The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-29
TAFT PRAISES YALE SPIRIT.
SECRETARY CHIEF FIGURE AT
 CINCINNATI DINNER.

the Associated Yale Clubs of the
 West-COnflnes His Speech to Col
 Iege Matters--President HadIey Also
 Speaks.
 Cincinnati, April 27-some of the best traditions of the Sons of Old Eli were upheld tonight by stout hearts, voices and stomachs at the of the third annual meeting of the western division of the Associated Yale Clubs at the Sin ton hotel. Secretary of War w. H. Taft, president of the association, was the jolly good postmaster.
 The secretary's first appearance at the hotel, where the business sessions were held, was marked by great enthu- siasm. His "good night" at the dinner was no less heartily responded to. There can be no doubting that the sec retary's budding presidential boom was accelerated by to-day's and to-night's doings.
 Close friends of the secretary, it is said, headed off a movement by the Yale men to meet him at the railroad station this morning. The election of officers of the Yale Clubs resulted in F. s. Dickson being chosen president, R. A. Harmon vice. president, George Welsh secretary, and c. A. Dds treas- urer, all from Cleveland. Cleveland was selected as the next place of meet ing.
 When Mir Taft arose to speak at the dinner tonight there was a tumult He said in his speech:
 "The humor of an occasion like this is chiefly reminiscent, and it is not in- appropriate, therefore, to invite your attention to the fact that in this city in December, 1864, in a law office in the Masonic temple, was organized the first Yale club that was formed anywhere in this country of the graduates of our alma mater, and that in this company are tottering and venerable almuni of the classes of 1863 and 1864 who were present at that first meeting. From that time on the custom has become general in every community where there were more than two or three Yale men to form a Yale club and meet once a year, at least, to rejoice over the good fortune of the members in having such an alma mater, The custom spread to the alumni of other universi- ties and colleges, who recognized the excellence of the new idea, and now it is general.
 Such an organization as this makes fd the good of Yale in that it arouses Il, la over, and it keeps before the eyes of fathers and mothers who are seeking a place in which to give their sons an education the fact that, if they are for tunate enough to be able to send their sons to Yale, they will not only confer upon them all the benefits of a univer- sity education, but that they will also give to their boys walth of sweet memories and bond of association with their fellow alumni that no other university in this country can give. This statement with respect to the bond that binds Yale men the country N over and tis exceptional character is ¬ the mere exaggeration of convlv- moment or the temporary inspira- N6n of mutual admiration, but it is Yjust the truthful statement of fact S recognized not only by Yale men, but by university men everywhere. What it is in the experience at Yale, in the atmosphere that surrounds the men, in the spirit that they imbibe that makes this bond so strong, so full of life for years and decades after the college years have passed, it may be difficult A1,,t f ,fe,fr- who has felt it and no one who has seen its influence, whatever his alma mater, can deny.
 Tt is true that so dear is our Yale life to us that the very roughness, the crudities, and even the dissipations of our day not perpetuated in after life we are apt to regard as having been the crucibles in which character was test ed and strengthened and to think that their disappearance has taken away the flavor of the Yale life that created the Yale character, But this is only the thought of one who answers the de- scription laud tor temporis acti.
 Tt is not true that because hazing has disappeared, because drunkenness is very much less, that therefore men may not develop rugged practical qualities fitted to resist temptations of after life; and all of us ought to re- joice that the material growth of Yale since we were there has been paral- leed by an improvement in the nor al tone of the student body and in the standards set by that public opinion which is even stronger as an influence in the college community at New Ha- ven than in the body polite at large. The change has not affected the spirit of independence, of self-reliance or of democracy that we all like to think of as especially characteristic of Yale.
 "Yale is not a sectarian institution. This Is official, for it has come within the benefits of the Carnegie Fund as a non-sectarian institution, and it is purely so I was very much enlighten- ed on this point at the last meeting of the corporation by discussion with reference to the theological school at Yale-a discussion naturally carried on by the clerical members-and I was cratfffed to find the broad, tolerant view which was taken by all the cleri- cal members of the corporation with reference to the liberal instruction that should be given to those seeking a theological education at Yale. My fa~ ther when on the corporation had said to me that if ever I became a mem- her I would find that the clerical mem- bers of the corporation were the most liberal ones, and think the discussion to which I have referred fully vindica- 4ad ,ie indgrnput