ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DARTMOUTH SECRETARIES' ASSOCIATION

The eleventh annual meeting of the Association of Secretaries was held in Hanover on the 19th and 20th of March. Through the hospitality of the College the various class and association secretaries are invited to be the guests of the College for the two days of this meeting. This year forty-two class secretaries or their representatives, and eleven association secretaries or their proxies were present at all the meetings of the Association. It is well to note that the number of secretaries at this year's meeting does not compare favorably in point of numbers with the attendance at the last three gatherings. One of the topics of discussion at the Saturday morning session regarding attendance probably found its source in the condition just mentioned.

The first session was called to order upon the arrival of the 4.32 train from New York and Boston in the Faculty Room of the Administration Building. While the delegates were registering and greeting friends, tea and sandwiches were served. After proceeding to the Roll Call, which showed fifty-three delegates present, the President, Walter S. Young '01, appointed the following committees.

Nominations: Samuel C. Beane '58, Dana M. Dustan '80, Arthur M. Strong '92.

Resolutions: Herbert D. Foster '85, Natt W. Emerson '00, Joshua B. Clark '11, W. M. Hatch '86, J. P. Richardson, '99.

Although the Friday afternoon gathering did not have any business scheduled, it was thought wise to move several matters forward from Saturday's session, as that seemed crowded.

After some discussion it was voted that it is the sense of the Association that it is desirable that all class officers be elected not for life but for a definnite term usually for a five-year period, being then eligible for re-election.

Secretary Knapp reported that the Secretaries' Manual would probably be ready for distribution in the next two or three weeks. It is the desire of the Manual committee that each class secretary take one copy of the Manual, and that each Association secretary take two copies, one for the president and one for the secretary. As far as could be estimated, since the number of pages is uncertain, the Manual will sell at $1 per copy.

Commenting on recent announcements in the press relative to the Bureau on Business Information which is being conducted in the office of the Secretary of the College, President Young asked Secretary Knapp to make a report to the secretaries of the work. Last year thirty-seven employment managers and representatives of business houses came to the College to secure men, and twenty-six men were successfully recommended. The various businesses were: manufacturing, brokerage, banking, insurance, transportation, publishing, advertising, commercial chemistry, placement bureau, and miscellaneous. Other colleges have taken up this service, and through the cooperation of their alumni and friends place a large number of men each year. The secretaries were asked to bring the work of the Bureau to the attention of the classes and associations, with the request that opportunities in business be passed on to the Bureau in order that it may reach the largest number of Dartmouth men.

Dr. Kingsford, secretary of the Medical Alumni Association, reported plans for a reunion at the time of next Dartmouth Night. He stated that a clinic would be held by graduates of the Medical School at the Mary Hitchcock Hospital at that time.

Because of the fact that graduates of other colleges are coming into prominence through their services in the European war, a request was made that the names of all Dartmouth men who were serving either as surgeons or physicians in any of the belligerent nations be sent to Melvin O. Adams of Boston. Mr. Adams will see that the names are brought to the attention of the public.

FRIDAY DINNER SESSION

After having adjourned the afternoon session at seven o'clock, the secretaries met in the great dining hall of College Hall at 7.30, where Manager Fairfield had prepared a very delicious dinner. The after-dinner speaking was presided over by President Young, of the Association, and a general summary of speeches at the dinner is given below.

To establish a college within a college, composed of those men who pursue four years of academic work with some definite and serious purpose in view, was the plan suggested by President Nichols. He mentioned the lack of courses in the curriculum which demanded from the students the greatest concentration of which they were capable, and proposed that a group of men be chosen from each class at the beginning of their sophomore year, to pursue during the following three years a prescribed course of study which would demand from them the best they could give and would turn them out better fitted to enter their life in the world.

Prof. F. H. Dixon stated that the college of today had been accused of not arriving. The first among the causes for this failure was the change hi the type of students from those who formerly came to college with some definite purpose in view to those blase youths who came today because they were sent. The second cause was the attitude prevailing in the graduate schools that any man could teach if he knew his subject. Three remedies are being applied to those conditions at Dartmouth, inter-departmental visiting, the changing of the grading system and the more practical application of the courses taught. He defined the duty of the College to be the establishment of a sympathetic relationship between the faculty and students and to open a road of independent thinking for the college graduate.

Prof. E. J. Bartlett '72, spoke next on the subject of "The Undergraduates." He based his remarks on the low value placed on the services of the college graduate in the business world, which condition he claimed should not exist to its present extent.

He outlined an imaginary visit to the College of a shrewd business man, unacquainted with college customs, and his opinions of some ways and customs of the College so familiar that they go unnoticed by lis. Among those things which the business man might comment upon are some personal habits, disregard of regulations not strictly enforced, waste of time, easy views of the rights of property and the rights of others, lack of intensity, uncertainty in engagements, the demoralizing effect of a cut system, and the notion that a good excuse equals a good performance.

Professor Bartlett explained that early training or lack of training our own bad methods and plain adolescence were responsible for these conditions but he did not atttempt to apportion the responsibility. He stated that he was an optimist, posing as a pessimist in order to be an optimist again.

C. B. Jordan, Jr., '15 spoke for the undergraduate body. He mentioned the frequent criticisms of the undergraduates by the alumni to the effect that the old Dartmouth democracy was being lost. Mr. Jordan pointed out that the democracy was of a different nature, but that it was essentially the democracy of opportunity, and that although the enthusiasm was arbitrarily expressed in a greater variety of ways than formerly because of the increased activities in the College, the old Dartmouth democracy and enthusiasm had grown rather than diminished.

SATURDAY MORNING SESSION

Mr. Minott A. Osborn,—"Yale Secretaries and Their Duties".

It is only fair to let you know that I am an imposter. I am not a Yale class secretary and I have nothing directly to do with Yale alumni organization. Mr. Embree, our energetic alumni registrar and the director of the Class Secretaries Bureau, ought to be here, but he was unable to come and he sent me, and I have very frankly admitted that I have no right to be here. However, I have talked with Mr. Embree and will endeavor to tell you something of the Yale Association.

Perhaps I am entitled to say something about the Yale alumni organization, because in my capacity as editor of the Yale Alumni Weekly I see the work of the class secretaries in its effects. Perhaps I am in apposition to Mr. Embree, too, because I am neutral.

Perhaps the best thing to do will be to give you in brief a general idea of alumni organization at New Haven, which has given us a tremendous asset for the University and for promoting the best interest of the University.

There are three general divisions of Yale alumni work. I shall speak of two of them which don't directly interest some of you gentlemen, but will some of you, because you are representatives of alumni organizations,—class interests, local interests, and special interests.

I will dismiss special interests by saying at Yale our special interests for alumni are chiefly publishing interests. We publish the Yale Alumni Weekly, and we find this year particularly that this doesn't give us enough issues to print all the matter which we want to publish. We publish also the YaleReview, one of the best quarterlies anywhere; and our interest also centers in a Collection of Elizabethan Literature.

We have eighty-six alumni organizations. Last year the New England Federation was formed and under its auspices the first Yale Alumni University Day was held last year, corresponding to Dartmouth Night. In 1904 President Hadley, at the suggestion of Secretary Stokes, presented in his annual report the suggestion for an Alumni Advisory Board which would give the alumni a certain part to play in the working out of the ideas of the university and in the actual administration to a certain extent. Some time before that the corporation had actually consisted of more non-Yale men than Yale men. But this new idea, of the Alumni Advisory Board was for the purpose of giving the alumni in sections of the country an opportunity to express their points of view on various phases of Yale life. Every association of one hundred members is entitled to one representative on the Alumni Advisory Board. The association of two hundred members or more is entitled to two representatives, and so on. These men meet annually at the Yale Commencement and they consider "problems which are presented to them in regard to the problems of the University and they present recommendations in their committees at Commencement time which have resulted in such moves as the institution of the honors system at Yale, the building of the Yale stadium, and the consideration of other matters of vital interest to the undergraduates and alumni.

The third division, which of course interests most of you gentlemen, is the organization according to classes. There we have perfected, I think, not as much as we hope to perfect in the course of time, but to quite a notable extent at this time, the system which brings the unit of the class into the actual working out of things, so that the class, through its secretary particularly, is made to play a very important part in the determination of the problems of the University. There are two hundred and thirty-nine class secretaries. They represent six departments of the University; two undergraduate departments, academic and Sheffield, and four professional schools, medicine, divinity, forestry, and law.

Yale Class Secretaries Bureau is a central location for all class interests. In the first place, any class secretary who wishes can have the expert assistance of the Bureau in compiling any class records or in sending out notices, and can have the machinery which is so necessary for all the class secretary's work.

The class books vary a great deal. I think there must be nearly six hundred by this time. The secretary publishes a senior class book, which, of course, is a resume of the four years in college. Anywhere from three to six years sees a second book, the first post-graduate book, and that prints a man's record up to date, has a report of the one-year reunion and the third reunion. These are followed by a book which is issued ten or twenty years out of college. Then there is the twenty-five year book. Then there is apt to be a book at forty-five years out, and, if the secretary still has a large enough class, which more and more have, there is a fifty year book. There is some criticism of the Class Secretaries' Bureau because of a tendency to destroy individuality. The Class Secretaries' Bureau is a tremendous help to men who might not otherwise be able to do the work of getting out class records, or even sending notices. The Class Secretaries Bureau keeps on file practically all the data concerning Yale men. Their filing system is of marvelous simplicity and effectiveness. As it has each man's record and picture filed in an envelope it will be of great service some day in looking up men who may come into prominence. I do not mean that the class secretary shifts all his work on to the Class Secretaries' Bureau, because that is not true. The Bureau also sends out obituary notices.

It is an impressive thing that of the twenty-five thousand odd alumni of Yale some of the livest men we have for some reason or other never finished their work at Yale. There are no finer men than some of the non-graduate members of institutions like Dartmouth or Yale. We have around eighteen thousand graduates and we have over six thousand non-graduates, and of these latter one thousand or more are lined up and doing work for the promotion of Yale interests.

The alumni fund agents, who form an association as the class secretaries do, should be identified with the class secretaries, not that they are identical, but the class secretary at Yale is an exofficio member on practically every committee of one or more men in the class organization. The Alumni Fund was started twenty-five years ago, in 1890, and last year, counting interest and legacies, there was over $1,000,000. The class agent cooperates with the class secretary and once a year he holds up his class in a circular letter. Without the alumni fund I don't see how Yale could go on doing business.

The Director of the Secretaries Bureau is on a salary from the University. His is an official university position. The offices are in the administration building so there is no rent to pay. The expense of the Bureau is from what the class secretaries pay for the work done. The charge is, I think, comparatively low.

Mr. Osborn's own class hopes at its twenty-fifth anniversary to realize $50,000.

When asked how they meet incidental expenses, Mr. Osborn said: I think the general custom now is for each member of the graduating class to make a contribution of at least $25. We keep a certain amount back for a working fund.

REUNIONS

E. H. Kenerson '03:

To prevent duplication on this, we have divided up the matter and I am going to speak briefly on two things that make the job of serving on the class committee for reunion rather a disagreeable one, and present some of the difficult problems. The first matter is the one of outside headquarters. That is a question that is hard to handle. Whatever your theories may be on the subject you are confronted with definite facts. To the men on the committee arranging for the third, fifth, and tenth year reunions it is a matter of interest, and if they don't act on it they can be certain that other members of the class will. It is a generally understood proposition in our own class that when we pass our tenth year reunion we will never have any headquarter other than at those assigned by the College. The general sentiment is to make the reunions a family party, to have a general class dinner and to have a family picnic. I personally thoroughly believe in it, and think that if the custom of bringing the wives continues there is less danger of the man saying, when the question of where the boy shall go to college, "Well, I wanted the boy to come back, but my wife wanted him to go to a place nearer home."

C. H. Donahue '99:

The reunion problem is to get themen back here and keep-them togetherwhen you get them here, because what aclass wants is for its individuals to knoweach other better. To know each other they start with four years in College and as the years go by they want to keep as much individual knowledge of each other as they can. This reunion time is a time for the class, not for other affairs. The time to begin preparations is also easily ascertained. It is when the class matriculates and enters college as freshmen. That is the time to begin to get ready for the twenty-five year reunion. You've got to begin early. As to actual beginning, we have a standing committee which, when one reunion ends, begins to work towards the next. I don't mean that they formulate full plans, but all the time they are talking over and working out things they are going to do. The actual work usually begins just following the Commencement preceding the reunion. By that time, plans having been talked over, it doesn't take long to get down to a working basis. In the early fall a postcard is sent out, with a reply card with it. Another way is to keep corrected addresses and to start with the men who say they are not coming. In the case of our last reunion, every man that didn't come got at least twelve letters on the subject and every man was personally seen by some man on the committee or some one in his vicinity who was coming. We pretty soon begin to draw up a schedule of events. We start at Boston on the train and go through the entire reunion time and again. Time and attention to detail is essential. We make up a budget, and it is interesting to note that a budget made up in December of last year called for $803. The actual disbursals were $805.26.

He compared the Secretaries' Association to an individual growing up, stating that he thought the Association has about grown up. Mr. Donahue then discussed at some length the fact that Class Secretaries who were inefficient or negligent should be removed from office. It was his belief that the Association should take some action in the matter of insisting that secretaries do their work or resign in favor of a competent man. He further said that people outside in other classes expect something like that to be done. And as an outsider that he would be very glad to see something like that done.

H. D. Foster '85 was the next speaker. He took up the class report, showing how the report may prepare the way for a reunion, although some of that ground had been already treated successfully by his predecessor. He said: "Personalize the reunion; make the report so far as possible a human document; get a reaction from just as many individuals as possible in that report. Ask the men in a personal manner, 'What do you want to come back to reunion for?' If those replies are printed in the class report you have a reaction from ten, twenty-five, fifty men. It at once sets to going in your mind the reason why you want to go. You get so many reasons you can hardly keep from coming at once, a year before the time. Of course the ordinary opinion is that you want to come back and see the old fellows that you knew twenty-five years ago. Now" these letters suggest old friendships, the best that come to a man's life, and he wants to renew them. Then also it suggests the things that have happened since, what the men are doing today, and you want to come and talk with Tom or Jack and know what success or what failures he has had. Here's a man who has led a quiet life and has been a country philosopher on a farm. Another man, for instance, writes that he is a teacher and has five children, some in college and some in school and he doesn't quite see his way clear to come." Mr. Foster spoke of having a fund to bring back those who could not afford to come otherwise. "Then men want to know the present condition of the College and they want to come back to see Hanover, return to Arcady in June. That is the case in a way and the spot appeals to men, as it should. Of course, as you get more and more to years of discretion the wives help to bring the husbands back. Then there is the second edition of every class, and that, I think, offers possibilities on very long lines. Now, if you can get the children interested it is a great thing, and I mean not only the sons. Some of the most interesting replies sometimes are from the children." Mr. Foster laid very great stress on this phase of getting the class interested in a reunion.

At this point, one of the secretaries spoke of getting increased interest in the cup, that the cup should be placed on exhibition somewhere and a notice posted showing the percentage of each class that had returned. It was voted that a committee of three, of which the Secretary of the College should be one, be appointed to investigate the matter and with power to act.

Cup Committee: Gray Knapp '12, C. C. Merrill '94, Maynard Teall '10.

The Committee on Resolutions then made the following report:

RESOLVED:

(1) In view of reports of offers to President Nichols of attractive opportunities in other institutions, the Dartmouth Secretaries' Association, recognizing his interest in their work and his devotion to the highest interests of the College, takes this occasion to pledge to the President its unqualified, loyal and continuing support of him m his administration of the College.

(2) In order that the Secretaries' Association may make _ the most effective use of the Secretaries Manual, that a committee of three be appointed to coöperate with all Class Secretaries to that end. It shall be the duty of this committee to study the work of each secretary and to confer with the various secretaries in the endeavor to secure uniformity of effort, greater enthusiasm and closer relation between each class organization and the College. It is suggested that this committee make a report of progress at the next Secretaries Meeting.

(3) The Secretaries' Association resolves, at this the first meeting for many years not attended by Horace G. Pender, that his presence and careful thoughtfulness in behalf of the College are distinctly missed, and, further, that the best wishes of the Association are hereby extended for his speedy return to health.

(4) The Association desires to place on record its sense of loss in the death of William H. Gardiner, secretary of the class of '76, to express its appreciation of his services to class and College, and to convey its sympathy to his family and class. For thirty-two years Gardiner issued annual reports that have been incentives and models to younger and less experienced secretaries His class he held together in loylty to themselves and the College. His own loyalty and patient and zealous endeavor have been lessons to his brother secretaries for which they record their gratitude.

A Committee on Efficient Cooperation was appointed, consisting of C. H. Donahue '99, E. H. Kenerson '03, Joshua B. Clark '11.

The Committee on Nominations then presented for action the following names : Walter S. Young '01, President; Alfred E. Watson '83, Vice-President; Gray Knapp '12, Secretary.

Executive Committee: William S. Dana '71 and E. H. Kenerson '03.

Member of the Alumni Council: J. P. McLane '07, for three-year term.

Editor of the Alumni Magazine: Homer E. Keyes '00.

Directing Editor Alumni Magazine E. F. Clark '01.

This report was accepted and the officers were unanimously elected.

Alumni Fund, Homer E. Keyes '00:

"The Tucker Fund was established in 1906, primarily with the object of getting a greater degree of scholarship aid. The fund continued from 1906 until the last year. For some reason the interest of the alumni in that fund, either because the' scope was too narrow or the presentation was not quite active enough, the Tucker Fund never realized any very considerable amount. In a period of eight years the total amount collected from the Tucker Fund was only a little over $30,000. The Alumni Council at their meeting last June decided that the Tucker Fund assets and property of all kind should be turned over to a committee constituting the Dartmouth College Alumni Fund on the Tucker Foundation. Now the scope of this fund is just as wide as the College needs. Its inclusion is just as large as the effort of the alumni. It is proposed as rapidly as possible to bring into one large unit all the forms of alumni activity in the interests of the College. There will be no attempt made to eliminate or to alter class funds already existing. If you will bear in mind that there are only eleven class funds out of all the classes that have graduated from College, you will see that any resulting confusion is likely to be slight. Class funds are to be deposited with the Treasurer of Dartmouth College for investment. We should like to see the amounts accumulated credited annually under this alumni fund. As to the income versus the endowment features of the fund I may say just this, it is becoming more and more imperative, we have already learned from Yale, that the College must depend for support to a considerable extent on alumni contribution. There is a comparatively small number of men graduated from any college who are in a position to give to the capital account of the college any considerable sum." (Here Mr. Keyes developed the point in regard to the need of the College for gifts whose use is unrestricted.) "What the College needs is what the majority of the graduates of the College are able to give,— income toward income. We hope and expect to develop a wide interest in the income features of the fund. Our friends of Yale contributed last year $104,000, and of that $104,000 somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000 was immediately spent for the interests of the college, and some $40,000 was carried over as principal. Money given toward the running expenses of the College is, after all, what is going to be needed more and more. It is a wise and generous and just form of expenditure that the alumni of the College be a part of its capital. Administration of the fund is through the alumni representatives themselves, that is, through the Alumni Council.

"The College normally runs from five to ten thousand dollars behind each year, because the College has been obliged to undertake certain construction which has been done by borrowing. If we could get rid of the principal of that indebtedness we should very nearly break even."

James P. Richardson '99 was called upon for a general report of the "Development of the Alumni Council". In summarizing the work of this body, Mr. Richardson said that a large part of the activity of the Council to date had been to survey the field of possible usefulness and get its bearing before making any definite move. This has been done through committees. He then gave an account of the effective work that Homer E. Keyes '00, Secretary of the Council, had been doing, particularly as it concerned the Alumni Fund Committee. The other committees that he mentioned were those on undergraduate affairs, alumni projects, and publicity. The committee on publicity is to publish a Dartmouth Primer which will give to friends interested in the College, as well as prospective students, information pertinent to the College.

The withdrawal of the College from the New England College Entrance Certificate Board was then discussed by Dean Laycock and others.

The miscellaneous business took the form of the following motions :

Voted: That the Dartmouth Secretaries Association extend to Mr. Minott A. Osborn, representing the Yale Secretaries Association, its sincere and hearty thanks for his kindness in coming to Hanover to explain to our Association the workings of the Yale Secretaries' Bureau and Association, and request him to carry the best wishes of the Dartmouth Secretaries' Association to the Yale Association.

Voted: To extend to the College the hearty thanks and appreciation of the Secretaries Association for its hospitality.

Voted: That the Dean of the College and the Secretary of the Secretaries' Association meet all undergraduate classes to inform them of the importance of the secretary's office and the kind of officer he should be.

Voted: That the Secretary be instructed to find out why those classes and associations not represented did not have a delegate present.

Probably the most interesting building in Dartmouth College today is the old Medical School Building. Half hidden behind an untutored growth of evergreens, its gaunt high-shouldered exterior has something sinister and forbidding about it. Add to this the paradoxical fact that its front is at its rear, and there is sufficient reason why the casual visitor passes it by—often rather hurriedly.

Yet the Medical Building is the only recitation hall in the College to retain anything of old time quality. On the first floor is the ancient lecture room much as it must have been more than a century ago. There are some disfigurements: steam pipes placed with regard only to convenience and not at all to appearance, ugly doors, and rather staring window sashes. A little judicious restoration would make it at once, dignified and beautiful. The central part of the floor above is occupied by the only room in the College dating earlier than 1900 which may be said to have any architectural significance. This is the two-story library and pathological museum, dating from 1871. The room was constructed out of funds provided through the generosity of E. W. Stoughton at that time a prosperous New York lawyer. To allow for it, the central portion of the earlier building of 1810, was torn out and its walls curved up to constitute a kind of dome or lantern, through whose windows light is admitted to the main room" and its gallery, which curves around all four sides about ten feet above the floor.

The woodwork, consisting of wall cases, gallery railing and mantel trim, is all of black walnut unusually well treated for the period. The decoration,—for this room was decorated- exhibits the tidy but erroneous classicism of the late Victorian Era. More than fifty years in passing, have left few blemishes upon the frescoer's work. It is mellowed, but virtually undimmed.

To the young futurist, his mind's eye full of straddling forms and hysterical colors, the place would necessarily seem hideously ugly; to the archaeologist its anachronisms would spell unqualified grief. Yet it has about it a wonderful dignity and charm, a quiet yet sturdy individuality that commands and wins respect.

When, recently, changes were made which caused the chief utilization of the room to be that of a library, additional book cages were required. To match the old-time walnut seemed quite impossible until the counters of the dismantled Savings Bank were thought of. These, carefully sawed and matched, furnished forth the material. Doctor Stewart made sketches after the cases already in use and the college carpenter shop turned out the perfect result.

In the room there are two disfiguring radiators, conspicuously situated. They should be removed or redecorated. A walnut reading table is needed to replace a bare-faced substitution of oak. Fortunately, most of the artificial lighting comes from concealed electric lamps, whose reflection from the dome envelopes the room with a soft glow. Given the two changes suggested, the' library would be quite perfect as an example of the architecture and decoration of 1871 at their best. And for this reason it should, and probably will be, maintained unaltered. And this not because the art of the seventies is recommended for emulation ; but because the spirit is worth of preservation. Doctor Peaslee may well be congratulated upon the transfer to which he gave consent.

Outwardly, the old Medical Building might be greatly improved by a judicious cutting of the trees that screen it. Its retiring front would be materially cheered by a slight architectural treatment of its three entrances. Some day, further, it will need to be brought into just relation with another building placed symmetrically to the Nathan Smith laboratory. As it is, it arouses interest. It might command admiration.

THE REMODELLED LIBRARY AND PATHOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN THE MEDICAL SCHOOL

Report made by Gray Knapp '12, Secretary of the Association