DINNER SESSION

Adjourning at 7.45 p. m. the secretaries gathered in the Grill Room of College Hall for the annual dinner of the Association. When the coffee was consumed and the cigars well lighted, Toastmaster Dana introduced Professor E. J. Bartlett as the first speaker. He had been given the subject "Dartmouth's Contribution to the War," but preferred to develop his remarks on "Dartmouth's Reactions to the War," treated chronologically. In a delightfully informal manner he presented a moving picture of the College from 1914 until the signing of the Armistice, from the first remote and unreal touches of the war, when the Drapeting Association sang "Tipperary" on the stage and the letter of the Earl of Dartmouth to Dr. Tucker depicting the stern reality of the war to the families of England, through the period when we sent our first ambulance drivers to Europe, the military instruction of Captain Chase, Captain Keene and Lieutenant Pickett, and academic credit for time at Plattsburg, to the military stores courses conducted by the Tuck School and the final climax in the complete militarization of the College through the Students' Army Training Corps. In such brief sketches he presented a vivid picture of the College through the war.

The Toastmaster next called upon Dean Laycock to talk on "The Faculty's Contribution to the War." In introducing his remarks the Dean referred to the essential brotherhood with which all men marched together in this war, but called attention to the closer feeling of ownership with which a father or a college looked upon its own sons in the line. Of the 139 officers and teachers of the College at the beginning of the war 53 did war work outside of Hanovernearly. 39% of the whole number. He then selected a few representative cases to show what a really important contribution Dartmouth had made toward winning the war and how the work was still being carried on in Washington of settling the Government contracts with the colleges by a considerable representation of our alumni and faculty on the Committee on Education and Special Training of the War Department.

In this connection he presented a letter from Secretary of War Baker to President Hopkins on the occasion of the latter's withdrawal from his work in Washington. The letter is printed here as a document regarding work in which Dartmouth has taken special pride.

WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON

November 17, 1918.

My dear Dr. Hopkins:

Mr. King tells me that the problems which are confronting your College at the present time are such that you do not feel justified in returning to Washington unless I feel a real need for you here. Much as I regret to have you sever your connection with the Department I do not feel justified in asking you to longer subordinate your obligations to Dartmouth to the needs of the Department.

I cannot allow you to sever your connection with the Department without expressing to you my appreciation of the work which you have done during the past year. You came to the Department nearly a year ago, at a time when the problems of industrial relations in the plants producing supplies for the Department were daily growing more complex and serious. You inherited perhaps the most difficult industrial controversy which has come before me at any time during the progress of the war. You succeeded in so stabilizing the situation that the Department's supply program has proceeded without substantial interruption at any point from labor controversies, and in entirely relieving me of the annoying and difficult questions which must have arisen in the administration of the Department's labor policy. For this I feel a very real sense of Personal gratitude.

You leave the Government service at a time when our victorious armies are supplied with all their requirements, and when the industrial problem before us is one not of production but of demobilization. During this period the responsibility rests largely with the civilian agencies of the Government, so that you may justly feel that you have completed a work of great importance and unusual difficulty for the Government.

Please accept my warm personal good wishes and believe me, Very cordially yours,

(Signed) Newton D. Baker Secretary of War.

But without belittling the extreme importance of the work done by the men who left Hanover, Dean Laycock called attention to the fact that many men stayed in Hanover contrary to their own inclinations and carried on the vitally important work of maintaining the activities of the College. The organization of the College and the cooperation of its various parts was absolutely effective.

President Hopkins, as the last speaker, re-emphasized the devotion of the faculty who stayed on the ground and their eagerness to serve so that there was little loss of momentum to the College during this period. He then referred to the necessity of intellectual effort as one of the prime essentials to keep before the undergraduate and solicited the support of the alumni in this attempt. Dartmouth has an opportunity and a responsibility in this connection that are denied to colleges contained in a university. The danger to a university lies in the dissipation of its interests and its support between the graduate college and the undergraduate. The college is always likely to be overshadowed and dominated by its graduate schools. The independent college escapes these dangers and all the thought, support and development may be devoted to the undergraduate college ideal. Dartmouth is in a position to do a more finished piece of work in this respect than a college that is merely a department of a university. All elements of the college family must cooperate to make this a reality. In closing, President Hopkins referred again to the strength of the faculty and its unity and the prestige which it was bringing to the College through such movements as the course of Manchester lectures conducted by the members of the course on Issues of the War.

Although this ended the formal speaking of the evening, before adjournment Eleazer A. Cate '88 was requested to relate some of his experiences in the development and laying of the mine barrage in the North Sea which proved a vital factor in limiting the operations of the German submarines.

Following the speaking, the secretaries adjourned to the lobby of the Inn, where Graduate Manager Pender '97 outlined the athletic situation. After a general discussion which gave many of the secretaries a better idea of general policies and tendencies than could, have been obtained by a formal talk, this added session also suspended business for what remained of the night.