More than 60 alumni, representing nearly every class since the foundation of the Tuck School in 1900, were present at the second annual dinner of the New York branch of the Tuck School Alumni Association at the City Club of New York, Dean W. R. Gray of the Tuck School attending the affair. The trustees of the college were represented by H. B. Thayer '79, president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
N. C. Lenfesty '13, Tuck '14, cashier of the National City Bank of New York, opened the speaking program by reading letters addressed to him as chairman of the executive committee from alumni in various parts of the country. Thurmond Brown '06 was toastmaster.
The address by Mr. Thayer brought out the fact that in his own class, out of 48 men who expressed their intentions in senior year, only four stated business as their future occupation. In Mr. Thayer's words, "The college man in business was a favorite subject for cartoonists and joke makers. The favored examples for the young man who aimed at success in business were the men who came to the big city carrying their shoes to save wear and commenced by polishing the handle of the big front door and then worked their way through all the departments and became merchant princes.
"Then men began to see the economy and efficiency which could come from quantity production and quantity distribution; the era of consolidation and big business commenced, and with big business came the demand for a new type of man in business; a man who, without having to go through a long experience in the many details of a business, could grasp the general principles and apply them to its policies or organization and management."