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132
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Transcription
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JAMES HULME CANFIELD
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 1891-1895
It is related that Themistocles once excused himself from participating in the gayety of a feast, but declared that though unable to sing a song or tune the lyre, he could take a poor and mean city and make it rich and famous. He had in mind the phenomenal prosperity of Athens after the Persian wars, and in part, at least, his boast was true; for during his lifetime and largely through his counsel the insignificant Attic town rose from her ruins to be the mistress of Greece.
So far as such results can be compassed by one man, an analogous success attended Chancellor Canfield's efforts when he set about to transform a local institution of small reputation into a great university. And the parallel between him and the Athenian statesman further holds in the untoward conditions under which this transformation was achieved. The outlook in the early '90's, when the new chancellor assumed charge, was far from roseate. The industries of the country at large were prostrate and hard times were general. In addition, Nebraska was suffering from a series of drouths; farmers were in debt; prices were low; trade languished. What chance for growth and expansion in those years of depression! Nevertheless the University did grow and expand, and so marked were the changes wrought, so great the accession of students, so enlarged the scope and reputation of the University under the leadership of Dr. Canfield that the four years of his administration truly marked the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the institution.
That he was a man of inexhaustible energy and a tire-less worker is the testimony of all who knew him. It was chiefly this dynamic quality of his mind that enabled him to surmount the difficulties of the times. He possessed in exceptional measure many of the best characteristics of a successful man of business,—prompt initiative, organizing ability, habits of order and precision, power to grasp large
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