New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-03-01
TO LEAVE N. Y. U.
DIR. M4CCR4CKEN is
READY TO RETIRE.
Chancellor Tells Council He
VII Lay Doun York on
SeUentieth Birthday.


terday to the university council that he
would present his resignation as head
of the institution and professor of philos-
! ophy at the councils meeting in April.
A letter to this effect he read before the
members who met in the afternoon at
the building of the university in Wash
ington Square East. The letter was re-
ferred to a committee. consisting of the
chairman and secretary of the council
and the chairmen of its thirteen stand
ing committees, which will report in
April
The chancellor wants his resignation
to go into effect on September %. his
SEVENTEEN birthday. No hint of d pos
sible successor was made at the meet
ing of the council. He said that the
chairman and secretary of the council
We're the only persons to whom he had
intimated his purpose of resigning be-
! fore the meeting was called.
DR.. MacCracken's Statement.
! Following is his letter:
1t is my purpose to offer al your meeting
/ in April my resignation of the chancellor
! ship Of New York University and of the
professorship of philosophy in the same, to
take effect upon on my seventletn ,t pirthday =
! the interests Of the university seem to make
this eXpedient
l nave now served a full half century as
q public teacher under one or another name.
| deem it wise to turn. while ! still enjoy
unbroken health, away from prescribed
Ia Dor defined by contract to voluntary eff
fort in such forms as may seem best suited
TO me I shall hope to be able yet to rem
der some little service to the public, not
. f1r -aira tn
/ have given over a quarter OF a century Oh
my 2,-!i,i, life .,,s a.r.ar osrt,,rv the strength
Of this younger university of the nletropo-
lis so far as strength is shown by mere
figures has been multiplied several times
Especially, what is called our UNIVERSITY
plant" which is this year to be freed from
all debt, mas grown to be the twelfth IN
value among the plants OF American uni H.
versities But her relative strength. or
what the university possesses OF resources
/ of every sort compared with the de-
mans made upon 20 nsr as to reoiire
from the executive head uptlring vigilance,
INDUSTRY zeal and perseverance. And these
are graces which suit better man at foFty
than at seventy years of age
The constantly increasing Constituency OF
New York University by Wnich en-, | mean mean
our methods and our men. belong 10 d
Younger generation than mine and need 70
he met by a younger man. At this date our
university is not crossing river. through,
out the faculties. the student BODY and
corporation there preYaaiss Is a maskeo ar uiti'a
f+ting time for me to lay down an office
which I esteem now more than sver' par
ticularly for the opportunity it oHerS Tor
Laininpa multitude of earnest students,
men and women, to live more ehectiVe aFes.
After the meeting Chancellor Mae
cracker said he. had never had sab-
batical year in the twenty-siS years q
his connection with the administration
of New York University.
To Go Around World.
NO" he said, there is nothing behind
my resignation except what 1 have said
or intimated in my letter l have two or
three literary jobs on hand I would like
time to complete, and l have always had
an ambition to go on a leisurely journey
around the globe, not so much senu-
mental as an educational journey.
His idea of ar educational journey,
he explained, was an opportunity to visit
different educational centres and COM
mare their methods and activities with
those of New York University. He was
especially anxious to visit institutions
in Japan, China and India
Won NAV saE" he went on. that !
don't want to hunt lions in Africa, but
7 do want to hunt educational hons IN
japan. China and India.
John s. Kennedy. who died recently
and left the university considerably over
half a million dollars, once said to me N
2 private conversation: What 9 wise
man DR.. McCosh was to resign the presi-
dencv of Princeton at seventy. And L
replied: What "A wise woman Mrs Nc
Gosh was TO make him resignt' l have
never forgotten that conversation
But if Mr. Kennedy hadn't died and
made the bequest to the university l OK
pect l should have had to stay on. You
sec, was begging $4,000 interest on
the debt of the institution every year.
The Kennedy bequest to New York
University was s15O,00o, of which $780,
600 was devoted to wiping out the mort
cages on the university's plant. The re-
rnainder forms the John S. Kennedy
fund, the income from which is used tor
general purposes.
Surprise at Decision.
DR.. MacCracken. whose appearance
q
he had been much f1attered at the meet
ing of the council by the expressions of
astoD:shment at his intended resigna
ton. The members showed plainly by
their surprise, he said, that they did not
consider he had reached the dead line,
which was cause for congratulation. He
thought he had as alert a step still as
anv undergraduate who crossed the cam
pus on University Heights.
DR.. MacCracllen was graduated from
Miami University in 1897, and for years
was a Presbyterian pastor in Ohio.
From 1881 to 1884 he was chancellor of
the Western University of Pennsylvania.
pittsburg In 1854 he became professor
OF philosophy and vice chancellor at New
York University and in 1891 he became
chancellor. In the period of his connec-
tou with the institutions administra-
tinn il has grown from college of 81
students and one faculty of ten members
TO a university of Ills students and
eight faculties, containing 256 instruc-
tors.
The uniyersity's growth financially has
hpen no less remarkable. 1t had in 1854
nro,,ertv valued al S5f1 800 and an an
nI,al income of $26.273 Last year its
property was valued at S521 .321 and
its income aggregated $434337S. The
university library in 1881 contained only