The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-28

Mr. Alfred b. Williams, In an edito-
rial review of the Barringer investisa-
tiori. says:
so far as actual immediate results
are concerned. the investigation. which
ended last night will come TO nothing.
ON the face OF the returns. the board
Of visitors IL with DR.. Barringer. 8
to 2. BY that vote yesterday evening
motion to ask for his resignation
was rejected. the two composing the
minority being Messrs. Kline and Noel.
A COMMITTEES of three was appointed
to meet In Richmond and draw up a
| report. after going over the tremen-
dous record In the case. 1t lis safe to
say that this report will be a strong
defense of Or. Barringer and repudi-
alton of the charges against him.
Probably II will include more or less
singing rebuke of the members of the
welfare committee who have been most
active In the prosecution. Messrs.
Kline and Priddy will make mi
nority report. These reports will not
settle affairs at the Virginia Polytech-
mic Institute and will not determine
the question so many people are ask
ing, What liz wrong with the v. p. :?
'.To begin with, we must realize that
more or less temper has been devel-
oped In the investigation. Temper al
| ways clouds Judgment and binders
progress toward the roots and depths
and real meanings of things. Temper
| was evident on both siees all through
| the inquiry. Some of these men of
affairs, accustomed to dealing with i'm
| portant matters, In their anxiety to
score points against each other. allow
| I'd themselves to be carried away from
| real issues and questions into irrele-
vant and trivial squahbles. like q lot
| Of girls. What is to be said here Is
| the result Of the observation and
| thought OF one man who had no feeling
or prejudice one way or the other, no
temper, irritation, affections or ties, no
Interest except the welfare of the i'll
stitute, which he knows could be and
should be made of tremendous adj
vantage to the people of the State,
and for which the tax payers are
spending a large sum of money every
year and have invested very large
! sums. To keep clearly In the minds
of the readers that these opinions are
those of one man, this article Ia writ
ten in the first person, singular num-
Der.
Messrs. Priddy and Surface, of the
| welfare committee, who made the
charges against DIR. Barringer and ap-
peared for them, have angered many
| people. They are persistent young
men. All kinds OF evil and unworthy
motives are attributed to them. 1t
Is natural instinct to assume that
those who oppose or obstruct or trou-
BILE US have bad purposes or no sense.
In this case, however, as In all others,
we should keep in mind the facts and
probabilities. Both these men a..
successful, prosperous and rising, one
in the insurance business, the other a
teacher at Yale. Ii is not reasonable
To suppose that they would spend
time. labor and money and come here
from the North to crafty spite. to in
ture DIR. Barringer, against whom they
had no cause of personal grte vance
or to cripple the institution from
which they graduated and with which
they have no quarrel. l think Ii Is
reasonable to believe that they have
sincere affection for the institute
that they are deeply concerned by
. what they regard as signs of Its de.
. | cline and That they are Jealous and
devoted in trying to discover and cor
> rect the causes of the trouble. AS was
to be expected from zeal and mex.
perience and attempts to do difficult
and delicate work at random times
and in intervals between attention tt
their own affairs, they have made
many hlunders, some absurd. They
lost their sense of proportion ant
I tried 10 make little things big. They
listened to and accepted as importan
= and adopted as parts of their case q
quantity of village and campus gossip
= and tittle-tattle. They needed th'
eager stories OF dismissed or disap,
pointed employees, which always ough
to be weighed most carefully with
due allowance for the temper in then
and the fact that they are one-sided--
whereas every quarrel has two sides
/ however honest the parties may be
\ Their Hist OF charges as prepared ant
presented gave every evidence of be
ing hasty job iii done, hurried
raking and scraping of all they coult
. find or that was suggested to them Il
the discredit of DIR. Barringer and hi
management and system. Withou
meaning to be trmpolite and maxim.
allowance for the circumstances,
must say that much of the accusation
the evidence and the debate in sup
port OF 1t was twaddle. An abstrac
I of 1t all Is reported conscientiousl,
below that the public may form 1t
own opinion independently of mine.
II do not wonder that the members o
L
brought from their homes and af
fairs and shut in room through TIVE
delicious spring days to listen to 1t
Yet / believe nearly everybody wht
was at all in mental condition to form
fair judgment was impressed with IN
earnestness and self-sacrificing public
spirit of these men. / believe, too
that they will start the board o
visitors to thinking along certain lines
as they did me. They may have givei
impetus in the direction which Will
lead us to the clue by which we ma,
find what Is wrong with V. p. T.
II My own belief Is that the institute
Is in a transition stage between exu
berant and raw youth and natures
and purposed manhood, exactly lik
many Of the hobbeldehoy boys 1t
trying to train into shape and moul
Into men. Like other state institi
II tons of its kind, dependent for 1t
II birth and infanttle nourishment o.
= the State, 1t had to have politiea
strength and therefore had to be pop
= ular The conditions or it's life de
manded that y attach to !. as man
| voters as possible. Year by year
had to go to the Legislature. not onl
fer it's annual stipend, but for appro
ttprfations Tor the extension and com
ptetion of It's plant. Therefore
was forced to appeal to the masses
It's curriculum and courses of stud
| had to be kind of drag-net /
! catch everybody. Now the manage
ment Is trying to bring 1t down to it