THE PRESIDENT'S TRIP TO THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS

BEFORE speaking of my recent trip among the alumni, I wish to refer to the reports which have been made at this conference. They are representative of the work which is going on in the various departments of the administration of the College. My position gives me the advantage of being able to see clearly and, therefore, to appreciate the quality of this work. I refer to it now not simply to express the personal satisfaction which I take in the cooperation of those with whom I am associated in the daily administration of the College, but also to express my appreciation of the pleasure which I derive from being able to see work of this kind going on, work characterized by so much independent invention and skill and sagacity.

I have just returned from a somewhat extended trip among the alumni, having visited in immediate succession the alumni at Chicago, Minneapolis and St, Paul, Omaha, Denver, St. Louis, Washington, and Pittsburg. The meetings in New York and Boston had been held earlier in the year. I had three objects in view in this more general visitation.

First, I desired to put before the alumni clearly, and with the authority of the Trustees, the educational and financial policy of the College. The growth of the College in numbers (the enrollment of the past year in the College proper having exceeded a thousand), had awakened some question among the alumni in regard to the plans of the Trustees. Was this growth to be understood as a well matured policy for the development of the College, or as an undefined tendency toward a university? I endeavored to make clear to the alumni whom I met, the fact that the Trustees were not allowing the College to move or drift toward a university, but that they were assuming the responsibility for the development of the larger in place of the smaller college. At the meeting of the Trustees held in Concord, December 21, 1906, the following resolutions were adopted, after full discussion:

Voted: "That in the judgment of the Board, the numerical growth of the College is in no sense inconsistent with the definite policy of developing the College as a college, rather than with a view to its becoming a university."

Voted: further, "That it is the purpose of the Board, both in its educational and financial policy, to provide, so far as possible, for the natural growth of the College."

The adoption of these resolutions had been preceded by a report of the President on the educational policy of the College and also by investigation and discussion at previous meetings. The educational policy of the Trustees then may be understood to be that of accepting the responsibility of abiding by the fortune of the college in distinction from attempting to enter the sphere of the university, but that in accepting the fortune of the college it accepts it in its completeness. Under the educational demands of a growing democracy, colleges must be duplicated at a very great cost, or those existing must be allowed to grow: otherwise, our colleges cease to be democratic. They must disconnect themselves, that is, from the public school system and also from the average family life of the communities which they represent. In the growth of Dartmouth nothing has as yet occurred to modify its democratic spirit. In setting forth this policy of the Trustees, I endeavored to explain to the alumni what, in our judgment, is the function of the large college, in connection with and in distinction from that of the small college, the technical school, and the university.

In like manner, I endeavored to explain the financial policy of the Trustees in the more recent management of the College, showing that it had been their policy to utilize to the utmost all existing resources. It had been a development from within outward. A large college plant had been virtually created, having a distinct earning power. Through this agency the earning power of the College, as represented in tuition, had increased within the past twelve years from something under twenty thousand to about one hundred thousand. It is worthy of notice, in consistency with this policy, that the greater gifts to the College within this period have been unsolicited. The Wentworth fund (an inheritance which became available in 1897), the Butterfield fund, the second half of the Fayerweather, the Wilder, and more especially the Tuck fund were the unsolicited gifts of the donors. The annual appropriation from the state of New Hampshire to the amount of $20,000 was secured through the recognition by successive legislatures of the principle that the State of New Hampshire ought to return to the College a part, at least, of what it costs to educate New Hampshire students over and above any receipts from tuition or from scholarships. "The New Dartmouth Building Fund," occasioned by the burning of Dartmouth-Hall, represented the natural offering of the alumni in the hour of College disaster. The movement inaugurated by Mr. Hilton, after the method of Yale and Princeton, allowing the alumni to take part naturally in contributing to some special need of the College, expresses that appropriate and helpful interest which the alumni may take in the College quite within the limits of personal sacrifice. If by this movement the College can be relieved of an annual deficiency at the expense of other departments, caused by the drafts upon the general fund for scholarship aid, very much will be accomplished both for necessitous students and for the College at large. I was glad to be able to say that under this financial policy the College has reached the position where by close economy it can meet its annual expenses, though it cannot, as yet, meet the just demands upon it in the matter of the salaries of professors, in the increase of the library, and in the enlargement of certain departments of instruction.

In setting forth this policy, I did not decry the proper solicitation of funds. I have no hesitancy, personally, in presenting the needs of the College to those who have reason to be interested in its progress: first, to the alumni themselves, who may have the means for substantial gifts, and afterward to those who, for various reasons, have vital interests in the College and in some sense responsibilities toward it. But I wish to have it understood that the Trustees felt, from the outset, that Dartmouth in its financial policy, as in other regards, must be characterized by a self-respecting independence; that the initiative must come from within, even to the degree of sacrifice, and that the increase, through outward agencies and benefactions, can be natural and healthful only as the principle of self-reliance and self-development can be maintained.

The second object, which I had in view in this more extended trip among the alumni, was to acquaint myself with the distribution and work of the younger alumni. I called the attention of the alumni to two facts brought out in the Supplement to the General Catalogue giving the names and addresses, so far as possible, of the living alumni: first, the fact that rather more than one-half of the living alumni are graduates of the past twenty years : and second, that in the thirty years preceding 1900, the per cent of the alumni entering business in some form, rather than the older professions, had increased from ten to thirty-six. I found, as a result of these two facts, that the increase of the alumni was at the great centers,or at the newly created centers like Pittsburg. The increase in the number of younger alumni is most marked in New York, Chicago, Denver, and though very recent, surprisingly great in St. Louis and Pittsburg. In the two cities last mentioned, the number of young alumni resident, or connnected with business houses in those cities, was a surprise even to more observant Dartmouth men who had been longer in residence. One result of the discovery, in each case, was the arrangement of monthly meetings, through a lunch club, of Dartmouth graduates. In several cases, men are able to keep up their old College associations by rooming together, or in the same neighborhood. The more informal club meeting, as at the Mansfield in New York, which allows graduates to come together frequently and which brings them all together on all interesting occasions, is a most happy and helpful contribution to the social life of the more recent graduates.

The third object, which I had in view, was to determine the security and the breadth of the more recent constituencies of the College outside of New England. The growth of the College has come about through the development of old constituencies and the taking on of new constituencies. Dartmouth is more a New Hampshire College than it ever was. The number of New Hampshire students in Dartmouth at any given time in the decade of the 80's ranged from 109 to 141; in the decade of the 90's from 103 to 188; and thus far in the present decade from 190 to 222.

The number of Massachusetts students in Dartmouth at any given time in the decade of the 80's ranged from 41 to 55; in the decade of the 90's from 46 to 239; and thus far in the present decade from 259 to 477.

The number of New York students in Dartmouth at any given time in the decade of the 80's ranged from 10 to 15; in the decade of the 90's from 28 to 46; and thus far in the present decade from 46 to 72.

The number of students from the West, in Dartmouth at any given time in the decade of the 80's ranged from 18 to 26; in the decade of the 90's from 19 to 47; and thus far in the present decade from 45 to 143.

It will be seen from these statistics that while the growth of the College has in no way been at the expense of the older sources, its increase is due in no small measure to the opening or enlarging of the newer sources.

The constituency of a college is most securely entrenched in the family life of the communities which it represents. At first the schools send students individually or in small groups. A nucleus of undergraduate interest is thus formed. Gradually, if the growth is permanent, a social interest is developed. Families become related to one another socially through mutual interest in the College. The College is discussed in social circles, and men in business or in the professions advise one another in regard to placing their sons. I find that outside New England and New York, where the fact was already evident, Dartmouth has reached this stage of development in a conspicuous degree in Chicago and to a considerable degree in Denver, and that tendencies in this direction are marked in certain other localities. I have often said to the alumni that to nationalize a college is to individualize its students. The contact of men coming from unrelated communities tends to individuality. It is a stimulus to various kinds of leadership. In this respect, therefore, as in many others, I rejoice in the spread of the constituency of the College, counting it of great advantage, not only to the College, but so far as its influence goes, to the Republic, that its students should represent various localities and various types of power.

Naturally a certain kind of interest in the College increases with the increased separation of the alumni in time and distance from the College; but as I found upon this trip, enthusiasm is not a matter of locality. The alumni of Boston, New York, and Washington were never more enthusiastic than at their recent meetings. I judge from reports that the same enthusiasm characterized gatherings of alumni at Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, and Claremont, and at other places where the alumni of a neighborhood have begun to come together under the contagion of the general enthusiasm. And a like enthusiasm is evident in associations like Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Omaha, where the younger alumni are not so plentiful. The Dartmouth spirit is the same whatever may be the form of its expression,. or whatever may be the decade of graduates which brings its own contribution of song and story to the annual or monthly meeting of the alumni.

*The remarks of President Tucker atthe meeting of the secretaries.