The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-05-29
SOURCE of THE TROUBLE.
DIR. Traces 1t to the Con-
tinual Ignoring of the Alumni.

The late papers from your GreencaStie
correspondent, and the editorial in last
Mondays Journal relating to the troubles
at DePauw University. are timely; in the
main the statements are correct and the
criticisms are wise. 1t is proper that the
Methodists of Indiana, as the parties most
Immediately interested, should have an in
side view of the management of the uni
versity, which they have so heroically
cherished for nearly sixty years, even
though in obtaining it the general public
may be made acquainted with what does
not necessarily belong to them. VIII you,
however, allow me to protest against a
few differences which some are drawing
from the painful and undisputable facts in
the case? AS an alumnus of the university.
who has been loyal to it in sunshine and
cloud for more than fifty years, 1 wish to
protest against any a~ggravation of the
case by deploring, by innuendo or otherwise,
the change of name. The truth is, the
proposition to change the name of the uni
versity came first from the trustees them
selves. But there is nothing new or I'M
usual in this. More than $50 years ago the
name of Cambridge Colledge," for which
the colony had voted fi0O, was changed TO
Harvard Colledge' because Rev. John
Harvard had left it a legacy OF fTO. and
no one ever thought of casting it off and
leaving it to struggle alone because it had
become an individual enterprise, bearing
it's principal donors name. On the other
hand, it's alumni and other true friends
of education only regarded that princely
donation as the nucleus of the vast en-
dowment it now has, and its necessities
are not yet all met, but wealth continues
to flow into it as it will into DePauw
University when a broader policy is
adopted by it's guardians. The history Of
colleges and universities abounds with such
changes of names. 1t is at least in bad
taste for a true friend to even refer TO
this now. Even If the lowest estimate
of the proceeds of the DePauw b%enefac-
nave given double all other contributions
put together. 1t is a very sickly bit of
sentimentalism which now weeps over the
loss of the name of our BELOVED pioneer
bishop" who was never in Indiana in his
life. But, then, there are some sickly
people. When the proposition was made
Chapel" in this city, to "Fletcher-place,"
one good old brother was SO grieved at
bishop that he would not give a cent to
the new church-as he never had to the
old-but went to his grave lamenting the
change. 1t is a striking parallel in this
case that those who have shed most tears
over the change of name are those who
never gave a cent to the university before
OF SINCE. Let us nedT III ulOIt Vi tUdt. II
is DePauw University now, and will be a
thousand years from now, when its en-
dowment and plant will have grown to
many millions.
There have been some grievous blunders
In the managing Of the finances of the
university, but what corporation or what
individual who has had the handling of
large amounts has not made biunders? If
we could get into the books of some of
our banks and insurance companies which
yet survive we would discover that they.
as well as those that have closed their doors,
have had their share of bad Investments,
as we'll as have also private individuals.
The John Herrons who grow rich by pa
tent, Flooding industry and economy, and
the Washington c. DePauws, who seem
to have an instinct for wise investments,
are the exceptions. How near to bank
ruptcy many a corporation is which poses
to-day as the possessor of millions is known
only to those behind the counter, and not
always to all of them. L protest, therefore,,
against singing out the management of
the DePapW dnreersity v 1unds as ne,ng me
that banks. and insurance companies, and
railroads are in the hands of trained finan-
hut look after the interests of their charges,
and that the funds of DePauw Univel sity
have been managed by men whose hands
are full of their own affairs, and who of
necessity devote only spare moments, and
very few of them at that, to the uni
v~ersity's business, the wonder is that 1t is
especially protest against any and all
criticism which reflects upon the business
ability or personal integrity of the board
of trustees, individually or collectively. The
worst that can be said of their manage
ment is that they have not always been
governed by cold law and that safe but
heartless commercial adage, Business is
business when dealing with the estate
of Mr.. DePauw, as We'll as in many other
are preachers. does not necessarily imply a
want of business capacity. The laymen
on the board, with very few exceptions.
have always been men of affairs. and the
preachers have always averaged well.
though occasionally a conspicuous cypher
has b somp,i chosen T as a Weak Ra p ! OF IS p not
In the personnel Of the board, but in the
manner Of their election and in their
tered all over the State, as if there were
something local and sectional in their du-
ties. There is nothing of the kind. They
should be near enough the seat OF the uni
yersity to be somewhat familiar from per-
sonal observation with its everyday life.
aud sufficiently near to each other to have
FREQUENT INFORMAL interchange of opinion
as TO policy. They meet officially only once
a year, unless specially called in some
emergency, and these meetings seldom last
more than thirty-six hours. No body of
men on earth can properly supervise the
various and varying interests of such an in
stitution in that time, especially since many
of them had not given the university a
thought since the last meeting. nor con-
versed with a fellow-trustee upon any of
its interests.
II is a blunder of a most serious charac-
ter that the conferences persist in their
DrerOgatiye TO elect the board or trustees,
wholly ignoring the alumni as a factor In
the management of the university. This is
probably an irreversible blunder. They will
never part with this prerogative, or, If
they do. il will be so grudgingly as to
amount to nothing. They recently refused
10 allow four additional trustees TO a body
already numbering twenty-one. No one ex-
pects any better men to be chosen by the
alumni. but there is a world of moral
force and a mine of wealth that in the
end will far exceed the DePauw bene-
faction, even if IT was over a million, in
the loyal and hearty sympathy and CO.
operation of such men as are represented
BY the alumni in every honorable walk OF
life.
/ protest against the inference that has
been formulated in words TO the effect that
though DR.. John is exceptionally able as a
teacher and wise as a manager of the ed
ucational department, he is a failure as a
business manager. He has never had the
business management OF the university, ex-
cept somewhat in the character of a facto-
board of trustees and to keep the institu-
ton in the pace Mr.. DePauw gave IL, and
for which he thought he had made ample
tees allowed those provisions TO lapse is no
evidence tina DR.. John is a failure in the
business department Of the university. 1T
may wei be confessed by DIR. John and
his friends that he has not developed a ca
pacity for a chancellor when. in addition
TO looking after the thousand-and-one items
of finances, he must also look after the In
ternal management of the educational de-
partmeut. The Lord never made many