The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-28

before the meeting of June, 1898, pc
tition to the corporation, signed by
many members of the faculty, asking
for Hadley's selection. made an
especial point of the fact that there
was no other man for the place in
sight. AT the June meeting they faced
the situation squarely; Hadley was in
the air, no other man was in sight
and they cast their votes with the
staunch Hadley supporters and elected
him, President Dwight and his forces
holding out to the last. In the words
of one of the men who voted for Had
ley while, still believing he was not
just the man, ''he was forced on us;
we could not get away from him."
1t has been five years since Hadley
assumed the presidency of the univer-
sity. Yale now has twenty telephones
installed, typewriters are plentiful and
the president has a secretary. Like
wise, many of the reforms that Had
ley advocated as a professor have
been made, and, to quote one of Had
ley's former opponents, more build
ing has been done under his admins
tration than during the whole of the
previous regime"
This same member of the corpora
tion described the causes of President
Hadley's rise to educational leadership
in this fashion,:
Born to Academic Purple.
HE was born to the academic pur-
pie, for one thing. Then he has a
wonderful philosophical turn of mind,
the power and patience to investigate
and grasp a subject to it's minutest de-
tails, and the finest memory 1 ever
heard Of which retains all that comes
it's way. In childhood he displayed
a faculty for remembering things that
T11Qdn him nXpna6inOlD II,
later years his memory has sharpened
if anything. 1t certainly enabled him
to digest in few years an enormous
mass of railroad data, thus gaining
him his first public recognition.
Then he is a liberal in education
without being a radical. That made
him popular with the students under
him. He introduced improved meth
DDS in his classes, notably lectures
and personal and original research
The result was that his students swore
by him, because they said they learned
more of him, and when the time came
to select Dwight's successor, Hadley's
old students put UP a solid front in his
behalf. Again, he had natural and
highly commendable ambition to be
president, and, finally, his powers as a
story teller and an after-dinner
speaker had brought him before the
public. All these things served 20
obliterate the fact that he is awkward
and not personally attractive or mag
netic, and put him in the air and
eventually in the presidents chair"
As RaeOnteur.
President Hadley as a raconteur is
noted not only in Yale circles but
pretty generally over the country. His
wonderful memory has stood him in
good stead here. II have heard him
tell stories for five years now" said
a Yale man recently, II have yet to
hear him repeat"
A typical Hadley story, which he
does not hold to be original with him.
runs as follows:
Methodist preacher was vigor-
ously expounding the text, There
shall be weeping and wailing and
crashing of teeth"
Aye" he said, there shall be
gnashing of teeth Yes" he shouted.
pounding the pulpit with his fist,
there shall surely be crashing of
teeth"
But 1 amt got no teeth" shrilly
piped up an old woman who had been
worked up to a full realization of her
sins by the preacher.
Then, madam" yelled the minis
ter, turning in her direction, they will
be provided"
Like many other men who have
risen, President Hadley attributes
much of his success TO his wife. Mrs.
Hadley is daughter of former Gov.
Luzon B. Morris of Connecticut. She
is paid this tribute in the dedication
of one of her husbands books:
ION whom / have depended, both
for criticism and assistance, at every
stage Of the work"