Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-07-19
COLLEGE $4,000
"OVER THE TOP"
DIR. Thomas Writes His Gra-
titude
Overwhelming Response in Final Days
OF Campaign Makes Midd Safe

In a message being mailed today to
5000 friends OF the College, President
Thomas speaks his gratitude for the
overwhelming support which brought
the Liberty Endowment Fund not only
to completion but boosted il S2S,000
over the 100000 goal making Old Midd
safe financially for the period OF the
war He says;
with most sincere and heartfelt gra.
titude | announce that the Liberty En-,
dowment Fund has been subscribed in
full, with S2S,0O0 beyond the goal OF
100000 for good measure, Middlebury
College will add Si2S00O to its per-
manent trust funds, The college is safe
financially for the period of the war
TO the l5lS subscribers 10 the Fund,
alumni, former students, and friends,
to all who have assisted on committees
in many localities and in the several
classes, to Dean Wiley and Others in the
college Offices who have been unspar-
ing in their efforts, to the press of Yer
mont who have followed our struggle
with cordial and sympathetic interest,
| beg to tender in behalf of the college
my deepest and most earnest thanks.
To have succeeded in an undertaking
which was pronounced impossible is
most gratifying; to have succeeded by
the aid OF so many loyal friends adds
the Joyous assurance that a college
which commands such devotion cannot
fail to be further strengthened
The success OF the Fund during the
week preceding the expiration OF the
time limit altogether exceeded my en-
pectations. 1t had been suggested to me
that might call upon the larger don
ors at the last to increase their pledges,
or to "underwrite" a needed balance
| am thankful that this was not neceS.
sary In the days before July | gifts
and pledges poured into my hands,
from all quarters and all sizes. With
two stenographers | could not keep up
with my Acknowledgements We Sc
cured the Fund as we started to do it.
by appeal to our alumni and to the
public, and no one was pressed for
larger contribution than he freely and
gladly made.
Looking back to a year ago we can
see that it was most providential that
the Fund was then instituted by lib
eral conditional offer We cannot be too
grateful for the foresight which antici-
pated the serious effect of student pa
triotism upon college finances and the
danger OF reliance upon appeals for
current deficits in the midst of many
imperative calls for war charities.
"The success of our endeavor proves
that Middlebury College has a loyal
body of alumni, large number of gem
erous friends and supporters, firm
hold upon the people OF Vermont, es-
pecially in its own immediate locality
in brief a constituency that recognizes
its public service and believes in the
mission it has nobly striven to fulfill for
eighteen years beyond a century.
six hundred and forty graduates of
Middlebury have subscribed to the
Fund, siXty-one percent of those lv-
inge We have pledges from l6S non
graduates and former students, twenty
five per cent of those on our address
list. We received gifts and subscriptions
from 475 friends of the college. One
hundred and thirty-eight Liberty bonds
of various issues and denominations
were already received in payment prior
to July |. We have gifts and pledges
from 81 men now in the uniform of the
army or navy. The classes of '76, 90,
81, and '92 secured a pledge from every
graduate. In several other classes
there are only one or two names not on
the list of contributors. The proportion
OF contributing alumni exceeds that of
any former undertaking of Middlebury
College.
ut was decided at the outset to dis
pense with the aid of firms which make
business of conducting financial cam
paigns, and to employ no agents and
pay no commissions. Our total expenses
have been S3,S3037. We started out to
raise 100000 and have secured in cash |
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