PREPAREDNESS AT DARTMOUTH
PRESIDENT HOPKINS ON THE WAR SITUATION
In a communication to the Dartmouth for April 14, President Hopkins stated his views on the war situation as follows:
"Your invitation to state my conception of what the college man's attitude should be in regard to present day questions is one that I gladly accept. I thank you for the privilege.
"As I said at the opening of the college year, I believe that the college man is beneficiary of a kind of special privilege that makes him subject to the law of noblesse oblige in particularly definite way. It is right that he should be judged on this basis; and if he is disposed to be fair in his self-appraisal he must so judge himself. We have talked together of the college responsibility to train for leadership; of its potentiality to inculcate an idea of service, under which a man should measure success by what he could do for others rather than by what he could acquire for himself; and of the futility of a theory of individualism which ignores the responsibility of the individual to the group, and thus withholds due contribution to the spirit of cooperation without which human progress could not be maintained. Our beliefs about the value of the college functions are now to be put to searching test, for both what college men do and the spirit in which they do it will be given critical scrutiny.
"No nation ever went so dispassionately into armed conflict with another as we are going to war with Germany. Let us in the days to come hold likewise to a sense of reason, even after it has become harder for us so to do! Such an attitude. should not be allowed to abate the definiteness and force with which we act, but it should define our continuing motive for what we do. Democracy is held to be supremely desirable by us, in spite of many and great weaknesses and mistakes. We should not forget, in our fervent desire for the elimination of the oppressive and brutal code of civilization which Germany has sought to establish, that the undesirableness of the, German government's policies is in spite of wonderful contributions to the advance of civilization which Germany has made. Not even her own absurd insistence upon the incomparable superiority of her kultur over that of other peoples should be allowed to make us willing that the great good in her should be lost. It is not easy for all people to be fair and forceful to the limit at the same time, but college men ought to assure special responsibility to have this true of them.
Another point in regard to our mental attitude is important, and perhaps needs to' be watched by an occasional man within the colleges with particular care. I refer to the state of mind which makes an individual believe that there is particular distinction in setting himself against the general current of thinking, at such a time as this, and in identifying his mental processes with those of an inconsiderable minority. The Athenians had a custom which was designed for special application to those who refused to 'play the game' when the will of the vast majority became evident; and I sometimes think that the institution of ostracism, by which a discordant element in the state in time of stress could be excluded for a time from its privileges and territories, is worthy of modern consideration.
"The ordeal by battle has been accepted, and no one can rightly omit any word or action that makes tor a decision in favor of the cause to which the country has committed itself. Likewise no one can, except treasonably, speak any word or do any deed that delays the quickest possible accomplishment of our national purpose. It is generally conceded that force of arms is largely helped or seriously impaired by public sentiment. In such a cause, then, as this, he who withholds moral support is akin to him who withholds material support that might make for .victory. At so a serious a time certain mental indulgencies, like indulgencies of other kinds, must be foregone; and no college man, at least, ought to be guilty of the egoistical kind of intellectual speculation which is designed largely either to impose extreme individualism as a drag on the carrying out of the public will, or to indulge his desires for the mental stimulation of involved dialectics. I speak of this, even though it is so infrequent in a group such as ours, because a single man misrepresents the spirit of the group as a whole.
"Aside from all other things, there is one great responsibility that rests upon each of us, — to impose self-discipline to a degree beyond anything that we have ever done before. Even before our national entrance into the hostilities it was evident that the world at large must sooner or later accept the necessity of making good the deficit being created by the destructive course of the war. Life in years to come must be a sterner thing for all of us, in which much of the ease and luxury we have known will have disappeared. Permanent habits are largely fixed during the period of life that we spend in college. A sincere desire to prepare ourselves for times to come will demand that we adjust our minds, as well as our bodies, for a more rigorous existence; and that while yet habits are easily made or unmade we carefully exclude the exotic or the harmful, holding to and cultivating those of constructive .influence. These things are among the more difficult to do, but they are among the most necessary; and tendencies to such ends should be found nowhere more quickly than in a group like ours. The willingness for great self-sacrifice in England first showed large in the ranks of the aristocracy; in America it ought to be expected to take definite form first among college men.
"Concerning practical questions of the moment, which will be troubling many an one, again I should say to act only after careful thought rather than on some impulse of a moment. It is not yet clear where all of us can be most useful. I have refrained from advising men to do or to keep from doing the respective things they had in mind at first. Each man must decide these things for himself, and up to date the information is not available to make one man's judgment better than another.
"In so far. as we can find out, however, the agencies of the Government are not ready as yet, in general, to provide organization, equipment, or training, for men whose craving to be of use makes them wish for immediate action, and haste will be made slowly. Under these circumstances it seems clear, in the large, that men are distinctly better off, remaining in college until the end of the academic year, and getting into condition here, than to add themselves at this juncture to groups for which the Government is not yet prepared to make early provision.
"The College as a whole, and through all of its individual officers alike, is eager to make the best possible arrangements to help its men to prepare themselves for service of maximum value. For most of us the great need now is that we shall exercise patience for a little time, that the service we shall eventually contribute shall be placed where it will be of major use."
FACULTY OPINION OF THE WAR
Likewise, the members of the faculty have thus expressed themselves regarding the war.
March 31 — during the Easter vacation when half of the faculty were out of town — the following telegram was sent to President Wilson, Senator Hollis, and Representative Wason. This was signed by 80 per cent of the faculty who could be reached, including Dr. Tucker and President Hopkins.
"Resolved: that we the undersigned members of the faculty of Dartmouth College record our emphatic conviction that a state of war exists by repeated acts of Germany, and that our national duty to humanity and civilization demands that a declaration to this effect be made at once, to be followed by immediate and wholehearted support of the Allied cause on both sea and land."
April 14, members of the faculty expressed themselves as against the volunteer system of raising an adequate army and advocated universal service The following telegram signed by President Hopkins, President-E merit us Tucker, Dean Laycock, Mr. H. M. Tibbetts, Registrar, and nearly all the members of the faculty was sent to Senators Gallinger and Hollis and Representative Wason at Washington.
"We, the undersigned officers and members of the faculty of Dartmouth College, wish respectfully to make record of our convictions that a policy Of relying upon volunteer enlistments for prosecution of the war will result in an entirely disproportionate assumption of the earlier burdens and risks of the war by the youth of greatest initiative and maximum worth throughout the country, thus creating a dearth of men of such characteristics needful for successive levies that the government is altogether likely to be obliged to make. We believe this to be unwise in theory, and dangerous in practice. We subscribe ourselves as believers in the principle of universal service, urged by President Wilson, and as being desirous of having this principle enacted into law."
