Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-12-06
That Conditional Gift to Swarthmc


The eccentric old lady in PhiIa-
dclphia who bequeathed coal lands
valued at more than $1,O00.000 to
SwarthmOre college on the condition
that it forever abandon intercollegiate
sports. put a problem before the college
authorities which is one of the most
difficult to solve that ever faced a
similar body Of wise and good mcn
When the announcement Of this
strangely conditioned bequest was first
made il gave pert photographers an OPP
pOrtunity, but there is no joke in it for
the Swarthmore people. The friends
Of college athletics were prompt and
unanimous in declaring that the gift
should be refused. while the enemies Of
athletics were equally sure that the
condition should be complied with and
Of these was the responsibility I-r the
decision placed. The Swarthmorc
faculty and trustees want the money
for the college and while they may or
may not be friendly to athletics they
hesitate to bind their successors to any
definite policy for an indefinite period
through coming generations Presi-
dent Swain Of Swarthmore says ne
does not regard the question as one of
abandoning football and other sports.
but ono of college policy.
DR.. Swain says that in the thought
that the question discussed is one
touching the policy of all the colleges
and universities of this and other
countries he sent out - letters to
representative presidents of colleges
and universities. asking for their
opinions. The questions were as
follows:
l. In your opinion, have the trustees
of "A college the right to bind for all
time an institution of learning by such
a restriction as the one mentioned in
the foregoing?
>. If 50, if the principle of accepting
conditional gifts be approved. should
the gftbe accepted in case it amounts
to $1,000. 900 or moro?
). Ii the gift should be $50. 900, what
then?
a summary of the answers shows the
following results:
1. Eleven negative. seven affirma-
five DJ
legally. no morally
:. Thirteen negative. seven affirma-
tive. four non--c ommittal. one I'M
answered
Question No 3.-Seventccn negative
four nom commttal, four unanswered
President Woodrow Wilson of
Princeton wrote:
| have many times argued with my
self about the peculiar question which
Swarthmore has now to decide, and
have never come to any satisfactory
conclusion. | fear that my counsel
would be Of no value to you 1t is a
most puzzling and singular question.
President Butler of Columbia was
also non-commttal He wrote:
AN'oous oiltitu W give us ANY
money on the candition named in yours
of the ed, and | cannot cross that
particular bridge. even by proxy. until
| come to it. If you will turn over the
beHuest and its conditions to us we will
take the matter up seriously.
In opposition to the principles in
volved in the acceptance of the Jeanes
gift. President Eliot of Harvard wrote:
l do not know whether under the
statutes of Pennsylvania and the
decisions of its courts the present
trustees of Swarthmore College have a
right to bind the college for all time TO
go without all forms of INTERCOLLEGIATE
athletic sports. I am clear. however
that it is inexpedient for the present
| trustees to undertake to so hind the
trustees of fifty or a hundred or two
hundred years hence
| President Schurman of Cornell said.
On general principles am convinced
tnat our colleges and universities
should be centres of unrestricted free
DOM l see no reason why a. hoard Of
trustees which limits that freedom in
one direction should not by parity Of
reason be Justly expected to limit If in