ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DARTMOUTH SECRETARIES ASSOCIATION

The twelfth annual meeting of the Dartmouth Secretaries Association was held in Hanover on March 10th and 11th. Through the hospitality of the College the various class and association secretaries were invited to be the guests of the College for the two days of its meeting. There were present forty-three class secretaries or their representatives, and eleven association secretaries.

Following the custom of the Association, the first session was called to order at five-thirty in the Faculty Room of the Administration Building, March 10th. President Walter S. Young '01, then appointed the following committees :-

Nominations: William M. Hatch '86, Luther B. Little '82, Herbert W. Blake '98.

Resolutions: Charles F. Emerson '68, Natt W. Emerson '00, D. A. Hausmann '03.

E. F. Clark, Managing Editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, made a brief report on the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, emphasizing particularly that THE MAGAZINE was not receiving enough communications from the alumni on various topics, and that the management desired members of the alumni body to use the columns of THE MAGAZINE for comment on and discussion of matters of alumni interest. Morton C. Tuttle spoke on the question of liquor at Commencement reunions, stating that the attitude of the Alumni Council was opposed to its use during this period. The Association voted to refer the matter to the Committee on Resolutions.

It was voted a subscription be opened for the Secretaries Manual, and that if necessary a collection be taken up in Saturday morning's session to cover any possible deficit remaining.

It was further voted that the Secretaries Association favor standardization of the form of class records.

The afternoon session was then adjourned until dinner at seven-thirty in the Commons.

FRIDAY EVENING

After a delectable dinner which had been prepared by Manager Fairfield, Mr. Young, the President of the Association, introduced President Nichols, who was given a royal reception. Emphasizing the fact that one of the primary values of the Secretaries meeting arises out of the opportunity to see the College in operation so that each secretary may carry back a better view and opinion of what was happening, President Nichols commented on the policy of the College toward secondary schools.. He also mentioned the work that the College is doing in assisting underclassmen to find summer work and seniors to find permanent jobs. In the matter of assisting underclassmen and seniors to find employment, as well as in the relationship of the College toward secondary schools, the alumni can be of great service, and their sympathetic assistance is anticipated.

Doctor Bolser was then called upon as President of the Athletic Council, to discuss the football schedule. He also discussed the educational aspect of athletics, how the length of schedules affect classroom work, showing that the Council was regulating the length of schedules with places where games were being played in such a way as to allow minimum absence from classroom work.

President Young of the Association then called on Mr. E. C. Ward, the senior officer of the Dartmouth Battalion, to explain to the secretaries the work that the Battalion was doing. He said that seventeen percent of the men in the College belonged to the Battalion. This group is operating in two sections, one three days a week in the afternoon, and one three evenings a week. He further showed that the interest of the men enlisted was increasing, and that the morale and discipline depending as it does upon the good will of the men, was excellent.

Professor Lingley, Secretary of the Board of Advisors, was the next speaker. (An exposition of the Advisory System written by Professor Lingley appears in this issue, so no digest of his remarks is given here.)

Dean Laycock as the last speaker, summed up in a comprehensive way President Nichols' administration, showing that the development of the personal relationship between the faculty and the undergraduates was one of the outstanding features of it. In three other periods only has the College increased in numbers to equal the increase of the last seven years. The salaries of full professors in that period have increased $600. The plant and endowment of the College have increased $1,700,000. Aside from dormitory additions, the erection of the Gymnasium has made possible greater athletic activity for the whole College, the erection of Parkhurst Hall concentrated more effectively the business and administrative functions of the College, and the erection of Robinson Hall, gives proper emphasis to the activities other than athletic.

Throughout the various parts of the college organism the last seven years have been a period of consolidation and progress from the committee organization of the Trustees to the closely personal touch in the advisory system and the work of the class officer.

SATURDAY MORNING

The session was called to order at eight-thirty by the President. Secretary Knapp read the following letter from Doctor Tucker:

I thank you for reminding me of the annual meeting of the secretaries. As you kindly ask me for a personal word, I am happy to be able to respond in this way in view of my enforced absence from the meeting.

I have read with very much interest the preliminary report of the Committee on Cooperation. It measures the growth of the Association in its own consciousness, as well as in general effectiveness. I think that we must go back to the administration of Dr. Nathan Lord for a word to express the present outlook of the Association. The word of that date was "scope". One is quite amazed at the variety and the real magnitude of the objects which the Association has before it. It seems altogether desirable to standardize most of these objects, but I assume that the process will stop short of an attempt to standardize the secretaries. When we get a divinely appointed secretary we must give him the freedom of his commission. Following the analogy of other historical ventures I suspect that the historic fate of the classes will depend very largely on the man who tells the story. Not a little of the influence of the class secretary is made evident in his power to draw out the members of the class at their best. In this respect I note a constant gain in the class reports—more sense, more wit, more point, more personal distinction. I anticipate a great enrichment of the college library through the increasing value of these human documents.

In regard to matters of general college concern I believe that the Association has already reached a position of large influence, and that it will be found to be one of the strongest, wisest, and most discerning of the agencies at work for the future of Dartmouth. .

I am, with best wishes for the present meeting, Cordially yours, W. J. TUCKER

The Association voted to extend its cordial best wishes to Doctor Tucker.

The report on the outcome of the subscription showed the purchase of seventeen Manuals. As a deficit still remained, Edwin A. Bayley of 85 was delegated to pass the hat. A collection amounting to $49.50 was made. The Secretary was then instructed to pay all bills of the Association. When this is done a cash balance of $18.75 will be deposited in the Dartmouth Savings Bank. .

The Committee on Resolutions then made the following report which was unanimously passed:

RESOLVED :

1. That the Secretaries Association express to the College its appreciation of the hospitality extended to it once again at its annual gathering.

2. That it is the sentiment of the Secretaries Association that the use of alcoholic beverages at Commencement be in every way discouraged.

3. Recognizing the great interest Dr. Nichols has always shown in the Secretaries meeting, the Dartmouth Secretaries Association desires to express its keen appreciation of his sympathy and cooperation which has contributed so largely to the enthusiasm and success of its meetings.

4. That the Secretaries Association extend to the Rev. Samuel C. Beane of the Class of '58 its sincere regret that illness has interfered this year with his almost constant attendance at the Annual Meetings. We hope for his speedy recovery to health.

5. The Secretaries Association recommend that a uniform size be adopted for all class reports. The type page shall be 4" x 6" 3/8 and the pages shall be cut to bind 8" 13/16 x 5 7/8, this being the size of the General Catalogue of the College.

The financial report of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, prepared by W. R. Gray '03, was presented. It showed a more favorable condition in the finances than for some years back and a net gain in subscribers of 117 in a total subscription list of 1103.

Homer E. Keyes '00, Secretary of the Alumni Association on a Bureau of the Alumni was the first speaker on the program:

The work of keeping records of alumni is in its infancy. At the meeting of the Alumni Association two years ago it was voted that subject to the authority of the Executive Committee the Secretary might be empowered to extend his clerical assistance and secure better apparatus in order better to take care of the list of the alumni and records of alumni performances. In conformity with that authorization we have supplied ourselves with sufficient filing apparatus for the present at least, and Mr Parkhurst has very generously provided funds for fitting up a small room in this building, and there we are beginning to open up an alumni file that will have at hand at all times data concerning the Alumni of the College, and which, furthermore, will maintain a completely correct address list. There are altogether about 5,000 names among the alumni of the College. We are opening, also, a document file, m which we propose to devote to each alumnus of the College a folder and in which may be placed concerning him, letters, newspaper clippings, documents of one kind or another. Class secretaries can obtain from me addressed envelopes with the names of the members of their class. It will not include non-graduates, but will include a complete list of graduates of the class. It can be provided ordinarily during the year at short notice.

Now as to the progress of the Alumni Fund as being carried on through the committee of the Council. The reports for last year have gone out and I am inclined to believe now that the philosophy of the fund is pretty thoroughly understood by alumni of the country. The difficulty which the Fund Committee is now encountering is something that secretaries can assist to overcome. In order to carry on a work of this kind with any degree of success it is necessary that class secretaries assume for one year, at least, the responsibility of seeing that classmates are brought more closely into touch with the movement than by generalization of committee of which Mr. Howland is chairman.

The Committee believes that this year the Alumni Fund will show in numbers and amounts more interesting results than last year. There is no way in which the Dartmouth Alumni can show more loyalty than through the medium of this simple fund which, after all, calls for something from your income to the income of the college, it calls for sacrifice but not for strain. If we could average $5 from each alumni of the College, Dartmouth would be just as well off as if endowment had been increased $500,000. We are preparing now a little . manual for class events which will bring points to bear a little more strongly. But at present I now ask cooperation to carry on the work which has just begun.

The Committee on Cooperation then reported through its chairman, C. H. Donahue '99: The Committee on Cooperation wasted a good deal of time in that we were unable to find what a committee on cooperation was. We finally found the man who made the appointments. He thought it was a committee on investigation, and that was a little bit easier. We learned what the duties were. The first duty was to take a great deal of time, second to make trouble, and third to make some figures. The figures in the last ALUMNI MAGAZINE are only a small part of our report. We figured that the secretary of a class at Dartmouth has about the best chance to do something for Dartmouth that anybody can have. We figure that every man can't do the job. A peculiar kind of man will make the best secretary. We finally decided that the only way we could be of any assistance to the Association would be byway of comparison by collecting figures showing activities along certain lines and allowing them to speak their own lesson, for after all if one secretary issues seventy-eight pages of class reports per year out of college and another issues four, they can't be both right on the theory they are working on. Whatever the lesson is I should imagine the benefit would be largely gotten by the secretary himself. If it is a good thing for the class of 1876 to issue a report every year out of college, it would be a natural query whether it would be a good thing for the class who has only issued one report, — whether they might not with advantage get out another report.

The trouble, we think, with secretary work in the past is that every man has been solving his own problems all alone. They all start in full of enthusiasm, but wear out under the great amount of work there. If there were some way to perpetuate the groans and sighs of secretaries that had gone before, it would help present secretaries. There has been no place where they could turn to learn the abcs of the profession. We have decided that we haven't done anything to help that, but we think we are on the trail to gather data for that purpose.

The report that was issued in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE does not require any particular comment. It seemed to us that in point of view of attendance that some classes might have a better record, that is, if they did not attend personally they might attend by proxy.

The Committee thinks that it is the duty of this Association to take care of the files of the class reports at the college library, that these are invaluable data for the future, and that classes are neglectful in not seeing to it that files are complete. I know of no more valuable records of the lives of alumni than found in those reports, and if you had a good set of class reports of Daniel Webster's class, of facts from classmates of his, we would know him better. A future historian of the College would have a right to expect that those files be kept completed.

The committee feels that the matter of non-graduates is one which this Association ought to give attention. This is the age of efficiency. We have some material that we have not developed as much as we should. Some of our most loyal men are non-graduates. The fact that they left college does not make much difference in their usefulness. It seems to us that their status ought to be fixed. There may be objections against making no distinction in printed lists. The College may feel that distinction should be made, but there is no other reason why they should not be treated like the rest of us.

That question settled would help secretaries. The secretary has something to do with a soul. The secretaries are the priests and ministers of the people. They work quietly. Their work is work of service. And so in this personal matter of work with non-graduates we feel that it is something the secretaries ought to undertake.

Professor J. L. McConaughy

The "new admission scheme" of Dartmouth College is not an admission scheme at all. No change has been made in the method by which an individual boy comes to Dartmouth College: either by examinations or by presenting a certificate from a principal in an approved school. The innovation is in the method of selecting the school which shall be approved. Dartmouth, now does this herself; she has done away with the middleman. We hope to get in personal touch with practically every school sending any large number of men to Dartmouth; we wish to show the principals of these schools that ours is a distinctive institution welcoming only a special kind of boy. Recent statistics show that about thirteen per cent of all the boys who are admitted to Dartmouth have to be dropped for scholarship difficulties. Our problem is to decrease this percentage; this can be done by hindering the admission to Dartmouth of the boy who is incompetent or not anxious for the Dartmouth type of education, and by demonstrating to principals the unfairness to all concerned in certifying a boy as fitted for Dartmouth unless he has really superior ability. The scheme does not mean lower standards; it is not an attempt to increase the size of the College. Insinuations were made recently in a prominent New England academy to the effect that Dartmouth's examinations were very easy to pass, that boys were admitted by examination who were incompetent. An investigation of this criticism gave some interesting information. Taking all the students in the present Freshman Class who entered by passing an examination in a subject which was continued during the first semester of the freshman year we find:

Subjects College Failures Percentage Passed in these Subjects of Failures Dartmouth Exam- inations 72 2 2.7 College Board Examinations 90 5 5.5 Entrance Examinations of Other Colleges 130 17 13.0

This seems to clearly demonstrate that Dartmouth examinations are hard enough to test a boy's ability to do college work.

Much has already been accompished in carrying out this new plan of getting in personal touch with the schools which send us boys, thus carrying out the business principle of uniting producer and consumer. By the end of this college year practically every school in New Hampshire and Vermont that has sent to Dartmouth three or more students since 1912 will have had a personal visit from some member of the Dartmouth Faculty. Many schools in other states have also been visited, making a total of nearly one hundred. Over twenty of these visits were made by members of the Faculty; this personal touch with secondary school problems and methods should be of value to the Faculty in helping us solve college problems and problems connected with bridging over the gap between school and college.

It has been felt that the most important field for cultivation this first year was our own New Hampshire schools. During the past years Dartmouth has presented an astonishing growth in numbers. It must be realized, however, that this growth has not come from schools in New Hampshire. Although the number of boys going to college from this state has greatly increased, the number coming to Dartmouth has not increased. This is to be regretted from many standpoints ; Dartmouth has been and always will be the College of New Hampshire; the New Hampshire boys who have come to Dartmouth have greater average intellectual ability than the boys from other states. The percentage of New Hampshire boys entering the class of 1904 was 28.4, of 1919, 13.6; the number has remained almost stationary, a little over fifty. There has been a very large increase in the number of boys from New Hampshire schools going to the State College at Durham and to Harvard. Apparently about two hundred and thirty boys from New Hampshire schools go to college each year, distributed about as follows: New Hampshire State, sixty-five; Dartmouth, fifty; Maine colleges, twenty-five; Vermont colleges, twenty; Harvard, fifteen; M. I. T., ten. There are, however, evidences of an increased interest in Dartmouth among New Hampshire school boys. Since , the new method of selecting approved schools was inaugurated, thirteen New Hampshire schools have for the first time come in direct touch with College; four, which have not sent pupils to Dartmouth for years, are now applying for the certificate right. There are only a few schools in the state that could adequately prepare boys for Dartmouth which are not now in personal touch with the College .

The alumni can cooperate helpfully, first, by seriously considering what the function of Dartmouth College is, how large the College should be, and what sort of boy should come to Dartmouth. Some of us are beginning to believe that the ideal Dartmouth will have only about 1500 students, that Dartmouth must pick and choose among prospective students more carefully in the future, that the Dartmouth man must be selected. In the solution of all of these problems, the thoughtful consideration and advice of the alumni are needed. If the College tell a principal that only a boy able to do college work of a high standard should be sent here, it is unfortunate when boys whom the princi- pal believes do not measure up to this standard are urged by alumni to come to Dartmouth. The alumni' in each locality could also cooperate effectively, if they desired, with the visitor from the College Faculty. If an informal luncheon or evening gathering in the home of some alumnus was arranged for the time of this official visit to the high school, much might be accomplished in interesting and attracting the right sort of boys from the local school to Dartmouth.

Dana M. Dustan '80, The Place of a Club Secretary in the Community:

The secretary of the college club bears much the same relation to the college that the secretary of the Board of Trade does to the community. In general the secretary of the college club in the community should be a clearing house of information with reference to the college. Just as when Dartmouth Hall was burned it was through activities of various secretaries that many thousands of dollars were raised. The secretary of a club does not expect any recompense. His only recompense is satisfaction of having rendered service. For having in a measure repaid to the College what it has done for him personally.

Our Worcester County organization has met fifty-five times in twelve years, which means an average of four times a year. I think the reason why we have succeeded, and have had good attendance, is that we have kept expenses moderate. We do not expect everyone in Worcester County to attend all the meetings, but in the course of a year we have nearly all attending at least one meeting. Therefore we keep in touch with nearly every alumnus in the county by these meetings,—and the financial burden has not been heavy.

Twelve years ago there were possibly three or four young men from the city of Worcester coming to Dartmouth. I recently looked over the catalogue and found twenty-five from Worcester and at least fifty from Worcester County. The organization has kept Dartmouth before the public. Newspapers have been very liberal in reporting our meetings. We get liberal treatment because Dartmouth men in Worcester County are recognized as having Dartmouth spirit and loyalty that is worth while to cultivate and recognize.

Herbert D. Foster '85, Historical Research:

The real point in connection with history lies not in the reading of what somebody has written as a summary which must be superficial. The real point consists in getting at something that somebody has not known before.

One way of working that is quite possible for us is getting hold of raw material. I found in my possession sixty-two different manuscripts which I turned over to the library yesterday. These included letters from Wheelock, Hovey, Professor Richardson; manuscript copies of Hovey's poems, etc. We are getting Hovey material together and have already a great mass of Wheelock material.

Another thing follows, that when you get hold of something that is valuable, print it in the class report. Some very interesting things are printed in class reports : old letters of students, of presidents, etc., reminiscences of men, bits of social history, photographs, especially photographs side by side of a man when he was in college and a man forty years after.

George B. Clark '99:

Perhaps Professor Foster has emphasized the value of these various items for the history of the College, and it is in this connection that I will tell of something that happened to me personally. My old family place is forty miles away from here as the crow flies, and there was occasion to look up a boundary. In running down the deeds, I found something that said "On the south side by the College Road". In looking the thing up I found that it was Wentworth's road which he put through to Hanover.

One thing that occurs to me that is of value to us as class secretaries is, that all these little things help to bind men in particular classes together, make acquaintanceship with one another stronger. One class published several years ago a little collection of campus songs, trying to gather up things current in their time. One man said that it was a very sad commentary on the period. Another said that it was a bully good thing, and that somebody ought to be appointed to collect all the folklore and things which happened in the College. But the main thing is that it binds everybody together.

Carrying out this idea still further the same class through its executive committee has already started and made a slight progress in a collection for a picture of its own time '95 to '99, gathering up the diaries and letters of that period written home before they should be lost completely. Its main object is that it should be interesting to the particular class that started it and interesting in that it would give a certain picture of the college during a period of passing from the old to the new.

Morton C. Tuttle '97 spoke briefly on the importance of sending men to military instruction camps, emphasizing its importance to the nation and to Dartmouth.

The following officers were elected for the year 1916-17:

President, Alfred E. Watson '83; vice-president, Charles A. Perkins '90; secretary, Gray Knapp '12; executive committee, Edward H. Kenerson '03, Natt W. Emerson '00; member of the alumni council, E. M. Hopkins '01; editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Homer E. Keyes '00; directing editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Eugene F. Clark '01.

Gray Knapp '12, Secretary of the Association