New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-27

serted that hearings dismissal was mad. !.
bad faith and was purposely held back u,.s
the last day Of the year in the knowledge t.,,
what had occurred before would occur sy,;..
at the mere mention of such proceeding.
The public heard some Of the long r,r,,
siege guns Of the board Of strategy in act,
when DR.. Samuel McCune Lindsay, Of Colu-
bia University, spoke up in ardent praise !,
Nearing as the best student in the next to s.
last class he taught at the University .,
Pennsylvania; and again when Profess,
Seligman, of Columbia, chairman Of the eor
mittee on academic freedom Of the Assoe,.
ton of University Professors, announced that
his committee proposed to investigate, III a.
difficulty was not adjusted in short tine
And a big element that will figure in d.
future progress Of the situation was broueh,
to the public's notice in statements insinuat.
ing that the Subsidy" system, under which
the University of Pennsylvania, a privately
endowed institution, received Sl000,0O0 a
year, was really a system of political cor
ruption devised by corruptionists to strength
en- the hold of the Penrose political machine
It was pointed out that all kinds of institu
tions, and some that were of no particular
kind whatever, were down on the list for
an annual subsidy; that the fund was admin.
istered by machine politicians; that the liz,
had twice been made the subject of hostile
and suspicious inquiry.
Assertions were boldly launched by the
faculty members that the first suggestion ina.
Nearing ought to be dismissed came from
newspaper published at Bristol, the hone
town of Joseph R. Grundy president Of the
Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association ard
the most prominent political leader Of Bucks
County. They pointed out that "Grundys
newspaper" became enraged at Nearing be-
cause ne was formerly secretary Of the Penn
sylvania Child Labor Commission, and was
one of the most ruthless assaiants Of he
principle of child labor. They pointed out
that the very word "Grundyism" had come n
the popular mind to stand for the idea Of the
exploitation of child labor, since the members
of the Manufacturers Association were ths
chief employers of children in their mills.
There were charges that the politicians hal
seen to it that the 100000 slated by the
Legislature to go to Pennsylvania University
would be withheld until they could be assured
that Nearing would leave the faculty; tha
the appropriation had gone through o.
creased wheels" after an assurance that
Nearing would be dismissed had been given
These charges were stoutly denied, eu
they will be investigated, if the Association Of
College Professors takes a hand in the situs
ton.
This, Meanings friends claim, precpitats
the clear and isolated issue of academic free
dom on which the fight will now proceed with
all the vgor that can be given to it. TIE
issue, as the board of strategy sees it, is u
the hands of the people, to be settled at aa
through public opinion-if public opinion VII
only become as militant as they want 1t TO-
They include in their membership the lead
ing lawyers in Philadelphia and men con-
spicuous in national and international finance
Nine of the twenty-four trustees are hnan'
ciers and directors of great corporations, and
eight of the remaining fifteen members are
lawyers specializing in corporation law
The trustees as they see the gathering
storm, look upon it from viewpoint differing
vastly from that of the brilliant young Near
ing and his supporters.
The trustees precipitated the fight on m'
last day of the school year. On that day
June IT, they sent to Scott Nearing, Associate
Professor in the Wharton School Of Finance
and Economics of the university lette'
stating that he would not be employed on u'
faculty for next year. They sent the ie'R'
direct to Nearing through the UNIVERSITY
provost, ignoring the usual channel, wn''a
would have called for TRANSMISSION through
the dean of the school. They includeo u,
their letter to Nearing no reason OF any NnS
for his dismissal. And they adjourned un"
next October without making any pubic ~,
nouncement of any kind of their reason i0i
ousting the university's most popular y0'"'
faculty member.