New-York tribune., 1921-06-02
2, 400 Degrees
Are Conferred
By Columbia
Nine. Curie and Governor
Miller Among Recipients
of Honorary Sheepskins
at 10Th Commencement
Butler Scores Discomfort
Urges Appreciation of the
Present, Grasp of Past
and TO Improve Future

| ------~-~-----~--------
Columbia University awarded 2,a00
degrees yesterday in the closing cere-
monies of its I67th year. All day the
sun-drenched campus echoed with the
celebrations Of the graduates, who
marched in academic dignity to the
gymnasium for the formal commence
ment exercises in the morning, but
filled the afternoon and evening with
merry-making--a hilarious costume
parade, baseball game, teas, banquets
and plays, ending with the singing of
college songs on the library steps as
the late daylight saving twilight fell.
Hundreds of loyal parents and
! friends of the graduates stood in line
for hours waiting for 8 glimpse of the
academic procession, headed by DR..
Nicholas Murray Butler, president of
the university, in his crimson robes,
and the dignitariss of the university
in bright -colored regalia, with the
newly graduated bringing up the rear
in caps and gowns still modestly un-
adorned.
Nine. Curie Hcnored
| The commencement throngs in the
| gymnasium paid the greatest tribute
to Nine. Marie Curie, codiscoverer of
/ radiun, who was awarded the honorary
degree of doctor of science. Her frail
white face was outlined delicate as
| platform AS she rose to accept her
! degree the hall rang with round after
! round Of applause, so that even her
| tired face broke into a smile and she
| bowed her thanks
DR. Butler in comforting the degree
upon her, greeted her as follows:
marie sklodowska Curie-subtly
! combining the characteristics OF Slav
| and of the Latin; to whose skill, scien-
tifc insight and trained powers Of
! nagination, it has been given to ell
rich mankind by the priceless gift Of
| radum, winning thereby a place on
! the immortal list of scientific discov-
, erers-."
Governor Nathan L. Miller was
awarded the honorary degree of Doc
tor of Laws, with the following saiuta-
/ ton:
Governor of the State Of New York:
/ Tested and tried in high public Office,
| both civil and judicial; presenting the
heartening spectacle of public ottcaf.
who, when entrusted with power, does
precisely what he promised the people
that he would do # SO entrusted"
Other honorary OcgTeeS
DR.. Samuel Waldron Lambert, dean
emeritus of The faculty of Medicine,
and John Campbell Merriam. president
of the CarnegA institute, of Washing
ton, were awarded the degree Of Doctor
OF Science Robert Grant, author. was
given the degree of Doctor Of Letters
and the degree of Doctor OF Laws was
conferred upon James Rowland Angel,
prcsident-elect of Yale University, and
Julius Marshall Mayer. Judge OF the
United States District Court.
Dr.. Buffers address sto the grad
yates was an exhortation toward op
timism, under the title, "Faith in the
/ Future" He said:
at pleases some ardent and hope
lessly youthful spirits to portray them
selves as in revolt against things as
they are, but this is not the construc-
tive temper or the spirit in which to
go about the serious business Of making
the world better. An appreciation Of
the present and an understanding Of
the past are ar better preparation
for the Improvement Of the future than
dissatisfaction with the present and
contempt for the past can possibly
be. Faith in the future includes faith
in that upon which the future rests
and out Of which it must grow.
"Contentment is as lofty and fine a
| state of mind as SNUG satisfaction is
unbecoming and unworthy. Faith in
| the future will make use of content
rnent, but it can do nothing with snug
satisfaction. The man whose mind is
closed to all proposals for change, for
| reasonable experiment with the un-
! familiar and INFESTED, is stubbornly
| without faith in the future. His mind
| and spirit move in a closed circle and
are captives of their present environ
ment The free spirit will use it's en-
vironment as q stepping stone to new
enterprises, to new experiments and to
new undertakings"
Six Women Made M.D.'s
For the first time in the history of
Columbia University the degree OF
Doctor of Medicine wa awarded to six
women, among them Mrs. Gulli Lindf
Muller, who was graduated foremost
in the class Of thirty-four. Tke Hippo
cratic oath was administered by DR..
William Darrach, dean Of Faculty of
Medicine.
Following the commencement cere-
mohy the alumni luncheon was held in
the gymnasium, with DR.. Butler, Gov
ernor Miller and DR.. Angel the speak
ers Stuyvesant Fish, president of the
class of III, which is celebrating its
fiftieth anniversary, was POSTMASTER
Fourteen members OF the class are now
living, among them some of New York's
foremost citizens, the complete class
roster being as follows:
The Rev. Joseph Hooper, Richard
Busteed Kelly, Lewis Cass Ledyard
Brander Matthews, James Otis Moore
Benjamin Franklin Romaine ir, Will
lam Henry Sage, the Rev. Henry Mason
Smythe, Oscar Solomon Straus, Stuy.
vesant Fish, Jacob Herrick Henry
Robert Barbour, Ralph Wilcox Booth
Gurdon Saltanstall Buck, Robert Fulton
Cutting and George Beach De Forest.
Two Older Grads
These veterans, however, had to di
vide the honors at the alumni luncheon
, with two older grads, the Rev. r. c
Hall, of the Protestant Episcopal
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, ano
the Rev. Stephen r. Holmes, members
Of the class of '63.
DR.. Butler made an appeal TO the
alumni for S750,0o0 for the purchase OF
the Dyckman tract for an athletic
field. This includes twenty-six acres
bounded BY Broadway, West 21Stt
| Street and the Harlem Ship Canal, and
! may be purchased up to December 81
4 Governor Miller in his speech called