GIFTS TO THE COLLEGE DURING THE PAST YEAR

In his speech at the Alumni Luncheon of the last Commencement the President made reference to certain of the gifts which had been received by the College during the year. It has been thought that the alumni would be particularly interested in this portion of his remarks, and they are consequently printed herewith:

"If there be moments of discouragement as we look forward to the necessary expenditures of maintaining an unimpaired curriculum during the period of war and following it, under circumstances where the income of the College is to be seriously diminished, these feelings are more than offset immediately by an examination of the increasing tendency of graduates and friends of the College to remember her generously from time to time, in gifts both great and small. There is no more pleasant feature connected with college life than the constant identification of individuals and groups with the college progress through contributions which they make. The identification of the name of a friend of the College with its progress goes far beyond any inherent value of the gift which is made, because the interest and the friendliness behind the gift are always the essential factors.

No comment on the benefactions received during the past year would be adequate without initial expression of appreciation to the alumni body as a whole for the way in which they are recognizing the needs of the College and responding to the appeals which are being made through the Alumni Council for contributions to the Alumni Fund on the Tucker Foundation. For instance, following their generosity of past years, the Trustees received at their meeting Monday a notification that for the current year $5000 would be handed to the Trustees to be applied to liquidating the debt on the Alumni Gymnasium, and that' the unrestricted remainder would be turned over to the Trustees to be applied in meeting the extraordinary expenditures of the College necessitated during the present fiscal year by the war.

Without knowing the exact amount, we nevertheless do know that the contributions to this fund have been greater this year than ever before, and that this gift will be a very substantial lift in helping to carry the immediate financial burden which already has been imposed by the exigencies of this extraordinary year.

Another gift which is of genuine importance to the College plant, and adds much to the resources of enjoyment of the student body as well as of the pleasure of life in Hanover, comes from the hands of that most loyal graduate, Mr. Henry H. Hilton, of the class of 1890.

Two years ago, at the conclusion of his term"of valuable service as trustee of the College, at the time of his twenty-fifth reunion, he gave to the College authorities funds amounting to $7000, for the purchase of the Hanover Country Club property. During the last year he authorized going ahead at his expense with the project which the College had under consideration for building a country club house on the grounds, which in modest but sufficient way should meet the necessities for locker rooms and a meeting place. Mr. Hilton has recently forwarded his check for a little under $5000 to meet the cost of carrying out this plan.

Another generous gift has come to the College at the hands of its own Trustees in the wonderfully satisfactory portrait of President Nichols, which was seen beside the line of march of the procession in the foyer of this building as we entered the hall, It was certain, of course, that we should have had such a portrait before long, but it is wonderfully gratifying to have received it so promptly, while yet the regret at the loss of Doctor Nichols is keen upon us all, and while so many of us who have known him intimately with affection can derive greatest pleasure from it.

Moreover, it is a noteworthy thing to have had this portrait, which we should have desired so much, so extraordinarily good a likeness and so exceptional a piece of portrait painting as has come to us from the hands of the artist, Mr. Joseph De Camp.

Those present at the Commencement last year will remember how much was added by the beautiful American flag, which was presented by Mr. J. W. Newton of the class of 1886. Mr. Newton has further made the College his debtor by the addition of a second flag, which was carried today for the first time, a beautiful piece of workmanship showing the Dartmouth seal upon the background of the Dartmouth green.

Certain gifts likewise ought not to go without mention which have been made for utilization by some of the College men who have undertaken service in the war zone in Europe, particularly through the Ambulance Field Service. I would mention in this connection the gift of $4000, transmitted through Judge William N. Cohen of New York from members of the class of 1879; $2000 from Mr. C. B. Little of the class of 1881; and $1000 from Mr. Henry L. Moore of the class of 1877. Moreover, for the ambulance service and likewise for certain expenses connected with military training, members of the Boston Alumni Association have contributed in various amounts a sum aggregating close to $2000.

Mr. Alexander Steinert, of Boston, has continued his generous annual contribution to the College for the Music Department a sum of $l200.

Mr. John E. Johnson of the class of 1866 has added to the Harrison Memorial Fund for the purposes of the Outing Club a further gift of $5000 in accordance with his statement made a year ago.

The Thayer Society of Engineers, in continuation of its policy of annual contribution to the purposes of the Thayer School, has given an additional $2000.

Probably no single gift has ever meant more to American education as a whole than the Fayerweather bequests, and in company with that large group of other colleges represented in Mr. Fayerweather's will Dartmouth has received further benefit during the past year to the extent of $7800 of unrestricted moneys.

Another gift to which I wish to call particular attention is that of Mrs. Harriet Pelton Perkins, of Cleveland, Ohio, in memory of her husband, Mr. Edwin R. Perkins of the class of 1857. Mr. Perkins, who was one of Dartmouth's most scholarly and honored graduates in the Middle West, maintained throughout his life his keen interest in classical and in English literature. Mrs. Perkins has therefore given a sum of $10,000, invested so that it yields $500 a year to be given as a single prize to that student of Latin, Greek or English who shall show himself to be of greatest promise as exemplified by his work in these subjects. It is a matter of no little importance for the College to have a distinctive prize of this sort, and it cannot but be of benefit to the work of the departments named.

Likewise, to those of us who knew him and to the College as an institution it is a delight to have Mr. Perkins' name associated with Dartmouth in this way, for his interest in the College was always so keen throughout his life.

Two other gifts of major importance should /be given the attention of the alumni: one, the bequest of Clara E. Seabury, of New York City, of $10,000 absolutely unrestricted, for any purposes of the College to which it can be advantageously applied. It is not necessary to stop to call attention to the fact of how great the value is of money left in this way.

Another important bequest received during the year is that of Mr. Walter WThitman Hodges, of Brookline, Mass., who left $25,000 to be named in memory of his sister the Mary Elizabeth Merrill Fund, the income of which is to be used for general purposes. Here again the flexibility in the provisions for the use of this income make the gift of very, particular value.

No mention of the benefactions received by the College during the year would be complete without calling attention again to the great-hearted generosity of Judge Elijah M. Topliff, of Manchester, in his munificent gift of $240,000 which was given to the College without restrictions. This gift had its inception in the administration of President Tucker and did not become immediately available in whole at Judge Topliff's death, but has now. Its advantages, likewise, have been somewhat anticipated in the years immediately preceding; but the receipt of the fund in whole during the present year makes it desirable to call attention again to the obligation which will be perpetually due from the College to the memory of Judge Topliff's name. At some time not long remote the Trustees propose to perpetuate the Topliff name and the memory of this gift in giving title to some new building of first importance.

I have the privilege of announcing another gift to the College from one of its most loyal alumni in the establishment of two lectureships of major import, designed primarily for the alumni of Dartmouth College, and open to students of the College or friends who may wish to utilize the advantages of the scheme as proposed. This is made possible through the generosity of Mr. Henry L. Moore, one of the trustees of the College, and a graduate of the class of '77 now celebrating its fortieth anniversary.

The lectureships will be known as "The Dartmouth Alumni Lectureships on the Guernsey Center Moore Foundation," and they are established in loving remembrance of Mr. Moore's son, a member of the class of 1904, whose sad death occurred early in his course.

This gift is an extension on Mr. Moore'% part of the principle to which he committed himself more than ten years ago, in accordance with the advice of President Tucker, that great good could be done the College by the donating of such funds as Mr. Moore found himself able to give the College for the purpose of its cultural advantage. In accordance with this desire on the part of the donor, the frequent gifts to the College from him have been applied to the development of the work in Fine Arts. It is a logical and profitable extension of such an interest that now makes available for alumni and friends of the College a cultural opportunity to sit under leaders of the world's thought, who may be secured to speak on various themes with which the purposes of the College concern themselves. The tentative plan is something like this, — that the lectures shall be given annually by two men of the highest distinction in their respective fields. They will occur daily, five days in the week, for two weeks, - a total of ten lectures from each man. It is expected that this will be an opportunity eagerly seized upon by men as they come to understand in regard to it, and working to greater and greater advantage of the alumni of the College in eliminating the present anomalous condition, in which the College makes no attempt whatsoever to perpetuate its cultural influence on its graduates after the date upon which they receive their diplomas.

Some colleges, placed within large cities, do extension work in their own communities; and others, administered under state auspices, render large service to their state constituencies. Mr. Moore's plan, however, projects an extension work for the benefit of college graduates, and men whose interests lead them into these groups. The proposal is based on the argument that, if the College has conviction that its influence is worth seeking at the expense of four vital years in the formative period of a man's life, the College ought to offer some method of giving access to this influence to its graduates in their subsequent years. Moreover, the growing practice of retiring men from active work at ages from sixty-five to seventy, and the not infrequent tragedy of the man who has no resources for interesting himself outside the routine of which he has been relieved, make it seem that the College has no less an opportunity to be of service to its men in their old age than in their youth, if only it can establish the procedure by which it can periodically throughout their lives give them opportunity to replenish their intellectual reserves.

Mr. Moore's assurance to the trustees has been that he would be glad to make the income of $100,000 available to the College for a period of years, for the support of this plan; and if the plan should prove to have the advantage that it is expected to have, that he would then transfer the principal to the College, thus insuring permanency to the project.

There is a romance of large interest attached to practically every gift that comes to the College; and those alumni of the College who do not already know it will be interested that now for some years the College has not only been gathering every detail of information about all of its more recent gifts, but has been going back and recovering data which might not always have been available, so that our records are complete in regard to practically all of our funds, not only of the present day but of times past.

There are always, I suppose, funds in prospect or in hand at Dartmouth, about which for one reason or another the donors do not wish details given at the immediate time. I would not in any way violate a single confidence, or give a single suggestion in regard to these, beyond saying that the present is no exception to the rule, and that the College is in the way of benefiting from the generosity of friends so modest that they wish no mention made either of themselves or what they have done.

There is, however, a genuine interest and friendship for the College which is widespread, which is, of course, the capitalization of the interest in the College bred through previous administrations. I would simply ask that when those of the alumni who think solicitously of the affairs of the College reflect upon these, that they name their toasts not only for those known friends of the College of whom they have heard, but likewise that they give thanks for the friends of the College whose names and intended gifts may have been unpublished."