Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-01
WILSON-CLEVELAND BREAK
CLIMAX TO BITTER FIGHT
OVER POLICY AT PRINCETON

was not a social club, but a place
for earnest study with the social
side an incidental consideration. To
bring teacher and student into So
cial relationship was his aim, but
the American youth, his opponents
said, wanted to choose his own social
companions and did not relish the
constant presence of his masters.
Clash With Cleveland
So the battle ragged when on top
of it all there suddenly broke out
another controversy. Princeton had
always wanted greater graduate
school. Two plans had been sub
mitted, one by Dean Andrew f.
West, providing for the building OF
a college about a mile away from
the university and subject to a sepa-
rate administration, and the other
by Dr. Wilson whereby the gradu7
ate college would remain an integral
part of the university itself.
The bitterness Of the QUAD" dis
pute persisted and almost the same
lines of cleavage developed in the
faculty and the alumni and the
board of trustees. Grover Cleveland
had been elected member of the
board of trustees shortly after he
took up his residence in Princeton.
Dean Andrew F. West, of the gradu-
ate school, was instrumental in
bringing Mr.. Cleveland to live in
Princeton. They were fast friends.
AS next-door neighbors they saw a
good deal of each other. Dean West
was DR.. Wilson's principal opponent.
Grover Cleveland imbibed many of
Dean Vests ideas, in fact, Mr.
Cleveland was a member of the spe-
cial committee of the board of trus-
tees charged with the problem of
planning a greater graduate school.
Woodrow Wilson as presiding officer
Of the board of trustees had occa.
sion more than once to clash with
Mr. Cleveland At one historic
meeting @Mr. Cleveland delivered a
bitter attack on DIR. Wilson'S pro-
posals. DR.. Wilson stood for q
minute with flashing eyes, but con-
trolled the temper within him.
"You will live to regret what you
have said" he remarked bluntly and
turned to the discussion Of other
matters.
When Grover Cleveland died in
the summer Of 1908, Woodrow Will
son was in Europe on bicycling
trip through England and Scotland.
On his return in the autumn, there
was a noticeable omission of any
reference in DR.. Wilson's speech at
the opening of the university to the
death of Grover Cleveland. Nor did
he, order memorial exercises. Ut
caused talk. 1t was characteristic
Of Woodrow Wilson. He lavished
no praise where at heart he felt
he could sincerely give none. He
rarely, if ever, mentioned Grover
Cleveland in public addresses.
The VanDyke Letter
Although Mr.. Cleveland was the
last president of the United States
who had been elected on the Demo
cratic ticket, and although the lat
ter retained a large measure of popu-
larity with the Democrats of the
nation, Woodrow Wilson never
sought to win the Cleveland Demo
Gratis as a legatee of Princeton af-
filiations.
Only once did Woodrow Wilson
fear that his relationship with Gro
yer Cleveland might work to his
disadvantage politically. Grover
Cleveland had written letter to DR..
Henry VanDyke, then professor Of
English literature in Princeton uni
versity, denouncing DR.. Wilson and
calling him a man Of can uugovern-
able temper" The Republican STRAIT
egists in 1912 tried hard to get pos
session of that letter hoping to have
it published so as to wean away
the Cleveland followers in the Demo
cratic party and as an index of the
Wilson character.
DR.. Henry VanDyke never gave
up the letter Woodrow. Wilson and
DIR. Henry VanDyke had had some
differences of opinion on the gradu-
ate school question, but DR.. Van
Dyke refused to be a party in Gov
ernor Wilson's political downfall. On
the contrary he was one of the first
of the Princeton group to come out
in support of Governor Wilson's
candidacy for the presidency Of the
United States. Woodrow Wilson
never forgot that. He later chose
Henry VanDyke to be minister of
the United States to the Neither
lands, a post at which he acquitted
himself with particular skill in the
trying days of neutrality from 1914
to 1917
Tuesdays chapter tells how
Woodrow Wilson was forced out OF
Princeton university and into poll
tiCS)