The Washington herald., 1920-02-27
In the Linnelight
By George Perry Morris.

The call OF FRANK n. Houston OF
st. Louis to the vice presidency Of
the Chemical National Bank. New
ork City. is symptomatic of a turn
of the tide. The metropolis once was
quite self-contained in this field. II
Fit could not breed its own financiers
1T called in New Englanders. Then.
following the civil war, came NH
grafton, Of Southern youth. who as
traders, lawyers and bankers made
good. Latterly the banks have been
reaching out into the Middle West
for administrators with punch"
and a knowledge Of national condi-
tions that cannot be derived from
residence in Gotham. Houston is a
Tennessean by birth, a graduate of
Vanderbilt University, and first be-
came known widely as secretary of
the Tennessee Bankers Association.
High positions in banks in Nash
Vile and st. Louis have fitted him
for his work, and he will now serve
| under a president who only two
yesrs was president of a bank in
Louisville, Ky. Eastward the course
teresting these reversals of cur
rents!
The honor of representing AmSfican
classical scholarship in the renowned
city of Rome has fallen to DIR. Ralph
V. ID. Magoffin. OF Baltimore, a men,
Der of the faculty of Johns Hopkins
University. His rank and duties will
Z Ia hA. (uNI Al
rector of the school of classical studies
connected with the American Acad-
emy. II will be like returning to a
fond and familiar haunt for DIR. Ma
coffin to set up his ONCE and esta ablish
1867 he was a fellow of this school.
Henry Van Dyke. OF Princeton
University and Minister Of the
| United States to the Netherlands
during the first years of the war
has very decided opinions as to the
sort of man Great Britain would
better send to represent her in
Washington. He should be of tho
mental size and moral character OF
James Bryce. and come to stay, no,
\ to be transient. There arc many
persons who feel confident that II
James Bryce had been sent to us
| when Ambassador Cecil Spring.
Rice died the present relations OF
the two countries would have been
in a far better state. Neither the
fact Of the age of Viscount Brycc
nor the fact that he had not seen
eye to eye with the coalition min
istry should have outweighed the
lndisputable fact that Americans
trust him as they do no othe,
Briton. Moreover, he knows us as
no other man of his nation does.
The announced retirement from
the presidency of Cornell Uniyer-
sity OF Jacob Gould Schurman opens
another important acamedic post to
a younger and more modern man
with all the versatility of capacity
that such a position now demands.
His IL a case where the PHILOSOPHER
and teacher of ethics came TO the
head Of an institution dominatinRly
scientific and vocational in its the
ory and practice of education; and
he never hks seemed wholly al
homo or a perfect At. The larger
| about him on the side Of his pub
Tic activities, as a commissioner to
the Philippines; as a servant in tho
Diplomatic Service; as a figure in
the Constitutional convention OF
New York in 1915. and as an ad.
wiser Of the Republican party ir
the Empire State than it does as
a pioneer in educational adapta-
| hn
that he has been a university pres.
ident. VHe retires now to take ur
more congenial work, and also be.
cause he has a sensible theory tina,
no educator should too long re.
main at one Job.
Cornell, like other institutions OF
the type. Is now hard up for cash
She faces reconstructions of policy
and curriculum, and urgent new so.
cial duties which require the touch
OF a younger man sympathetic with
the times. Originally privately ere.
ated and endowed, yet having some
definite relations with the State.
she both gains and suffers from the
dual relation. In due time she
must get nearer the people and the
peoples treasury. Her alumni and
| her frlendS cannot fnance her needs
nor meet her wants.
Joseph Hergesheimer. the writer
of fiction of an unusually high quail.
ity both as to style and insight
has reached the stage of notoriety
now where he Is in demand as q
lecturer before clubs; and some o.
his admirers think he is in peri
because of the fact. 1T is an allur'
ing path, natterinE to vanity and
often productive of shekcls; but il
frequently has a dcletcrious effcct
on the artistry of the person woI
out of his study to the platform.
Mr.. Hergesheimer would seem e
have a strain of the ironic in hi:
makeup. Graduates of Radcliffe
ICollege, Cambridge. who live IN
New York City, recently had hin
as a "star" guest. Did he talk OF
the respective claims of idealisn
and idealism in literature, or on the
ultimate rank of Henry James? No
at all, though he might we'll have
done either. What then did he for,
mally discuss? Why does the mod
ern young man dislike the moderI
young woman?
Reports from the alumnae present
indicate that they were perturbed
annoyed; in short, little short OF