Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-01-04
FINDING THE OFFENDER.

The editor of Golfers Weekly h;
taken his pen in hand to write fe
lines about the recent public disclo
ure of the official action of the tru
tees of the Carnegie Foundation ft
the Advancement of Teaching. TIL
is what Golfers says
The fundamental aspect of the
Woodrow Wilson-Carnegie Fund
exposure seems to us to have es-
capped attention in the discussion
that has ragged about it. The
trustees of the Carnegie pension
fund for retired college teachers
are
Frank A. Venderlip,
Jacob G. Schurman,
A. Lawrence Lowell,
S. B. Mccormick,
Edwin B. Craighead,
Henry C. King,
Charles F. Thwing,
Thomas AIcClelland,
Arthur T. Hadley,
H. McClelland Bell,
George H. Denny,
James NJ. Taylor,
William Peterson,
Samuel Plantz,
David S. Jordan,
Ira Rensen,
Nicholas Murray Butler,
William H. Crawford,
Henry S. Pritchett,
7. Morris Carnegie,
Robert A. Franks,
Charles R. Van Hise,
William l.. Bryan,
Alexander c. Humphreys.
These men, in November, 1910,
received and passed upon an ap-
plication for a pension from
Woodrow Wilson. For more than
a year they did not treat the ex-
istence of this application in any
other manner than they treated
hundreds of others of which they
were the official custodians. But
in November, 1911, at a time like
ly to injure Mr. Wilson's amlbi-
tion to obtain high public Of
fee, they permitted the facts of
this one application to become
public. 1t was made public
through the paper which is the
recognized court circular of the
sort of man that Mr.. Frank Van
dershp, for example, is-that is to
say, a Wall street bank presi-
dent, who doesn't like the kind
OF Presidential candidate that
Woodrow Wilson is It was made
public with circumstantiaty
which paraded rather than con-
cealed its source; it's authorita-
tiveness was not less conspicu-
Gus than its malevolence; and
this gives rise to what seems to
US the fundamental question: If
their conception Of the perquisites
of their position permits these
trustees to make use of official
information so as to influence an
important public matter, will they
not with equal certainty and
greater effectiveness make use of
their control of ten million dol
lars?
Some years ago William Jen-
nings Bryan persuaded the Ne
ibraska Legislature to reject bill
permitting the teachers in the
university of that state to become
the beneficiaries of the Carnegie
Fund; he feared time when the
custodians of that fund might
intinlidate college professors lock
ing to it for comfort in their cid
age. For the same reason, Joseph
w. Folk, when Governor of Mis-
souri,, vetoed a similar bill These
men thought that college teach
ers should not be subjected to the
temptation of considering what
sort of teaching might seem de-
sirable, and what sort undesir-
able, to the custodians of ten mil
lion dollars distinction which
is made measurably clear by the
present episode.
AT the time we thought Mr..
Bryan and Mr.. Folk were need
lessly suspicious. We are now
disposed to believe they were
wise.
If any of the trustees think our
criticism is too inclusive, we an
ticipate their just grievance, and
promise to limit our comment to
the responsible individuals, upon
receipt of the necessary informa
ton from the only persons ca
pable of giving it.
1t ought not to be difficult to al
prehend the offending trustees. TT
malice of the act suggests "Old Nicl
himself. Besides, there is a skun
ordor about the transaction tn
might be an aid to Identification.
In the Democratic Assembly caucl