The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-04-21

personal between him and a cadet,
and In others the ground for his ac
tlon was not apparent to me. nor do
believe, to him.
Following the legalzing of a ca
dets desertion by restoring him to his
full student functions without a word
with me in regard to the case and
"hen approached by me an assump-
tion OF discourteous attitude in the
matter, 1 called the chairman of the
ooard OF trustees attention to the
presidents continual and unauthor-
ized interference in the discipline of
the institution, and offered to give
the board an opportunity to investi-
gate. A committee from the board.
unauthorized, as I understood II. met
for a consultation with the president
and me, and went over the various
items that presented. There was no
expression Of opinion as to whether
or not the committee agreed or dis
agreed with my contention, for the
committee was without power. but
the names Of the gentlemen are as
follows, and I would suggest that they
would enlighten the public as to what
they feel about this matter; I would
like to see what they would say: Col.
Alan Johnstone, Col. NJ. L. Donaldson.
Mr.. c. D. Mann, Col. r. w. Simpson.
MY claim is that as was a COM
ponent part Of discipline and COM
mandant, the president had no right
to restore cadet without first giving
me an opportunity to investigate the
orense, and If he desired to override
me, to do it in a way authorized by
the regulations. and not to ruthlessly
invade my jurisdiction and put my
authority at defiance. At any rate.
the matter was left standing until the
December meeting Of the board. At
that time a committee of the board.
consisting Of Col. Alan Johnstone.
Senator Tillman and Mr. Mauldin had
conference with Dr. Nell and me.
The issues were not looked into, but
simply CLOSED over, and the matter
again left standing, with the presi-
dents promise to stay out of the mil
itary Jurisdiction, and my announce
ment that unless he did I would give
up my position as commandant.
At the time I expressed extreme
doubt as to the presidents compliance
with his part of the agreement. True
to my expectations, in January of this
year, he again began his interference
with the military department. I SUBJ
mitted my resignation and wrote in
connection Herewith a letter in which
set forth the following: 'The rea-
sons for my resignation are on ac-
count OF the presidents interference
with matters Of discipline, setting
aside the authority Of the comman-
| dant, and ruthlessly violating the
proper and well-established methods
OF maintaining discipline in a military
system. His promise Of cooperation
and non-interference in the military
department has not been kept. / sim
ply state my self-respect will not per-
NIT me to serve under him."
The chairman of the board of trus-
tees, upon receipt of this letter, wrote
me, asking that 1 remain at the COL
lege until the meeting Of the board
In accordance with that letter / re-
mained, believing that the board at
lis meeting in March would go to the
bottom of things.
Personally, 1 had no desire to con-
tinue the work as commandant, on
| account of the extreme arduousness
OF the duties, but I felt that if the
board would honestly look into the
| condition of affairs at this institution
good would be bound to result If ac.
ton was taken in accordance with
the facts as found. When the subject
came up in the board. according to
my information, q resolution was Of
fered to accept my resignation. An
| amendment was offered thereto call
ing me before the board to have me
sci forth the underlying causes of my
Resignation. Strange to say, the
amendment could not be adopted
am at a loss to know why the board
| Of trustees should object to an honest
investigation of such a vital matter
rs the discipline of Clemson. Under
stand that l do not complain of the
acceptance of my resignation. l COM
mend the board uopn its direct and
| positive way Of handling my case.
Nevertheless. what was the boards