THE AMOS TUCK ENDOWMENT FUND*
The Amos Tuck Endowment Fund, the gift of Mr. Edward Tuck of Paris, of the class of 1862, is of .peculiar interest from several points of view.
It was the free and unsolicited gift of Mr. Tuck, who first announced his intention to the President of the College on occasion of a personal visit with Mr. Tuck in Paris in the spring of 1899. Though a resident abroad for many years, Mr. Tuck had kept in close relation with all matters of interest to him in this country. It is one of his marked characteristics that he never loses sight of a friend. The College had always held a place in his affection, waiting only, as it appeared, the fitting opportunity for some generous expression of his loyalty. The letter of gift, though a clear business statement, betrays the deep sentiment of the donor.
It was the gift of a son in honor of the memory of his father. The identification of the father, the Honorable Amos Tuck, with the College as graduate in the class of 1835 and as Trustee from 1857 to 1866 made the memorial at Dartmouth most fitting. But a memorial to Amos Tuck could not have been out of place anywhere within the range of his conspicuous career. At the bar, in congress, as a man of affairs, his integrity, and courage, and devotion made him one of the leaders of his time. There are few instances in the . political history of the country of such a combination of sagacity and heroism as Mr. Tuck displayed in his position at the political opening of the Anti-slavery Struggle. He is entitled to distinct recognition as one of the real founders of the Republican party.
The gift of Mr. Tuck was in its terms a marked example of financial sagacity. The gift was made in the securities of the Great Northern Railway Company and upon condition that the Trustees should not change the securities during the lifetime of the donor without his consent. The financial history of the endowment has been as follows:
The original gift of Mr. Tuck was 1700 shares of the preferred stock of the Great Northern Railway Company, given in September 1899, and valued at $300,000.
By taking advantage of the rights connected with the increase of the capital stock of the company, within a year the holding was increased by seventy shares without any cash expenditure.
In May 1901, by a similar process, the shares were increased by 230,making at this time a total of 2000 shares.
In August 1901 Mr. Tuck gave 500 shares more, valued at $75,000 for erecting, equipping and maintaining a building suited to the uses of the Tuck School.''
In November 1901 the 2000 shares of the Great Northern Railway Co. were exchanged for 3610 shares of the Northern Securities Co. and the 500 shares belonging to the Building Fund for 900 of the new shares.
For the construction of the Tuck Building 850 shares of the Northern Securities Co. stock were sold in February 1905, netting $127,393.76.
Upon the dissolution of the Northern Securities Co. in April 1905, the 3660 shares were exchanged for 1092 shares of the Great Northern Railway Co., 1422 shares of the Northern Pacific Railway Co., and 37 shares of Northern Securities Co. Stubs.
In July 1905, on account of the large increase in the market value of the securities, their value on the books was placed at $500,000 distributed as follows: Great Northern $269,000; Northern Pacific $224,000; Northern Securities Stubs $7000.
The next change took place in December 1905, when an increase in the capital stock, in the Great Northern, brought the total holding in that company up to 1230 shares.
At the time of the distribution of the Great Northern Iron Ore Properties in 1906, each share of the Great Northern Railway Co. received one share in the fund, thus receiving 1230 shares of this stock.
Lastly, the increase in the capital stock of the Great Northern Railway Co. gave an additional 167 shares in 1907, bringing the total holding up to 1397 shares in this company.
The Northern Pacific Railway Co. voted an increase of their capital stock in 1907, and the installments thereon have been paid as they fell due, but the final adjustment has not been made as yet. When completed it will result in a substantial increase in the number of shares owned in this company.
The endowment has yielded the following annual income;
1900 $ 9,047 (3 quarters) 1901 13,363 1902 16,457 1903 19,133 1904 15,194 1905 21,997 1906 18,090
The endowment fund which Mr. Tuck created was definitely applied to the purposes of instruction,— "first and. principally to the maintenance of the salaries of the President and faculty; second and in minor part to the maintenance and increase of the College library." More specifically the donor added, 'Tt is my expectation that the present and future Trustees will apply a portion of the income to the increase of existing salaries whenever the best interests of the College demand it, and a portion to the salaries of additional professorships which may in the future be established in the College proper or in post graduate departments should such be added at any time to the regular College course."
In the earliest votes of the Trustees (Jan. 19, 1900) folllowing the receipt of the fund, the intentions of Mr. Tuck were carried out at two points: "Voted, that in accordance with the provision made by the Amos Tuck Endowment Fund an advance of $200 be made in the salary of each and all full professors in the academic department of the College at the beginning of the academic year 1900-1901." "Voted, that a sum not exceeding $4000 be appropriated this year from the accumulated income of the Tuck Fund to make up deficiencies in the library, this being in addition to the sum already voted."
It has not been practicable to vote an annual sum from the Tuck Fund for the increase of the library, but the annual charge upon the Tuck Fund for the increase of salaries begun in 1901 was doubled by the action of the Trustees in May, 1907, adding two hundred dollars again to. the salaries of all professors in the academic department of the College, who had been for the past five years in the service of the College, making the annual charge for the increase of salaries now resting on the Tuck Fund $8000.
The carrying out of the further intention of Mr. Tuck as stated in his letter of instructions — namely that the Trustees should apply "a portion also to the salaries of additional professorships which may in the future be established in the College proper or in post-graduate departments should such be added at any time to the College course" - required more careful consideration.
The various departments of the old curriculum — the Ancient Languages, English, Mathematics, Philosophy and Political Science, were fully recognized and each member of the group was partially endowed. The scientific departments were also partially endowed, while their efficiency had been greatly increased by the Butterfield and Wilder funds.
There remained a group of departments, each one of which was struggling to gain full recognition for which no permanent provision had been made, History, Economics, and the Modern Foreign Languages. In the further use of the income of the Tuck Fund the attention of the Trustees was naturally turned toward this group. At the same time their attention was arrested by the fact that a largely increasing number of the graduates of the College was entering the more influential kinds of business, banking, foreign commerce, and the like, but without any preparation comparable with that through which others were passing into the professions. This situation, of serious import to the College, as it appeared to the Trustees, was put before Mr. Tuck. Advanced courses of study, especially in economics, which might: give in part the preparation called for, were' outlined. The example of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering was adduced as an illustration of what could be done to give professional standing to a hitherto unrecognized kind of work. The proposal was made looking to the establishment on similar lines of the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance. To this proposal Mr. Tuck replied by cable, "Fully approve proposed action at all points," and in a letter following under date of Dec. 29, 1899, he added byway of confirmation, — "The establishment of the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance has my full approval. The statement which you make of its purpose and scope is clear and convincing. I believe it to be in the line of modern educational requirements and I shall be glad to see your plan put into effect."
A year and a half later Mr. Tuck made an additional contribution to the Amos Tuck Endowment Fund for a building, in the terms stated in the following extract from a letter dated Aug. 9, 1901.
"In accordance with our verba] understanding of April last (at an interview in Boston), I am now sending you certificate for five hundred shares, preferred stock of the Great Northern Railway Company of Minnesota, registered in the name of 'The Trustees of Dartmouth College,' to be added to the 'Amos Tuck Endowment Fund.'
"The purpose of this donation is to supply the necessary means for erecting, equipping and maintaining a building suited to the uses of the Tuck School of Administration and Finance, and incidentally for the accommodation of such other kindred departments of the College as the Trustees may deem wise and appropriate.''
The original endowment fund carried upon the treasurer's book at $500,000 remains intact and is increasing in rvalue. The fund out of which the Tuck Building was erected, amounting to about $135,000, was a separate gift for this specific purpose. The building as now occupied serves in about equal measure the uses of the Tuck School and of "other kindred departments."
The present direct annual charge of the Tuck School upon the salary account is about $7,000, of which an increasing part is met by tuition. The remaining income from the Tuck Fund is applied to departments for which no other financial provision, apart from tuition, has been made.
The Amos Tuck Endowment Fund, when considered in the light of the motives which prompted it, in the steady increase of its financial values, and in the timeliness of its application to the development of the College, is unique in the history of the benefactions to Dartmouth.
*This is the first of a series of authorized statements which the BI-MONTHLY will publish during the year, having to do with the resources and expenditures of the College,
