Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-10-11
MIR. MILES
And the Needs Of the University OF
VirEinin.

Virginia.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:
Will YOU permit Virginlan, "ilo'
though living among the Buckeyes mas
the interests Of his alma mater very close
TO his heart, to say a few words iesai u'i1e
the proposed election of Mr.. Miles TO 'ne
Craftsmanship Of the University u
GINA? Does OUT University need az ca
ecutive with enlarged leisure and enlarged
powers? The feeling is certainly very
widespread that the University does mo-
have the prestige in the world OF 1Ail,ei1-
can or even Southern scholarship "ilicl1
her noble traditions and brilliant faculty
entitle her to. I have been asked repeal
eddy by scholars here and abroad, some
of them University Of virginia ALUMNI
What is the University doing now! we
know Of her great past but hear little OF
her now
1t would not be hard to show that TINS
feeling is justified to q great extent. Inc
causes which have retarded the UmVef-
sity's development are too complex TO go
into here; for the most part they are trace
able to economic changes, which the whole
South is undergoing, and especially TO the
revolution that has been taking place III
all American schools and colleges IN the
past two decades. In this period the chlld
of Mr.. Jefferson's old age has seen grow
up right around her and enter into more
or less active competition with her, halt
a dozen undergraduate denomlnatlonal IN
sttutions and medical schools. whose STU
dent lists and productive funds are IN
creasing rapidly with every year. Each
year young men from the South, VINO
H.
in her walls, so in ever-growing numbers
TO Hopkins to Harvard. or abroad; every
year hundreds of energetic younS South
erners pass by her technical school tor
the better equipped Northern institutions.
And all this with faculty second to none
as opponents of scholarship and culture.
4 Two things are needed to remedy this
state of affairs-energy and money. Ana
so, when 1 heard that the board, without
breaking entirely the traditions Of the
past. proposed to elect Mr.. Miles chair
man with very light scholastic work, 1t
flashed through me- Here is the way
out.' For know Mr. Miles as thoroughly
as one can learn to know a man, with all
his strength and weaknesses, in three
years of intimate daily contact. From
1895 to 1895 / was associated with him IN
his school at Radford and. as a member
of his faculty and family, was daily
witness OF his outgoings and incomlngs
in all the complex relations which make
up the life of the head of large prepara-
tory school and successful business
man. Mr. Miles is the incorporation OF
geniality and energy. In private life this
liberality Of view and ready humor make
him a companion among thousand. He
has a faculty Of transforming strangers
into friends, and then graphing them to
his sould with hooks of STEEL that are
hard to get away from. In public life he
has all the magnetism and virility of the
Southwest Virginia leader. He has dip
lomatc touch that is as soft as silk, ana
at the same time vigor and tenacity that
do not often fail of an object.
Much has been said Of Mr. Miles lack
of scholarship. 1t has even been limited
that he failed on three tickets at the Uni
versity Even shus, Where fortes ante
| AgameInnona multi
The list of scholars who were plucked
in their callow days does not begin with
| the head master of st. Adams No man
| can talk long with Mr. Miles without be-
| ing impressed with the fact that he is a
scholar better rounded and deeper satu.
rated with the hun1anities than many a
| man who has spent half a lifetime in
| ''specializing'' The Greek and Roman
classics have become q part of his very
being, and never saw a man INTO the
very fibre of whose existence the Bard OF
| Avon had entered SO deeply. You may
| take him when you will, you will never
! take him without his Shakespeare. He Is
not a specialist, but those who know
something Of specialists will not find that
an argument against him. Especially the
| State universities have seemed shy OF
! filling their executive chairs with special
| lists. y broad knowledge of human nature
and the habit of well-rounded scholar
are worth a good many years of micro
scopic wCr! in libraries and laboratories
when it comes to bending legislative com
mittees or unloosing plutocratic purse
strings Andrew Sloan Draper, the head
Of the University of Illinois, is not even a
| college graduate, Yet in seven years he
! raised the student number from 500 tc
more than 1000. and doubled the produc-
| tive funds. Speaking of his success Z
| trustee OF the Illinois institution recently
said to me: when you can get a man
like that, don't try to measure him with
! blue ribbons" Verbum sapienti
Very respectfully,
! ROBERT HERNDON FIFE, JR.
| Western Reserve University.
Cleveland, o., October 6, 1902.