Semi-Centennial Anniversary Book: The University of Nebraska, 1869-1919

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  • not elected in Wisconsin as in Nebraska. But the steady adherence to the appointive plan in ten of the fourteen states cited is strong evidence that the appointive method is not as objectionable as the elective. The superstitious tendency to "put God in the constitution" has caused great inconvenience and often worse harm. A plan of choosing regents is not a principle but a mere method, which should be left subject to legislative change; and I do not doubt that if the elective method had not been mistakenly cast in the constitutions of Michigan, Nebraska, and Colorado, it would long ago have been changed into harmony with the appointive method of the ten states I have named. Yet this is not a momentous matter; for as the universities grow and become more complex, their control, both as to initiative and management, tends to fall more and more into the hands of the specialists—the chief executive and the faculty. The regents' functions, in detail, are chiefly of a regulatory sort, and in general, mediatorial between specialists and the people. They are handy adjuncts. On occasion, their very differentiation prompts them to open the blinders of the specialists to a broader outlook. On the other hand, an omniscient, or single-minded, or self-sufficient board of regents would surely be embarrassing and might be positively troublesome. It is a corollary that the regents should not be of one kind—as at least five out of our present six are—but that their pristine variety should be restored. Doubt obscures the educational outlook as chaos confronts political order. Says Professor Coe, of the Badger State university: "For this period of remarkable outer achievement has been also a period of skepticism and even of despair. We have fallen of late into a deep discontent with the college." And thus Professor Canby, of Yale: "I am not writing a treatise on education after the war, for the excellent reason that neither I nor any one else knows the terms upon which it will be conducted." But the melting blow-pipe of Professor Veblen's A Memorandum of the Conduct of Universities by Business Men pales other ineffectual fires.
  • Nebraska experiment by the success of the University of Michigan, the only state university then fairly on feet. His observation of the ecclesiastical episode in Michigan prepared him for its Nebraska run, and he was so tempered as to be able to treat it fairly. Judge Tuttle drew the four-year term under the new constitution, 1876-89. His influence in the board was strong and wholesome, especially as its president, 1876-77. The present constitution of Nebraska, which was adopted at the general election of 1875, provided that "the general government of the University of Nebraska shall, under the direction of the legislature, be vested in a board of six regents....who shall be elected by the electors of the state at large" for a term of six years, except that the regents chosen at the next succeeding election—of 1875—should be classified by lot so that the tenure of two of them should be two years, of two others four years, and of two others six years. Anticipating the adoption of constitution at the same election, the Republicans nominated a partisan ticket, comprising four of the incumbents—Adair, Holmes, Hungerford, and Tuttle—and Joseph W. Gannett, of Douglas county and Seth P. Mobley, of Hall. Dr. Bear met inevitable defeat with his companions on the democratic ticket, and thereafter none but republicans were permitted to participate in the government of this principal educational institution until, in 1891, Edwin A. Hadley, of Greeley county, slipped in on the Independent People's ticket. By 1900 "fusionists" dominated the board, and they thereupon elected E. Benjamin Andrews chancellor by a strict party vote, four to two! The nominally nonpartisan method of electing regents provided by the act of 1917 may measurably improve their fitness, but they will still be commonly either self-nominated or, rather worse, nominated by coteries. In the year 1890, President Thomas C. Chamberlain, of the University of Wisconsin, gave the charter-day address at Nebraska. In discussing with him the affairs of the two institutions, I said my chief regret was that our regents were not appointed as in Wisconsin, and he promptly replied that his chief regret was that they were
  • the vacancy, and at the regular election of that year he was chosen for the remainder of Hungerford's term. He was elected for another term in 1881. Judge Tuttle remembers him as a man of fine character and spirit; but he was the last clergyman on the board. The inevitable radical reaction against the ecclesiastic regime, which culminated in 1882, stood pat, unwisely as I think. Considering the character of the pioneer population and the paucity of numbers to choose from, the legislatures were clearly more discriminating than the people at large have been in their choice of regents. Of those well adapted to the delicate and difficult task of establishing the university, Dungan, Fuller, Chase, Longley, Savage, Hungerford, Barrows, Bear, and Tuttle deserve mention. All were marked by more than ordinary character, education, and intelligence. That by the legislative plan two democrats could be chosen and that two such democrats as Savage and Bear were chosen is highly to its credit. I knew them, Horatio,—both "of most excellent fancy." Judge Savage was a man of that peculiar cast which inspires, holds, and deserves public confidence. Moreover, at the time in question his profession had not become for the most part the mere handmaid of business, and, in some sort, it still lived up to its reputation as the learned profession, as Judge Savage did. Dr. Bear was the Virginian gentleman. Speech came mended from his tongue with the soft touch and melodious cadence of the South. He took part of the college course of the University of Virginia and his medical degree, in 1860, at the University of Maryland. He had begun to practice when he was caught in the vortex of the war serving—on the Confederate side of course—the full four years, three of them as surgeon—prime preparation for his very successful medical career, which he resumed in Nebraska in 1866, settling permanently at Norfolk in 1872. Not long ago he retired with a handsome competence to Richmond, Virginia, his boyhood home. Judge Tuttle, now working out, hale and hearty, his fiftieth year of continuous practice at the Lincoln bar, had been college bred in Michigan and was encouraged for the
  • trict, was chosen for the full term, in place of Dungan; Benjamin H. Barrows, editor of the Omaha Republican and a member of the House of Representatives, was chosen for the full term for the second district, to succeed Champion S. Chase, who received five votes against thirty-nine for Barrows; and Dr. Alexander Bear, of Norfolk, Madison county, for the full term from the third district, to succeed Dr. Longley, who had removed from Blair in 1872 to become the first receiver of the United States land office at North Platte, where he subsequently practiced his profession until he died, about eight years ago. But Lincoln county was in the third district, so that he remained regent until the end of his term. Dr. Longley most have been a clever politician, for he managed to hold lucrative political offices while he was preparing and waiting for his long and successful professional career. McCann was president of the Nebraska City National Bank and otherwise prominent; but he wrote compromising political letters, and, drifting to Wyoming, then a Mecca for superfluous politicians of Nebraska, he crippled his career by getting caught in fraudulent transactions in the United States revenue service. Maxfield aspired to re-election in 1875, but he also unwarily wrote a letter to McConnell, treasurer of the university, admonishing him that "we ought to have two or three thousand in Griggs and Webb's bank here [Beatrice] at the opening of the session. If so they cannot move the money into the state treasury during the session. We will then have a man at court. This will guarantee our continuance." For "there will not be a more influential member in the senate"—than Griggs, who was slated for its president. It appears that the letter guaranteed Maxfield's discontinuance; and McConnell's office was abolished by that legislature. Hungerford was found dead in his bed on the morning of January 3, 1876, three days before the beginning of his elective term. By common appraisement the young man—of only twenty-seven years—was of a high type of both character and accomplishment. On January 7, Governor Garber appointed Rev. Lebbius Fifield, of Kearney, to fill
  • and Samuel DeWitt Beals, superintendent of public instruction. The first constitution of the state made no provision for the office of superintendent of public instruction, but "An Act to Establish a system of Public Instruction for the State of Nebraska," passed on the same day as the act to establish the state university, created the office and authorized the governor to appoint a superintendent whose tenure should continue until January 1, 1871, when he would be succeeded by the person chosen at the regular election of 1870. Accordingly, on the next day after the passage of the act, the governor appointed for nomination for the office in the Republican state convention of 1870, but was defeated by John Murray McKenzie, who therefore succeeded to both offices. Subsequently Mr. Beals had a long career as a teacher in the public schools of Omaha. On February 28, 1871, the two houses of the legislature, in joint convention, elected Dwight J. McCann, of Otoe county, in place of Elliot; Maxfield (still credited to Cass county) and Bruner, each as his own successor; all for the full term of six years from March 1, 1871. Similarly, on the 29th of January, 1873, the legislature elected William D. Scott, of Rulo, Richardson county; James W. Savage, of Omaha; and William Adair, of Dakota City, regents for the full term from March 1, 1873. On the 16th day of February, 1875, the legislature passed a joint resolution declaring that the office of regent from the first judicial district was vacant because McCann, the nominal incumbent, had removed from the state and had not attended any meeting of the board during the last eighteen months. On the same day and in like manner, the place to which Maxfield had been elected, from the second district, was declared vacant because he had moved to the first district—from Plattsmouth to Beatrice. On the same day the legislature elected Edgar M. Hungerford, of Orleans Sentinel, Harlan county, in the first district, in McCann's place, and Samuel J. Tuttle, of Lincoln, Lancaster county, in the second district, in Maxfield's place. Charles A. Holmes, of Tecumseh, Johnson county, in the first dis-
  • army, the first state's attorney—under the first constitution an extra-constitutional office—1867-68; mayor of Omaha for three terms. In 1878-79 there was a very persistent and alleged corrupt attempt by the city council to adopt the Holly water works system, and Mayor Chase's repeated veto of the ordinances which were passed for that purpose won and doubtless deserved general praise. In 1865, William B. Dale came from the state of New York to Columbus, Nebraska, where he engaged in the sale of lumber and in storekeeping. At the third meeting of the board of regents, begun December 22, 1870, according to a provision of the act for establishing the University which authorized the board to fill vacancies occurring when the legislature was not in session, Uriah Bruner, of Cuming county, was appointed a successor to Mr. Dale for the reason, as alleged in the record, that he had removed from the state. It appears, however, that he remained a resident of Columbus for many years after this occurrence. Mr. Bruner had settled at West Point in 1856 and in 1869 became the first receiver of the land office there. Rev. William G. Olinger came with his parents from Virginia to Tekamah in 1855. On October 24, 1862, the boy of 19 was mustered as a private in company B Second Regiment Nebraska Cavalry, of which Furnas, his colleague on the board of regents, was colonel. He served until September 4, 1863. He was afterward treasurer of Burt county and a member of the House of Representatives in the sixth legislature, of 1875. When he was appointed a regent he was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Tekamah, for which he personally provided the meeting house. He subsequently became a preacher in the Congregational church, in Oregon. His neighbors of Tekamah speak in high praise of his spirit and character. Dr. Fyfield H. Longley was a member of the first board of trustees of Blair, in 1869, and was a reputable physician there. Rev. Allen R. Benton became ex officio regent by his election as first chancellor of the university, which occurred at the fourth meeting of the board on January 6, 1871. The two other ex officio regents were Governor David Butler
  • for six years—from 1890. He now lives at Glendale, California, where he preaches occasionally. Rev. John B. Maxfield joined the Nebraska conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1861, and he was actively engaged the service of his sect, as preacher, teacher, and presiding elder until near the year of his death in 1900. Forcefulness was his characteristic quality. He held the charge at Plattsmouth at the time of his appointment. Abel B. Fuller settled at Ashland, then in Cass county, in 1863, where he kept a general merchandise store until 1867, when he became land agent for the Union Pacific and Burlington and Missouri River railroad companies and was so employed when he was appointed regent. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the twelfth and last territorial legislative assembly, in 1867, and of the same house of the second state legislature in the same year. The session of the territorial assembly ended February 18 and that of the state legislature began February 20. The members of the territorial assembly were chosen at the regular election, under the law of the territory, on October 9. 1866. The pending process of admitting the territory to statehood being then under arrest by President Johnson, provisional members of a state legislature were elected at the same time. Moreover, the Republicans nominated the same men for members of legislative bodies under the actual territorial and the prospective state regime, and this body of dual parts, sitting as a state legislature immediately following its regular territorial session, accepted the negro suffrage condition precedent to statehood imposed by the congress. Three members of the board, Governor Butler, Furnas, soon to be governor (the ambitious political aspirations both soon to be cut down, never to rise again), and Champion S. Chase, belonged to the class commonly called professional politicians; and it is but doing Elder Maxfield justice to observe that he also seems to have shone in that class with native distinction. In his public aspect and activities Regent Chase was a ubiquitous and picturesque personage, and forceful withal. He was a paymaster in the Union
  • been adopted by the building commissioners, who were identical with the capital commissioners. At the second meeting, begun September 22, 1869, the regents attended the ceremonies of laying the corner stone of the building on September 23; at the third meeting, begun December 22, 1870, Uriah Bruner, of Cuming county, was chosen regent in place of Dale, and Rev. Henry T. Davis, of Lincoln, secretary in place of Harvey, both of the original incumbents having removed from the state. At the meeting of the board held in December, 1875, J. Stuart Dales was elected secretary to succeed Mr. Davis, and he has continuously held the office to the present time. Aside from the pan-sectarian aspect of their aggregate, the members of the first board of regents were pretty well assorted. The governors choice of clergymen for four of the nine appointive members—perhaps five, for it is said that Fuller had taken Episcopalian orders—and the election by the board itself of a reverend chancellor and a reverend secretary gave the infant institution a distinctively clerical cast. This virtual stamping of the principal state school as protegé and ward of the church was doubtless due in part to the still surviving belief or concession that the inculcation of religion was the most important part of even public education. Probably, however, the politic governor was mainly intent on procuring the active co-operation of the churches in the difficult and even doubtful experiment upon which the state, whose people were chiefly experienced in a sense of poverty, was entering. Rev. John C. Elliott was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Nebraska City from 1866 to 1869, and he is still living—at Seville, Ohio. Delineation of the character and career of Robert W. Furnas is accessible to the not numerous citizens of the state who are unfamiliar with them. At the time of his appointment, Rev. David Roberts Dungan was a resident of Lincoln and had been engaged for about five years in missionary work in Nebraska for the sect called the Church of Christ. After 1874 he was for many years a member of the faculty of Drake University, at Des Moines; and he was president of Cotner University
  • ular vote. The University of California began (1868) with the complex system of six ex officio regents, eight appointed by the governor and senate for sixteen years and as many more chosen by the fourteen for a like long term, now there are twenty-four members, eight ex officio and sixteen appointed by the governor. The regents of Ohio State University, founded in 1878, have always been appointed by the governor and the senate. The University of South Dakota, first called the University of the Territory of Dakota, 1883, then the University of Dakota, 1887, discarding earlier methods, is now governed by "Regents of Education" appointed by the governor and the senate to have jurisdiction over all educational institutions. The University of North Dakota, 1883, is governed by a board appointed by the governor and senate. The University of Colorado, 1876, by provision of the constitution, has a governing board elected by the people. The act to establish the University of Nebraska authorized the governor to appoint the members of the first board of regents, and he announced his choice as follows: From the first judicial district, Rev. John C. Elliott, Otoe county, two years; Robert W. Furnas, of Nemaha, four years; Rev. D. R. Dungan, Pawnee, six years; from the second judicial district, Rev. John B. Maxfield of Cass, two years; Abel B. Fuller, of Saunders, four years; Champion S. Chase, of Douglas, six years; from the third judicial district, William B. Dale, of Platte, two years; Rev. William G. Olinger, of Burt, four years; Dr. Fyfield H. Longley, of Washington, six years. The board was organized at a meeting held in Lincoln on June 3, 1869, when August F. Hervey, uncommonly intelligent and virile, was elected secretary and John L. McConnell treasurer. Mr. Harvey was a protegé of the capital commissioners, functioning as surveyor of the site of Lincoln, and as editor or the peripatetic Statesman, he was a stout defender of the fiercely assaulted acts of his patrons. Mr. McConnell afterward became a well known merchant in Lincoln. At this meeting, the regents approved the plans and specifications for the first building which had
  • Mechanical Arts (at Ames), and the normal school at Cedar Rapids under the government of a "State Board of Education" consisting of nine members, appointed by the governor with the consent of two-thirds of the senate for a term of six years. Of the five states which started their universities with governing boards chosen by their respective legislatures, namely, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska, Iowa alone brought that method into the present period of university development. I have examined the experiments of thirteen states, besides Nebraska, with the governing boards of their universities, but space permits only a skeleton outline of the main changes they have made. The University of Michigan began, in 1837, with the appointive system, but the constitution of 1850 fixed the elective method beyond practicable recall. Indiana University, established in 1838, was governed by a board of trustees named by the legislature. Until 1855 vacancies were filled by the board itself; then, until 1891, by the state board of education. Since 1891 the board of education has appointed five trustees and the alumni resident in the state have appointed three of their own number. The governing hoard of the University of Missouri was appointed from 1839 till 1868 by the legislature; since then it has been appointed by the governor and the senate. The regents of the University of Wisconsin were elected by the legislature from 1848 to 1866; since then they have been appointed by the governor alone. The regents of the University of Minnesota have been appointed, from 1851 to the present time, by the governor and the senate. At the University of Kansas, the regents were appointed from 1864 to 1913 by the governor and the senate; then all educational institutions were placed under the control of a "State Board of Administration," consisting of three members appointed by the governor and the senate and the governor as ex officio member and chairman; in 1917 this method was spread over all state institutions. At the University of Illinois, the regents were appointed from 1867 to 1887 by the governor and the senate; since then they have been elected by pop-
  • THE REGENTS The act of the legislature approved February 15, 1869, which established "The University of Nebraska" provided that The general government of the university shall be vested in a board of regents, which shall consist of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, the chancellor of the university, all of whom shall be members by virtue of their offices, and three persons from each judicial district, who shall be appointed by the legislature in joint session. The governor was ex officio president of the board. The term of service then fixed at six years has never been changed. This plan was doubtless adapted from Iowa, just as the first territorial assembly had adopted the Iowa civil and criminal code. The English deprecatingly admit that they "muddled through" the war. The records disclose that the experimentation in government of our state universities is scarcely entitled to the English faint praise. It has merely muddled along. The case of our Iowa examplar is typical—though in some other states the fumbling has been more frequent and effusive. The act of the first general assembly, passed February 25, 1847, which established the State University of Iowa, provided that it should be governed and managed by fifteen trustees, to be appointed by the first general assembly for a term of six years, the superintendent of public instruction to be the presiding officer of the board. After an unfortunate experiment, permitted by the constitution of 1857, with a "Board of Education" elected by the people, but having incongruous legislative powers, an act of March 21, 1864, provided for a board of nine regents, of which the governor was president ex officio, the president of the university a member ex officio, and the other seven members were chosen by the general assembly, as before. This method of choosing the regents continued until the separate governing body was abolished by the act of 1909, which placed the university, the College of Agriculture and
  • it; and it became the subject of state legislation when its stand in favor of prohibition helped to place Lincoln in the dry column. Not only has the city furnished practice in politics and chance for observation of courts and legislatures, but opportunity for social work as well. Investigations of a great variety of social problems, ranging in importance from class and seminar papers to doctoral theses, have been based on local data. Students carry on their field work in the social sciences through numerous community agencies—charitable, penal, educational, industrial, recreational, health, and religious. To a great degree the city recognizes the responsibility laid upon it through the presence of a large student body. There is a conspicuous absence of any desire to exploit it on the part of the city at large. Its tastes are catered to—perhaps too largely but at least indulgently—in amusements; and the program of the churches is shaped with the students in mind. Their presence has always furnished a talking point for civic reform, and on their account various agencies which might contribute to their demoralization have undoubtedly been more easily disposed of, or have received stricter supervision. The University justifies its existence best by the service it renders. This consists primarily in the training for leadership; but its second service is the practical help given by men and women of broad study to the problems of the community. More and more must this latter function be exercised, and the community served be enlarged from the locality in which the University is situated to include every town and open country district in the state. HATTIE PLUM WILLIAMS.
  • whom have since made well-known contributions in social service. The community has benefited by the assistance of university instructors in a wide range of activities. From early days to the present, the board of education of the city has usually numbered faculty members upon its staff. In the early period, the shaping of the general policy of public school education, and the building program of recent years have been due in no small part to them. The library board and various departments of the city government, as the engineering department, the park board and the water board, have made use of their expert services. They have been active in the City Improvement and Social Welfare societies, in anti-tuberculosis and other public health work, while enthusiastic support has been given to the prohibition and suffrage movements. University professors have sponsored legislation relating to child labor, mothers' pensions, women in industry, and juvenile courts; while the city charter and problems of local government have received their earnest attention. The community draws largely upon the university faculty for help in forming public opinion on social questions, and in contributing to the cultural life by lectures before parent-teacher associations and the great variety of men's and women's clubs the city. In addition to such specific contributions, there can be little question that the presence of the University has imparted a more serious tone to the life and thought of the community, accounting in part for the relative freedom of the city from social extravagances. The community, in turn, through its various agencies, furnishes a laboratory for training students in social and civic leadership. No doubt the history of the student vote, in city politics, would make an interesting, and not always savory, tale; for it, together with the foreign vote, has been the uncertain element, which could be handled more or less en masse, and hence, in the "old days", was an important consideration. Anxious politicians always advised that it "be watched"; it was frequently subjected to challenge at the polls; a supreme court decision has been rendered upon
  • relatives, and many in private homes where only two or three roomers are kept. Although this system has its disadvantages, it has its positive value in keeping students in touch with normal community life,—the environment for which they are fitting themselves by their college experiences. The fact that many students in the University work their way through school is an added means of bringing students into contact with community life. In the early days, when the social and recreational life, of the city was much more simple than it is now, the literary societies of the University were an important factor. Their programs, more serious than they are today, were advertised in the newspapers and the public was invited to attend. Many townspeople were regularly present and contributed, chiefly in the way of music, to the evening's entertainment. The development of art and music has been stimulated in the community by the presence of the University; while institutions such as the annual art exhibit, which depend for their permanent financial support upon a large body of citizens, could not be maintained easily in a small town even though it had a large university. One of the earliest definite efforts of the school to make its contribution to the solution of community problems was the establishment of the University Settlement during the school year, 1895-1896. It was known as the Graham Taylor House, in honor of the founder of Chicago Commons, who came to Lincoln in that year to help in starting the project. The House was located, during the greater part of its existence, at Eighth and X streets, in the foreign district in Northwest Lincoln. The board of control was made up of faculty members; the residents and assistants were students, or wives of University professors. In 1900, the Settlement was moved to Twentieth and N streets, and some years later, the property, was turned over to the Charity Organization Society. In spite of the short life of the institution, it registered its influence in the broadening and democratizing of the students who served in it, some of
  • THE UNIVERSITY AND THE COMMUNITY The degree to which a university may be an asset to a community varies with the size of the town. In some instances it is completely subordinated, owing to overwhelming industrial, commercial, and social interests. Again, in a small town, it may dominate the life of the community without making any distinct contribution to it. In such a case, class consciousness develops within the institution which causes a sharp line of cleavage between the townspeople and the university group. Faculty and citizens do not mingle socially, and often intense dislike for the student body springs up, chiefly on account of their pranks, which get beyond control through lack of adequate police force. The relationship between Lincoln and the University has been most happy in this respect. Both were located on the open prairie at the edge of civilization, and they have grown up together to a prosperous middle age. In 1873, the University granted two degrees; in 1910, 343 degrees. In 1870, Lincoln was a village of something less than 2,500 people; in 1910, a careful census gave it a population of 44,000. Both Lincoln and the University now lack, within themselves, the intimate relationships of the early days, but the challenge of the commercial and social forces of the city is still met by the educational forces of the University. Lincoln is more widely known for its schools than for its business enterprises, and this tends toward a selective process in its population. Families are drawn to the city to educate their children, and teachers and librarians often seek employment in Lincoln for the advantages which the University offers. Citizens and faculty mingle freely in social intercourse, while personal contact between the student body and the townspeople is increased on account of the lack of dormitories. Instead of being segregated within their own group, the students are scattered over the city,—many in their own homes, some in homes temporarily established for the period of their college residence, others with friends or
  • lington railroad; Amos G. Warner, '85, author of American Charities, still the standard treatise on that subject; Sarah Harris Dorris, '88; Julia M. Korsmeyer of the department of Romance languages; Dr. Howard T. Ricketts, '94, noted physician, a victim of his own typhoid investigations—we might go on selecting names from every class. The alumni who have given their lives in the great war that has just been brought to a close died, as they lived, reflecting honor on their Alma Mater. As we emerge from the great world conflict into an age of peace and reconstruction, the alumni find themselves represented by two men at the peace gatherings at Versailles,—General John J. Pershing, '93, Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary forces, and Dr. William Linn Westermann, '94, of the University of Wisconsin, historian. I realize that I have but barely touched here and there the records of the thousands of alumni who represent our Alma Mater. To the many deserving, yet unmentioned, there still remains the satisfaction of service well done. With every alumnus there rests the duty of building up an alumni association that will more fully reflect the work accomplished by our great alumni body. Annis S. Chaikin, Secretary of the Alumni Association.
  • many years was connected with a big construction company in London; and W. H. Sawyer, '94, vice-president of the E. W. Clark Co., Columbus, Ohio. What should be said about the thousands of women graduates of the University of Nebraska? Their highest contribution is that of home-builder. They are the mothers of the many sons and daughters who have come and will continue to come to the Alma Mater of their parents. As the wives of alumni, their contributions are interwoven with those of their husbands. They have followed their husbands into the missionary fields of China and Japan. They have worked side by side with them in their research and their publications; while those who have not trained their own sons and daughters, have helped to train others. As teachers, social workers, in business, and in the professions, their record is a constantly growing one. Dr. Edith Abbott, '01, of Chicago, social worker and writer, has a national reputation. Her first book, published in 1910, on Women in Industry, is a classic on that subject. She is a member of the faculty of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and of Chicago University. Willa Cather, '95, of New York City, one-time associate editor of McClure's Magazine, and author of several highly ranked books of fiction, is perhaps our best known alumna in the literary field. Leta Stetter Hollingworth, '06, a member of the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University, has won distinction alongside her husband, H. L. Hollingworth, '06, who is a professor of psychology at Columbia. Grace Coppock, '05, executive secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association for China, has been an inspiration to many other Nebraska women who have entered similar fields. For men and women who have passed on but are not forgotten no tribute seems adequate acknowledgement of their services. The latest loss the alumni suffered was in the death of Dr. Harry Kirke Wolfe, '80, head of the department of philosophy. Others to be mentioned are Professor George W. Botsford, '84, of Columbia, distinguished historian; Edward J. Robinson, '84, engineer with the Bur-
  • Judge Ernest B. Perry, '99, of Cambridge, recent candidate for judge of the supreme court, and Judge Lincoln Frost, '86, of Lincoln, a prime mover in the social welfare activities of the state. But I realize the danger of trying to do justice to the several thousands of men and women who in every corner of the big state of Nebraska are quietly yet faithfully doing their share, whether it be in the home, on the farm, or in public service. As the alumni who remained within the state have done credit to their University, so likewise have those who have ventured forth, whether it be in this country or in other lands. And difficult as it seemed to select the men most worthy of mention within the state, it is far more difficult to do so among those who went elsewhere. For there seems to be no country or no line of work in which there are not several, if not many, pre-eminent Nebraskans. In public service arise names like Charles S. Lobingier, '88, Judge of the United States court for China at Shanghai, and Charles S. Allen, '86, former president of the board of regents, now a public spirited citizen of the city of San Jose, California. In education appear the names of Dean Roscoe Pound, '88, of Harvard Law School; President A. F. Woods, '90, of the College of Agriculture, Maryland; and Chancellor Edward C. Elliott, '95, of the University of Montana. Innumerable are the students of Dr. Bessey who are doing noteworthy research along botanical lines—as Dr. and Mrs. Frederic E. Clements (Edith Schwartz, '98) of the Carnegie Institution of Washington; Dr. P. J. O'Gara, '02, of the American Smelting and Refining Company, Salt Lake City; C. A. Fisher, '98, consulting geologist and fuel engineer of Denver who has just been appointed by the War Department one of seven commissioners who are to determine the available oil and gas resources of the nation. In medicine, Dr. Charles A. Elliott, '95, of Northwestern University, is a member of a recently appointed commission of five men who will devote their scientific knowledge to a study of the yellow fever scourge in South America. In engineering may be mentioned J. W. McCrosky, '91, recently of the Bureau of Enemy Trade, Washington, who for
  • But Nebraska is an agricultural state; and if its highest institution of learning did not serve its greatest number of constituents there would be just ground for public criticism. There have gone back to their farms hundreds of men and women who because of their scientific training in the college of agriculture and their broadening training in the other colleges are today among best farmers and most progressive citizens in the. communities. Of these there comes first to mind, Regent E. P. Brown, '92, of Davey, farmer, leader in various rural movements, and president of the board of regents of the University. Prominent among the horticulturists of the state is E. M. Pollard, '93, of Nehawka, owner of the famous Pollard orchards, started by his father, the late Isaac Pollard, in 1856. The editor of The Nebraska Farmer, a weekly which has the largest circulation of any farm paper in the state, is C. W. Pugsley, '06, formerly director of the extension service of the college of agriculture. Of the many women who are working side by side with their husbands on the farm perhaps none is more deserving of mention that Mrs. Fred Deweese (Alice C. Towne, '05) of Hilaire Farm, Dawson. Both Mrs. and Mr. Deweese, '02, are workers in many activities. As state chairman of the food production department of the woman's committee of the State Council of Defense, Mrs. Deweese accomplished one of the most constructive pieces of war work done in Nebraska. But even an agricultural state needs more than its farmers. And so are found in its newspaper work men like Clement Chase, '83, president of the Chase Publishing Company, Omaha, Harvey E. Newbranch, '96, editor of the Omaha World-Herald, and Will Owen Jones, '86, editor of The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln. In industrial lines N. Z. Snell, '82, presidents of the Mid-West Life Insurance Company, Lincoln; Charles F. Schwarz, '96, president of the Schwarz Paper Company, Lincoln; C. Louis Meyer, '07, president of the Concrete Engineering Company of Omaha, who has patented a system of reinforced concrete floors, are but a few of the men who have built up enterprises within our state. In the legal profession are men like
  • that marriages among classmates have been not infrequent, and again that the children of such marriages have returned in a later generation to continue the life and the traditions of an institution which, it is to be hoped, their parents have a particular reason for loving. Several years ago an alumnus, in his Alumni Day address, in undertaking to recount what the men and women who have reflected honor on their Alma Mater are doing in world, apologized for the shortcomings of his account in words which the present writer must borrow. "No catalogue of names," he said, "no selection of a few, can give any adequate idea of the broad and general usefulness of our fellow alumni and fellow students within these walls to the world." Agreeing with this statement, and advancing it as my own caution, I shall none the less attempt to record a few names of alumni who eminently represent their Alma Mater in the world of men. Since the University of Nebraska is a state institution I shall mention first those who have remained to serve within their state. A one-time governor, George L. Sheldon, class of 1892, a United States senator, Elmer J. Burkett, '93, three congressmen, the late David H. Mercer, '80, Omaha, E. M. Pollard, '93, Nehawka, and J. A. Maguire, '98, Lincoln, the present police commissioner of the city of Omaha, J. Dean Ringer, '03, scores of members in both houses of the state legislatures, and scores of city and county officials, are men all of whom honorably served in public life their state and their community. In our public school system, in all of its branches, are alumni. We have first of all our own chancellor, Dr. Samuel Avery, '92, the first alumnus to serve in that capacity. We rejoice that among the faculty there are still with us alumni who began more than twenty-five years ago to serve their Alma Mater; Dr. G. E. Howard, '76; Professor H. H. Wilson, '78; Professor H. W. Caldwell, '80; Professor Laurence Fossler, '81; and Dean O. V. P. Stout, '88. The staffs of our normal schools, high schools, city and rural schools, are largely made up of men and women who have attended if not graduated from the University.
  • of students. Their multifarious types and activities are surveyed to best advantage in the pages of the students' annual, The Cornhusker. The varied interests and the increasing membership of student organizations at the University parallel the expansion of the institution as a whole. Louise Pound. THE ALUMNI In 1873 two men went forth from University Hall, the first two graduates of the University of Nebraska. Both men are living and active today—the one, J. S. Dales, as secretary of the board of regents and of the University senate, is still devoting his services to his Alma Mater; the other, Judge William H. Snell, is a practicing attorney at Tacoma, Washington. From two, the roster of alumni has grown into the thousands, until today they are scattered in all parts of the world and all lines of activities. Some seven thousand men and women are graduates, and many more as non-graduates, are doing their bit in the world's work the better for their training at the University. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The strongest argument that can be adduced in support of a state loyal and generous to its university is the fact that the leaders among its citizenship, whether it he on the farm or in the city, very often are University men and women, serving in turn the state that has so well served them. It is impossible in a short article to pay individual tribute to all the men and women who have reflected honor on their Alma Mater. Parenthetically, and speaking of men and women, it ought to be noted that the first woman graduate, Alice May Frost, '76, married one of her classmates, George Elliot Howard, thereby, as it were ab initio, setting such example as many another has followed. In truth, it is no negligible feature of coeducation, and hence of the interest of the alumni life of a coeducational institution,
  • ion organization of their own, the Young Women's Christian Association. Both organizations have had since then a flourishing and unbroken existence, growing in influence and in numbers. In the earliest period but three committees were appointed, the devotional, the membership, and the finance committees. The expansion of the Y. M. C. A. in the line of practical activities is shown by its present-day conduct of an employment bureau, its publication of a students' handbook, and by the varied duties of its secretary—to say nothing of the roles assumed by it with the outbreak of the war. Since the completion of the Temple building, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. have been permanently housed there, and they have contributed to the spiritual and social welfare of many students. Among honorary scholarship organizations, the first to enter was Phi Beta Kappa, which was granted a charter from the national organization in 1896, through efforts instituted by Chancellor Canfield. Its list of faculty members has included such men as Professors E. A. Ross, H. B. Ward, C. E. Bessey, Roscoe Pound, F. E. Clements, E. B. Andrews, E. W. Davis; often it was an enviable privilege to hear the discussions at its meetings. Of late years its brilliant faculty roll has been thinned by deaths and by losses to other institutions. The corresponding scientific society, Sigma Xi, entered in 1897. There are now honorary scholarship societies in nearly all departmental lines, membership in which is based on definite achievement. By this time there are too many organizations associated with the life of the University for detailed enumeration. There are clubs based on nationality, like the Komensky (Bohemian), or the Tegner (Swedish); denominational clubs, like the Catholic or the Christian Science clubs; class societies, social organizations; military, athletic, musical, and dramatic societies; and there are departmental societies, ranging in their interests from linguistics and journalism to engineering and home economics. Beginning with the old centers of undergraduate life, the literary societies, which involved small groups of students, there have come to be innumerable social centers which involve thousands
  • campus. But so large is the number of students that however many organizations there are—and they overlap good deal in membership—there are still large tracts of students who are not reached and hence are likely to miss that executive experience and that training in working with others or in having to accommodate themselves to others which constitutes the most desirable thing to be had, along-side the work of the class-room, in undergraduate life. Another conspicuous early organization was the "Sem Bot", in full, the Botanical Seminar, formed by enthusiastic students under Dr. C. E. Bessey. It was restricted at first to men members but afterward admitted women. Prominent among its early members were H. C. Peterson, now of Chicago, Roscoe Pound, now of Harvard, Herbert Webber, Professor at the University of California, and Albert F. Woods, President of the Maryland Agricultural College. In these days when social conventions permit college girls to go everywhere together without the "escorts" that earlier times deemed imperative, one organization which played a conspicuous role for a time in university life may seem anomalous. This was the "G. O. I." or order of "Go Out Independents." The members of this organization were pioneers in looking forward to the changed conditions of the present, and they had the encouragement of Chancellor Canfield, who was always forward-looking and anxious to promote the welfare of the girl students. The G. O. I. demonstrated that girls could attend football games, evening lectures, society programs, and other public functions, without first having to acquire individual escorts; and their stand possibly hastened conditions of the present, when college girls seem to feel free to go anywhere or to do anything, whether singly or in groups. In 1883, through the encouragement and enthusiasm of Mr. B. L. Paine, a religious organization consisting of sixteen young men and nine young ladies was completed. It took to itself the name appropriate to the majority of its membership and called itself the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1884, the young women formed a compan-
  • As the number of students increased and membership rolls lengthened, the literary societies became no longer open societies but restricted more and more their elections to membership. They now afford membership to but a small proportion of the students. Following the expansion of the University, most of the functions of the literary societies inevitably were taken over by a variety of new agencies. On the literary side, the old need for the societies was replaced by class-room instruction in public speaking, in debating, in essay-writing, and in oral expression, while old-time "oratory" became extinct. The more serious work of the societies was assumed by departmental clubs, linguistic, literary, scientific, or technical. On the social side, to meet the needs of those wishing greater social opportunities, or special affiliations, arose the system of Greek-letter fraternities. These contrast with the literary societies in that their membership is limited to one sex. They now play a large part the undergraduate activities of all types. The first men's fraternity to announce its entry was Sigma chi, in January, 1883, followed by Phi Delta Theta in December of the same year. The first women's organization to enter was Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1884, followed by Delta Gamma in 1887. For many years after the introduction of the first fraternities there was strong rivalry, and what were long spoken of as "frat-barb" feuds often added zest to undergraduate politics. At one stage members of fraternities were barred from membership in the literary societies, and "Greeks" already within the societies were expelled. This rivalry has long since ended, as Greek-letter societies of all types, honorary as well as social, have multiplied; and many members of fraternities are enrolled at the present time as members of one, at least, of the literary societies. The two types of organizations afford different types of experiences, and while the function of the literary societies is now mainly social, their "co-educational" character enables them to fill a special and permanent place in undergraduate life and they continue flourish. The complaint is sometimes heard that there are too many student organizations on the
  • founded in 1882, and the P. G. D. C. (Palladian Girls' Debating Club), founded in 1884, soon followed by the organization of similar societies by the Unions, and later by the Delians. The old-time literary societies gave to their members valuable experience. Not only did they provide social diversion but they gave to the students almost their only training in conducting public meetings, in self-government, and in acquiring self-possession before an audience. The training which they afforded in practical politics assisted many a future leader, like A. W. Field, H. H. Wilson, United States Congressman Ernest Pollard, Governor George Sheldon, Regent E. P. Brown. A glance at old-time topics for debate shows that abstract question debated was (the original spelling retained): "Resolved That the Signs of the Times Indicate that We Are Advancing Moraly and Spiritualy." This type of question gave way later to subjects like "The Negro Question", "Foreign Immigration", "The Advisability of Adopting the Initiative and Referendum." A classic institution of the early literary society was the "slate," without which some young women might have had many invitations to attend meetings while others might have found themselves without escorts. The official "slate-bearer" passed about a small book listing the names of the girl members, to be duly "scratched" for Friday evening by the men members. Professor H. H. Wilson sometimes tells, when indulging in reminiscences, of a new recruit who furnished an example of polite correspondence. Having been urged by his professor of rhetoric to write with studied exactness, he asked a woman member "for the pleasure of her company to and from the Union society on next Friday evening." Not to be outdone in exactitude, she accepted his proffered escort "for the round trip." On leap-years the women members had their turn at carrying and "scratching" the slate and at extending invitations.