Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-01


/ South America. World publication rights
reserved by Current News Features, lncor-
| pOrated.)
Woodrow Wilson'S Relations With
Grover CIeveland-His Bitterest
FighS in Princeton
CHAPTER II
" URNING back to those college
days where as a student and
newspaper correspondent
| representing the Associated Press
| the author came in constant con-
| tact with Woodrow Wilson, lecturer
on constitutional government and
| president of Princeton university
there were unmiStakable signs of the
| power of a great intellect bursting
with a desire to break the letters of
convention and project itself into
| the controversies of the hour. AS
if with peculiar anticipation of later
day events, the thesis which Wood
row Wilson had written when he
| received his degree of doctor of laws
was a book on congressional Gov
| eminent" supplemented later by an
| other work on 1.-The State" both of
which have been the standard text
books of many college courses. His
inaugural address in 1902 as presi-
dent of Princeton university was a
curious counterpart of subsequent
| appeals for service to humanity-he
asked that Princeton dedicate itself
to the nations service He was be.
ginning to think more of a broader
sphere of usefulness than the mar
row confines of academic research.
Himself a sociable person, popular
with his classmates as a student,
and later very highly respected as
professor and lecturer, Mr.. Wilson
veered constantly to the serious side
OF educational matters. His dissent
with the modern college method was
that it prolonged to an extent the
era Of boyhood and did not ALWAYS
begin soon enough the earnest teach.
| lngs of manhood.
Contact With Students
L can see him walking slowly
across the campus Of Princeton at
tired in academic gown, meditating
as he walked that autumn day Of
1907, his eyes on the gravel path
| that led toward Nassau Hall where
the formal exercises opening the
university for the year were to be
held. Suddenly like bolt from the
blue a freshman fleeing from the
clutches OF a sophomore who was
pursuing him collided head-on with
the university president just as he
was crossing in front of Marquand
chapel.
'I should think" he burst forth
angrily, that you would respect
| this sacred place and perform your
pranks elsewhere"
Not long afterwards DIR. Wilson,
as he was then called, proposed that
this mild form of hazing or "horsing
freshmen "a name derived from
"horse- pIay'O should cease. 1t did
not. Student opinion brought about
some notifications, but not until
after DR.. Wilson had resigned was
the custom abolished altogether.
1t was during Woodrow Wilson's
DAYS as a student forty-f1ve years
ago that Greek-letter societies were
| forbidden at Princeton. Dining
clubs in luxurious buildings came as
a substitute, but only members of
| the two upper classes were eligible.
| Woodrow Wilson's aspiration for a
more serious application of students
to the teachings of their elders
| turned him toward an analysis of
| the social system in Princeton. He
argued that all classes, young and
old, should mingle and that the inf1u-
ence Of the tutors should be con-
slant. Princeton had accepted with
enthusiasm his reform known as the
Preceptorial system whereby stu
dents were divided into groups of a
half dozen members and given at
| Of i,,fi aat ia
study with a professor or preceptor
in each course. But when Mr.. Will
son proposed that the social life of
the university be altered, and that
the Oxford squad system be in
stituted, the whole student body to
be divided into few units and each
unit consisting of. an equal number
from the four classes, he encoun
tered a stubborn resistance.
Factionalism Springs up
The board of trustees at first gave
their tentative approval, but subse
quently held the matter in allegiance
to canvass alumni sentiment. From
| that moment on it seemed as II
Woodrow Wilson had found q
greater opportunity than had beer
vouchsafed him Heretofore. He
|
before alumni BODIES outside OF
Princeton and before audiences o.
various kinds throughout the United
States discussing the needs of higher
education with all the fervor tina
was later his in political life. HI
assailed what he called the "sid'
shows" in the colleges and cried ou
that they were swallowing up thu
main tent" He gave no quarter
after that. He drew away from
those who opposed him. Factions
developed not only in the faculty
hut il the alumni associations o
Princeton throughout the country.
In and around New York cit!
lived d large number of Influential
alumni who had contributed by gif
quite literally to the support o
, Princeton university. DR.. Wilson
accused them of proprietary incli
nations" and of wanting to impair
! the natural democracy of Princeton
, He saw what in politics might have
been called the vested interests
! crushing out those who would in
wade eXClusiveuess. Enmities de
veloped which to his dying day were
not forgotten.
One might have imagined from
reading of the diatribes of both side
in that controversy that Princeton
was unlike other colleges yet. in
, deed, it had a social system admit
teddy more advanced than some o
its rivals with the Greek-letter fra
5 ternities DR.. Wilson's ambition
nevertheless was to make of Prince
: ton an institution rivalling the uni
versities of the old world To hin
Oxford and Cambridge were produc
; tive Of more serious-miuded students
He saw no objection in creating arti
E0Q M0kCT0QIh"