Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-08-23
DIR. ELIOT DIES
CONTINUED from PAGE One)

-N sAASoSSo VI CouCdLOTS ana Har.
Vard men from all parts of the world.
Even after passing his ninetieth
birthday, DR.. Eliot appeared occasion
ally as a speaker at public meetings
and frequently expressed his opinions
on subjects Of public interest. In
april, 1924, he led a group of Cam
bridge home owners in a successful
protest against the erection of apart
ment houses in the quiet neighbor-
hood where he lived. The following
month he took issue with President
Nicholas Murray ButBer of Columbia
University on the subject of prohibi-
ton, expressing his belief that the
Volstead act was working efficiently.
In the course. of the debate he dis
closed that he himself had become a
teetotaler at SO.
In June, 1924, with Elihu Root and
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, he
received the Roosevelt medal confer
red for leadership of youth and de-
velopment of American character"
DIR. Eliot aroused wide discussion
IN 1924 when he disputed the melt
ing pot" theory Of the assimilation of
aliens in America, asserting that the
actual working of such theory
would be misfortune, and that It
was better for American citizens of
all origins to retain their distinctive
racial heritage and to eschew inter-
racial marriages. His choice of the
ten greatest educators of all time
which he prepared and published in
1928 was also the subject of wide
comment.
IN other miscellaneous addresses
and writings in 'recent years, DR.. Eliot
opposed the standardization of edu-
cation. condemned Bolshevism and
urged participation by the United
States in the league of nations. He
deplored the fragrant violation of
rule by the majority" citing as ex-
amples Of minority "lynching, Ku
k!ux Khan activities and the success
ful resistance of the Volstead act by
a minority Of the population"
Or. Eliot. the youngest college pro-
fessor of his time when he assumed
the guidance of Harvard policies al
the age of 35, had previously occupied
the position Uf chemistry at the coll
lege, this being the branch of science
to which he devoted his early wears OF
study and research. AS president OF
Harvard he brought about MANY re.
forms, one of which was the elective
system which spread from Cambridge
to many American universities.
lnterment will be at Mt Auburn
Cemetery, Cambridge, where many
members Of the family have been laid
to rest
Among educators, DR.. Eliot. for
forty years president of Harvard
University and president emeritus
until his death. held a world wide
reputation as a grand old man of
their profession, but his prominence
etenXded so far beyond educational
circles that he was often spoken of
here and abroad as Americas first
citizen" He was identified with
practically every economic or social
question brought forward in the past
thirty years.-writing and speaking
so fearlessly that he was the center
OF as many storms of controversy and
violent personal attacks as though he
held public Office.
During the war, DR.. Eliot wrote
addresses in behalf of the Allies. He
maintained that 1.-The hope of the
world lies in complete cooperation be-
tween the British Empire and the
United States of America, the two
great sections of the English-speak-
ing people" Six months after Ger
many invaded Belgium, in an article
entitled Roads to Peace" he de-
plored the failure of what he termed
Institutional Christianity" to avert
the conflict.
Despite his more than 81 years, in
a speech in Boston on Oct. 10, 1920,
during the Presidential campaign, he
vigorously defended the League of
Nations against the criticism of 81
eminent Republicans. In addition to
being president emeritus of Harvard,
DR.. Eliot until 1917 was a correspond
Ing member of the Academy of Moral
and Political Sciences of the Insti-
tute Of France, the British Academy,
a fellow Of the American Academy Of
Arts and Sciences, a member of the
American Philosophical Society, the
Massachusetts, Historical Society,
honorary president Of the National
Conservation Association and a
member of the General Education
Board, the Rockefeller Foundation
and the International Health Board.
Some Of his newer books included
THE Happy Life" 1.-THE Durable
Satisfactions of Life" 1.-THE Road To-
ward Peace" and John Gilley."
Chosen to the presidency at Har-
ward in his 35th year, he was the
youngest college president in the
country. He had, when he resigned
in his 18th year, held the Office longer
than the combined terms Of his five
predecessors-Hill, FELTON,, Walker,
Sparks and Everett.
He was the son Of Samuel A. Eliot
Of Cambridge. Mass, who was treas
Boston March 20, 1884, and graduated
from Harvard in 1853. In college he
stood among the first in his class, and
was an oarsman in the varsity crew in
the days when college crews rowed in
heavy cedar barges beautifully fitted
up with cushions. His prediction
was for chemistry and mathematics,
and he was so successful in the for
mer that at the age of "a he became
a professor of chemistry at Harvard,
in preference to accepting $4,000 year
as chemist for a manufacturing con-
Germ in Lowell. He was rapidly ad-
vanced until the overseers offered him
the highest chair in the institution.
The president, the young Eliot set
afoot so many reforms that DR.. Oliver
Wendell Holmes exclaimed: He is
turning the university over like a
fapjack."
Forty years later when he resigned
his post at his own insistence he saw
many Of the reforms which he had in
troduced adopted throughout the |
country, and found himself so we'll es- |
tablished in the esteem of his country
men that when President Taft offered |
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