Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-05-06

monlous way and without undue assertion
of authority on either side. state support
and private endowment. Its board Of
trustees represents the three parties in in
terest, the public, banefactors and the
alumni. We may depend upon such n
board, 7 am sure, to provide and support
an administration and a faculty which
will maintain happy balance in the cur
riculum so that it shall continue to in
clude the cultural subjects and pure
sciences which have been the chief die
tinction of higher education in the past.
as we'll as applied SCIENCE AGRICULTURAL
industrial and economic, upon which the
material prosperity and progress Of the
world depends.
ITO maintain such balance is not
easy. The temptation TO enter new fields
and to offer new courses is great, but
even the strongest and richest OF our uni
versities are unable to raise funds in suf.l-
cient amount to pay adequate salaries and
provide for expansion. Some are planning
to limit the number OF students and 9th 81
ers are pruning their courses. This seems
to he the only solution of the problem.
for speedy relief from high prices cannot
be reasonably expected When prices be
gin to go down. money will be even moro
difficult to got. The nation. the States.
debts. and the people are heavily taxed.
Much of The wealth of the world has been
destroyed and the rest is heavily mort
gagged. Economy must be rracticed by in
stitutions as we'll as individuals, and upon
the college rests the obligation Of lead
ership in thrift and simple living"
A TRIBUTE TO IRA ALLEN
Acting President. Guy winfred Dsller
made the announcement, Of the gift OF the
! statue to the University. and prefac.d !;
with n tribute 70 Ira Allen, saying:
FROM time to time it has been cua-
tonary en- Founders Day to prosen;
some facts pertaining TO the life and ac-
Invites of Ira Allen. OF necessity most
OF these facts vii, not be new 10 some ot
you. but that our undergraduate body,
changing a g II does from year to year NAV
have some knowledge of tho man FOR
whom we set aside this day and may
know to what extent Ira Allen played a
part in the history of our state. this brief
statement of his life and activities will
be presented.
Ira Allen was born in Cornwall Conn,
May |. 175l. He learned surveying and
| came TO the New Hampshire Grants in
1772 with Capt. Remember Baker and
maui II c4caIlnS AZ w lnooSkl ais, now
! the site of the village of Winooski. 1t is
said that he also selected the site of the
| city Of Burlington.
He was with his brother. Ethan Allen
at the taking of Fort Ticonderoga. took
! an active part in the Canadian Expedition
| in ITO and was "A trusted lieutenant OF
General Montgomery in the attack upor
Quebec.
ALLEN was prominent in military plans
and in steps leading to the formation OF
the new State. He is said to have intro
duced the resolution at the Dorset con.
vention declaring that the territory Of
the New Hampshire grants ought to be
| free and independent. He was one OF
two commissioners appointed to present
to the people east of the Green Noun
tains the advantage of an independent
state; was member of the committee &c
formulate the covenant to be set forth
was secretary of the Westminster con.
vention and chairman of committee tc
propose plans for further action.
Ira Allen is supposed 10 have beer
the author of that provision in the State
constitution which provided for a univer.
sity III the state said to have been the
| earliest declaration in America in favor
of a single State university. 1t was his
made possible the founding of the Uni.
versity Of Vermont. and he was mem
Der of the first board of trustees He
selected this noble location for the univer.
sity, said by good judges to be one of the
four most beautiful college sites in
America. The delay in beginning college
work here after the granting OF the char
ter is said to have been due TO Aliens
absence In Europe
our late Professor Goodrich during
the course of an address delivered at
commencement. 1892 respecting Ira
Allen, said: ~ monument over his asnes
we cannot raise. for alas. he know not
where they repose. Ungrateful Vermont
again and again refused 10 him the inn
munity which he SO earnestly sought in
order to maintain Il residence within her
borders. The State which ne contributed
so nuch to establish and consolidate vir-
tually banshed him in 1904 and turned a
deaf ear 10 his importunate entreaties
for permission to return. BY her laws
she forbade him TO institute the neces-
Sary measures whereby he might come
by his own again. In hospitable Phila-
delphia. he still planned for the future
OF his beloved Vermont: prepared an en-.
iarged edition of his history of the State
'h'uSh never dole 10 publish IL: continued
| to advocate the construction OF the shit
canal of which In 1884 he had procured
the survey; and kept up his old interes,
In the political movements on both CONT.
nents. Here at last, after many years
of poverty and distress, kindly death
released him from the prosecutions o,
his enemies and the bitterness of exile
! on the fourth OF January, 1914. in the G3rd
year of his age. His dust reposed IN
some ancient burial ground of the city
of Brotherly Love. but no stone stands
above II and no man can point our the
spot We can make no amends for the
expatriation and sufrerings of the clos.
ing decade of his life. There is more
reason. therefore, that we keep alive his
memory and signalize his eminent se-v.
ice to the common wealth and to the uni.
versity by giving special honors hence
forth TO the day which gave him 20 the
world
Would that Professor Goodrich Were
here to-day to rejoice with US that al
last some substantial memorial IL 30 ce
erected to Ira Allen.
"A short tirnc ago Walter II Crockett,
of the university, whflo dprrespon dina
with citi2er Of the State who is deepiy
| Interested in ELL historical matters and
great adm'rer Of Ira Allen ard mis-
work, received an intmatton that this
person Rad considered the possibility OF
giving TO the university a statue OF the
founder OF the university. Mr. Crockett,
naturally suggested to this gentiema' =,
that sometime a fittinS memorial should
he erected on the campus of this unieer-
Slty to CONNIE .,lOrate Ira Aliens service