Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1919-10-16
l5O,OOOLeft
Their Studies.
1920 Gave
heir Lives
@~f(SIDIhg7
BY X. F. SMITH,


ing the activities of college men
in the war, are beginning to be
available, and only now can one
aorm any conception of the vast
amount Of work which they accom-
pliShed.
The colleges have suffered heavily
in many ways, but they are proud to
have been of service. At first call
members of their staffs were placed
IN important administrative positions.
Their students left peaceful pursuits,
ana became a part Of the army. The
following figures show the percentage
of students who left to join the armed
forces:
Ten per cent in 2S colleges; 20 per
cent In sc colleges; 30 per cent in "a
colleges; 40 per cent in II colleges
90 per cent in 8 colleges, and over 80
per cent in six colleges.
The total of these amazing percent
ages amounted to the number of $780,
DOO students who left our American
institutions of learning to become
identified in one way or another with
our war efforts. OF these, so less than
5000 gave their lives, and the figures
are not yet wholly complete Some
idea of how this loss is distributed
Will be given in this table of the col
deges which lost more than 100:
Yale, 1856; Concordia, Ind, 40; Uni
yersity of Kansas, 1903; Harvard, 297;
Princeton, 120; Columbia, 1913; Cor
nell, 15S.
BY comparison, 1t is interesting to
notice the enlistment of the two chief
English universities. Oxford had H.
17G sons in the war, of whom 1,412
gave their lives. Cambridge exceeded
this with a total number of 1928
and Of these 405 were destined new
DER to return from the battlefelds.
From the outset, it was character
istic of the colleges to do nothing with
out planning 1t. The first general
meeting of colleges in the war period
was held in Washington May s, 1917,
and was presided over by President
Hollis Godfrey of Drexel institute.
The prevailing inquiries were What
can we do Immediately for our coun-
tryT and How can we operate the
colleges as a national asset during
the war period2"
Following this conference, students
were advised not to forsake their
plans and rush headlong anywhere,
In the face of plans that were mate
rializing technical and medical stu
dents, upon whom the war made an
unprecedented demand, were fairly
compelled to remain at their studies,
and finally government military train
ing was established at every college.
From that time on q more complete
war basis could not be imagined. BY
organizing camps within the walls of
our schools, from which officer mate
rial could be recruited, the govern
ment at once recognized the superior
potentialities of the educated man. and
did for him all that was physically
possible.
Another result of the wholesale col
lege offer to help was the establish
ment in Washington of the Intercol-
legiate Intelligence bureau, the idea of
Dean William Mcclellan of the Uni
versty of Pennsylvania, whereby over
four thousand students were placed in
positions for which they had peculiar
fitness.
Likewise there grew up in the war
department a committee on the classi-
fication Of personnel, and this bureau
sought to classify men according to
their experience, occupation, and edu.
cation; the number of men who were
placed where they could do their best
work will probably never be known.
The story Of the students army
training corps Is well known. While
not a triumph, the effort was charac.
teristic Of the colleges, trying to do all
they could in the face Of many OBJ
stacles, and the country is not wanting
in appreciation.
Naval training units were likewise
established, and thus the power of that
branch Of the national forces took an
upward swing. College men all know
TOO, the story of their own institutions