Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-22
CITY REFORM AT
HOBART COLLEGE
Conference of Philadelphians
and Others on Powell Evans's
Plan to Educate Men for
Public Office

Il with the plans OF some OF those VINO
had announced their intention Of attending
the conference on city management at no.
bart College, at Geneva, ~ Y, but the con-
ference was an unqualified success.
Geneva is a live little city situated mid
way between Syracuse and Rochester. Ho-
bart is one Of the small American colleges
Of which the nation has a large number
where traditions and scholarship stmu-
lating environment and devoted teachers all
combine to give the student valuable equip
ment for life.
But we are In the midst OF rapidly
changing age. Education for the use OF
| leisure Is important but we have forever
left behind us the time when higher edu-
cation can be designed exclusively for pros
pective gentlemen Of leisure. America de-
mands too much Of it's citizens in the future
| to hermit tho college TO conhne its curric-
ulum exclusively to the "humanlties. Inc
problem Of higher educators today as de
! fined by President Lyman +. PoweH, OF
| Hobart rs how to retain what IS best III
! the old and vet give the students equipment
that will qualify them for greater usetuIreSS
! 10 the communities I'm which they i've
with this thought in mind, President
/ Powell realized that II might ne wen !"
! add TO the curriculum Of the college elecllNg
| courses Of a quasi vocational character, ana
| n seemed to hin, that one Of the first courses
| that should be considered for this purpose
! was one I'm municipal management, lhroukh
/ the generosity of Mr. Powell Evans ot fnI-
/ adelphia. an alumnus and trustee OF 'le
! college. II became possible for HobaTt 10
! plan for the academic year l9l1-ls an eN
| detrimental course Of this character, ana
| IL the experiment proves sucCesSful even
| tually TO establish chair ot Po'll''H'
science and to make plans for applied work
! I'm the solution Of governmental problems
A Meeting of Experts
As n preliminary to the inauguration OF
| the projected course, Doctor Powell calIeu
! conference at the college to discuss the cN-
| istng needs and TO get some ot inc pest
| available opinions as to conducting the eN-
| nerment There met i'm Geneva, therefore,
! on Friday and Saturday, May ana b,
| number Of persons from various parts OF
| the country, who in three or four sessions
| unanimously agreed that ii is one OF the
| CRYING needs Of the time TO tram young
! mon and women for public service, that
existing facilities are entirely inadequate
| 70 the needs and that we must look 10 our
| institutions Of higher learning TO supply
| the deficiency. To the best knowledge OF
! those present at the conference no small
| College in tho country has undertaken any
! work Of this kind and all heartily approved
| of this step at Hobart and were ehthu-
| siastic i'm aCclaming il as marking new
| era in the history Of the small coleBe III
| this country. .,
| members of the faculty and student body
| OF Hobart College there was a large
! number of citizens OF Geneva present ana
| II was very gratifying to note the extent
| to which the alert men and women OF a
| typical American community showed an
| interest in what might be considered ny
many as purely an educational proposaI.
! AT one Of the sessions there were present
| at least 200 persons, and all through the
| meetings a note of interest ana lhtellsehI
understanding was manifest.
At the first session Of the conference
| Mayor Gulvin, Of the city, welcomed the
| delegates He was followed by President
| Powell of the college. who made stirring
! address on the relation between the city
| and the college. Doctor Powell was ioI-
| lowed by Prof. Charles A. Beard OF Column
bia University who is also supervisor OF the
| Training School for Public Service con-
| nected with the New York Bureau or Mu-
nIcinal Research Doctor Beard went into
| the historical background of the present
| need for trained public servants ana IN
| short gave the keynote Of the whole present
| need for trained and competent workers IN
every field OF government, He was fol-
| lowed bv Mr. Powell Evans, who outlined
| many Of the specific plans in connection with
| Hobart.
MIR. Evans was followed by DR.. j NJ. Will
| liams, professor of economics and sociology
| at Hobart, who cited modern authorities
| in education to show that the line OF work
| proposed was exactly in accordance with
| the new tendency and expressed the enthu-
| siasm OF the faculty for cooperating with
| the plans Of Doctor Powell and Mr.. Evans
| The morning session on Saturday was less
! formal and while there was number OF
distinguished citizens present the popular
| note was less prominent. The presiding
officer was Frederick +. Gutenberg direc-
| tor of the Philadelphia Bureau Of Munich
| nal Research, who has been invited To begin
| the experiment next year by giving a course
| OF ten or twelve lectures on municipal gov
ernment Mr.. Gutenberg expressed some
| general views as to the scope of the course
| and the social significance OF such instruc-
! ton
The Ideal City Manager
The Chamber Of Commerce of Geneva, an
| alert and aggressive body OF business peo-
| ple expressed their interest in the move
| ment by giving a luncheon at the Hotel
| Saneca 10 the guests Of the conference. The
| nreslding officer at this meeting in the aft
ernoon was Clinton Rogers woodruff Of
| PHILADELPHIA, secretary of the National Mu-
| nicipal League. This was the hrst meeting
| at which any differences of opinion were
| deyeIoned and IL was perhaps due to that
| fact that this session was In many ways
! one of the most interesting OF all the meet
| inRs H. s. Gilbertson, OF New York city,
executive secretary Of the National short
! Rallot Association, said in his address that
| the trained administrator of the future-the
| citv manager, for instance-should be a
man Of broad general equipment who could
appoint technical experts in the various
snecalties OF city government, whose ef-
! forts he as administrator would be obliged to
! co-ordinate and correlate.
O. f. Carr. city manager Of Niagara
rails followed Mr. Gbertson with an in
tsresting paper on some practical problems
| in citv management collected from his ex-
| narIences in Niagara Falls and Cadillac,
| Mich Mrs. Carr succeeded her husband in
| a dalightfuI. chatty, conversational address,
snarkiing with humor and punctuated with
| satire Mrs Carr took decided issue with
| Mr. Gubertson. She believed that the ad-
| r,inistrators of the future should be men
with practical training in one or more OF
the specialties and emphasized the value of
having engineers in administrative positions
Mrs Carr admitted that the fact that her
husband was an engineer may have colored
her Judgment somewhat, and also admitted
that the engineer was man who could do
things and rarely had much Imagination
Mr.. Evans presided at the closing session
r. Fulton Cutting Of New York chairman
. ~ the board Of trustees of the New York
bureau OF Municipal Research OF that city
| tha drgt sneaker Mr. Cutting dia