Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-02-21
UNIVERSITIES
TN THE BALANCE
A Reply TO Dr.. Arthur Twining
Hadley, President of Yale.
BY Lillian Davis, LeSueur, MINI.
(Republished by Request.)

Yale College, in reference to his article
published in Youths Companion which
he begins by a brave blare Of trumpets
heralding the rather astounding state
ment that the university men Of our
country have captured by divine right
nearly all Of the highest offices in the
land from time immemorial. Presidents
senators, cabinet members and practic-
ally all Of the incumbents of the bench
es in the higher courts have been uni
versity graduates, he asserts, almost
without fail.
Yes, even, by calling railroads, coal
and iron mines and Oil wells Public
Utilities" DR.. Hadley has sufficiently
distinguished thems so that he may
proudly assert that the superintendent
cies of all such organizations are being
gathered in continually by these emin-
emily qualified university men.
He states that Harvard and Yale de-
cided, in 1901 and 1907, that there should
be created within their sacred halls a
general mandatory of rulers, both OF
State and Church and that they have
been at the business for over two hun
dred years without once closing down
for repairs, or on account Of failure
and that their trade mark is all that is
needed to guaranty satisfaction to an
anxious mankind looking for rulers.
Then, in the midst of this article, he
casts in the still more amazing state
ment that, without our realizing it for
all these two hundred and odd years
the same university graduates have been
serving the public without thought of
money, or hope of gain; that by some
mysterious power of alchemy, this no.
bility Of purpose and action is instilled
into the brains of these students dur
ing their passage through these aristo-
cratic educational mills.
The worthy doctor states that univer-
sity and college men have always been
found (nobly) willing to take public Of
flee and sacrificing themselves on the al
tars of their country's needs by becom-
ing Presidents, U. S. Senators, Chief
Justices, Cabinet Ministers and Super
intendents of all Public Utilities and
save barely enough to maintain life in
their august bodies in order that they
may still further advance the public
veal.
But then, il so, why the sequel to
the learned doctors tale, wherein he re-
lates, with such deep pathOs, aided by
touching little poem, the alleged fact
that the university inventors and reform
leaders, explorers and discoveries ole in
poverty and neglect while the clever
chaps, with no nobility nor zeal for the
public in their souls, make off with the
spoils.
Well, if the tale of woe be true, isn't
that just what the doctor says the uni
versity men are trained to do, to glory
in, to suffer and die for? But, is it
true at all? Do you believe it? Or is
it some fantasy Of the dear doctors
brain?
Let US recapitulate the subject under
for us.
Our Presidents-Well, we would al
most be willing to give to the univer-
stiles the seventeen they claim, if they
will give us, as they must, our great
common school presidents, Washington
the Father of his Country, priceless
possession of a race; Jackson, the brave
fighter and stern preserver of our coun-
try's honor at home and abroad, the
common peoples idol and defender;
kindly Zachary Taylor, the hero of the
Mexican war and one who never lower
ed his standard to friend, or foe; mild
and gentle Fillmore and the strong and
virile Johnson; our saint and martyr
Lincoln, savior of his country than
whom there is no greater and, in more
modern days, the calm and brilliant
statesman, the man of principle and
iron, Grover Cleveland.
Graduates of the common and public
schools, do your crests droop, or do you
feel a mighty uplift within your souls
when you read the names Of the presi-
dents the university is forced to grant
to you?
Then, again, is the learned doctor
quite sure that all of the university mer
elected presidents were placed in that
high position because the people saw g
peculiar fitness in them for the office
and demanded their election? Well
perhaps not Politicians welded the
power behind the throne in many in,
stances; favorite sons were slaughtered
that others of a softer, more pliable
mould might live.
do not wish 10 decry the merits OF
the presidents that have served us.
am not anarchistic, but I wish merely
to convey the idea to the rather one
sided writer I am striving to answer
that our presidential chair has not al.
ways been filled by reward-of-merit
children, ground out by the faultless
system of educational works, nor wher
it has been filled by the output of these
institutions, has the result always beer
successful experiment. The startling
impressive fact remains that only two
of the presidents that were graduates
OF university were ever reelected tt
the high office-and these the naturally
great and powerful men, Jefferson ant
Madison-while all but two of those
that were not gr duates of university
were reelected by overwhelming ma
jorities! Look on this picture and or
that
We know we'll in the light of history
that some of the most highly educated
| and, it might seem, the best equipped
mentally, have been the worst failure.
and we know that some of the bright
est and best men in the country hav,
gone down with broken hearts becaus.
| they were denied by political Intrigue
| or the personal selfishness Of others
! what was their just due, the presidential
chair.
Henry Clay, the great commoner, wa
no university man, yet the story of hi
life runs like a thread of pure gold thr,
| the nations life while he lived and W.
| see him at the age Of seventy-t three, de
| fated and defrauded Of his rights t,
that high office, standing, feeble in body
but matchlessly powerful in eloquenc
and devotion to his country, in the hall
of Congress-, to put his last might.
measure of compromise before lovin,
| people. There was a man who lived 70