willard Fiske could have foreseen the
final outcome of the controversy, the contest
would never have been instituted, and Cornell
University would now be enjoying the benefits
of the largest library endowment of any ed
ucational institution in the world.
The underlying history of the litigation has
never been fully told. But from what has he
come known it is apparent that there was some
fault on both sidcS-on the part of the unlycr-
More tact and libcrality on one side; more
sclf-control on the other would have avoided
all differences and trouble. The university
authorities thought that they should exercise
the controlling judgment over the manner OF
using and dSpoSing of the bcqueSt' OF Mrs.
Fiske TO the institution: the Professor, on the
other hand felt strongly that he who knew his
wifcs wishes and purposes best should he
given more discretion and power aS the uni
versity librarian in carrying out those wishes
and purposes. Finally, in a fit of piquo, 1t Is
said and under the influence of bad legal ad-
viserS. he determined upon contest of the
will Many of his friends still insist that he
had no mcrcenary purpose in this, but only
that he might control the funds Of his wife 5
estate in his own way for the benefit OF the
university.
But however fair his purposes il did not take
long for him to discover that be had made
tremendous mistake. His great popularity
among the undergraduates vanished in day
/ many Of his former friends refused to believe
! that anything except sordid motives could
actuate such a course. while the condemnation
of the general public was emphatic that II
| gave 10 Italian skies new attractivcncSs. and
| Florence has since been his home Bat one
/ result followed that he had not foresccn, and
/ that laid in the dust any fine plans he might
have had to acquire the estate for the benefit
of the university. His advisers apparently had
forgotten or left out 0e account the laws of
! descent and the Statutc Of distribution; and
probably no one was more amazed than they
when they found the Professor joined in his
contest by all the relatives Of his wife who
would have divided her estate among them il
she had died intestatc. From that time the
claim that the contest was conducted for any
thing else than to see how large n sum each
contestant could realize for himself and his
lawyer became a mere prctcnce.
Despite it, melancholy aspects, however,
this case has It's rcdeeming features. II has
brought to light the generosity of Mr.. Henry
W. sage the stcadfast friend Of the unycr-
sitv as well as Of Mrs Fiske He determined
that her noble purposes should not entirely fall
to the ground. His gift 10 the library Of over
half million has already started the conStruc-
ton of magnificent library building, and
given it fine endowment. In sharp contrast
with this is the conduct Of profcSSo. Fskc S
lawyer. Governor HILL who while holding the
position Of trustee of the institution, began the
proceedings that have resulted in the final loss
Of the library bequest. Large as his fee must
| be for these ungracious services, there is some
slight comfort in the reflection that the con-
testantS are so numerous that the share Of
none Of them can be extremely large. But il
should not be forgotten that this great loss
TO the resources of higher education is chiefly
due to the selfish advice of Governor Hill
given at a time when his duty was clearly to
protect all the rights of the institution OF which
he was trustee.