Class of 1902
Just before leaving for a hurried trip to the Midwest about December 1, I looked over the letters on my desk to see that there was on hand a supply of material for the next installment to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. The letter from Arthur Field dated October 29 was the one which seemed most suited to be the chief item of our column, and I packed my bag with the feeling that at all events there was no concern about material for carrying on. That day I received the news of Arthur's sudden death. In another column is the brief tribute which is all too inadequate, still there are some parts of that letter which you ought to read.
"My life has been, and is now, so unexciting to anybody but myself that I hesitateto 'say anything about myself.' I think'who cares' about what I've got to say?Then I consider with how much interest Iread in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE even thecommonplace items of news about any ofthe other fellows, and think: 'Well, maybeit will satisfy the curiosity at least of someof them to read about this member. So,here goes."
Probably that needs no comment, but it is so decidedly to the point that one can't help wishing that everyone would react in the same way.
"As to what there is to say about myself, Ihave lived the quiet life of a pater familiaswho has all he can attend to trying to dohis duty by his family and give them thebest break he is able to give them. Thatburning zeal—which some of the fellowswill remember with a smile—to discover, by'prodigious scholarly pursuits,' new andimportant ways by which the 'uplift' ofmankind could be given a boost, met aquietus a number of years ago when itdeveloped that if I had any regard for mylongevity. I had better let the day's workend when I left the office and not followany such pursuits in the evening. Whetherthere is any relation between that cessation of activities and the devil of a fixmankind has got into I, of course, am toomodest to say anything about.
"As to published articles, that portionof my doctor's thesis, 'Labor Legislation inNew Jersey,' that dealt with child laborwas published under the title 'The ChildLabor Policy of New Jersey' in the 'American Economic Association Quarterly' forOctober, 1910.
"In the 'American Economic Review' forJune and December, 1913, I published acritical review of the Interstate CommerceCommission's investigation and revision ofthe rates and practices of express companies.
"While I was with the Bureau of Railway Economics, I prepared several monographs, issued as Bureau publications,dealing with phases of the relations ofrailways to the public and to labor.
"Since I have been with the InterstateCommerce Commission my 'productive'efforts, aside from those involved in theadministrative duties of my job, have beenon studies and memoranda for higher-upsin connection with problems in railwayvaluation before the Commission. Ofcourse, I have published none of those.However, one product planned and directed by me, a method of utilizing data inrailway accounts and operating statisticsfor determining the amount of workingcapital actually used by railways is described in the Commission's valuation report on the 'Northampton and Bath Rd.Co.' in 149 I. C. C., 244, 263.
"I suppose a word about the 'Class Baby'would be of interest. Robert was headedfor Dartmouth with a full head of enthusiasm until in his senior year of preparation his health broke down. All thoughtof further study had to be abandoned, andthe boy turned to make his own career inbusiness. He was just getting on his feetwhen he was obliged to give attentionagain to his health, and in about a year hewas in shape to take up work again. He isnow connected with the MassachusettsMutual Life Insurance Company, and islocated at Springfield, Mass. He seems tobe in perfect health again and making aprogressive 'go' of it, in spite of hard timesfor all prospects. Incidentally there isn'tan alumnus who is a more enthusiasticbooster for Dartmouth, 'prexy,' and allpersons and things connected with theCollege.
"I have a very 'charming daughter'also. 1 suppose every other fellow who hasone or more girls will think of his own andsay, 'Just wait till you see mine.' Well, Iwon't start any argument.
"My younger son, Theodore, is in histhird year at American University here.He, too, had his eye on Dartmouth, but hehas always been infected with the art bug.He found he could get more courses hereto his liking than Dartmouth offers. Hehas made a place for himself at the University art circles, and is art editor of thecollege annual this year."
I am glad that Arthur took the time to write that letter, but he could not know how grateful we were for it.
John Walker is still in Washington, an engineer with the Bureau of Valuation of the Interstate Commerce Commission. I think we had not learned of the death of Mrs. Walker some time ago. The delightful letter which she wrote for John for the report after our Twentieth was one of the brightest bits in our recorded history.
My feeble attempt to connect with General Stone and Guy Abbott during the few minutes that I was in Chicago was without result so far as personal contact is concerned, but it did draw a letter from the General full of his customary martial fire. I really am sorry, General, that I had no idea how near to Dakota Hubbard Woods is located. And to think that on my account you actually got up before six in the morning. That's the sort of thing an English friend used to comment on by saying, "You know, at home we don't do that, not even for royalty." General is doing some work for the World's Fair, and seems to be adding his bit to crowding a "Century of Progress" into the short space of one summer in Chicago. Well, if anybody can do the trick, the General is the man.
I was glad to get a letter from Frank Bunker the other day, even if it was on other than class business. Frank is doing a good job teaching in the high school in Mount Vernon, N. Y. Several of his former pupils have been mine also, and they all speak well of him. We are advertised by our loving friends.
Somehow or other sooner or later I get around to the doctors again, this time because I am caught by some of the phsases in the responses. "Doc" Harry Ballou, the assistant medical superintendent of the Mansfield State Training School and Hospital at Mansfield, Conn., says that his time is well taken up with his duties, though he does manage to fish a little and now and then get up to his camp in New Hampshire. Still the busy doctor managed in '28-'29 to serve as president of the Connecticut Homeopathic State Medical Society, and in 1931 as president of the Tolland County Medical Society.
For such fellows Arthur Pattrell hits the nail on the head. Pat doesn't talk a lot, but he generally says something. His answer to my query about public service is, "A doctor does nothing else but," and that's the sort of doctor we like. Pat is at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital at Towson, Md., where the impression is that "poor business in general makes lots of business for psychiatrists."
I don't know why the doctors always make such a hit with me, but they do. Like many of the rest of you I carried away from college with me a great liking for Dr. Drummond's French Canadian poems, and added greatly thereto on several fishing trips in later years to the country above Montreal. I frequently get out "Johnnie Courteau" and "The Habitant," and it's always a treat to feel the way the doctor gets some of his reward between those covers. But doctors all, and the rest of you too, probably the greatest things you do are the very things for which you get little or no monetary reward, yet it is because of that that you are truly men. Money can't buy such things.
I seem to have several different attitudes in reference to Christmas cards, but when it comes to those received from classmates there's only one. It is a much appreciated attention, and when one is a class secretary he likes to feel that his pestering inquiries and saucy comments are not altogether deplored by his scattered constituents. If it would only arouse a larger stream of notes from the group I'd publish the date of my birth (which by the way is only three days away at this writing and incidentally is the same day as Dick Larned's), together with the dates of national holidays and other occasions on which it is considered appropriate to write messages.
Somehow I have missed one trick, I intended to send to Bob Elliott some of the nice words I got with reference to the way the class appreciated his all too short period of service. I don't know, Bob, just how many have pointed to your work as a model for me to keep in mind. Bob is in the real estate business in Lowell, and if he is as successful at that as he was in getting letters out of modest classmates, Lowell must be a hive of activity. Bob's hobby, he says, is apple growing, but he has some others which ought to make him as much loved in his community as he is in his college class. The only thing I have against him is his peculiar idea in supporting the notion that I could serve the class as an efficient secretary.
It is rather difficult for me to picture Barney Luce as other than a stocky little chap with a flair for taking an unmerciful amount of pounding on the gridiron, so I can hardly get it right to see him as the sedate partner in the Detroit house of Paine, Webber, & Co. He has lived in Detroit for about twenty years, and has two boys, Barnard junior and Dean. Mrs. Luce died several years ago. Barney is like most of the rest of us, down in finances, but as all of us ought to be, up in spirits.
"Eddy" Edson is back with the F. F. French Co., at 551 Fifth Ave., New York city. We can't speak with authority on the real estate and management situation in general, but in this particular case we are safe in saying that' any fellow in this business today who can arrange matters so as never to miss a class reunion deserves a blue ribbon as being a top-notcher as a manager.
I owe an apology to George Morrison Hubbard Jr. of Montclair, N. J. I saw Maury at Hanover in June, but didn't realize then that he was graduating, so we must put him with John Francis Griffin Jr. as adding to the glory of our Thirtieth Reunion. And by the way, both these young men were rated in the third honor group (rank of 3.0 to 3.3) for the year.
It may also interest you to note that in this same group (3.0 to 3.3 for the year) were Herman Dudley and Robert Goodell of the present senior class, while Donald Murray of the same class was rated in the first honor group, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. It is pleasant to record such things, for after all a college is supposed to be fundamentally an educational institution.
Probably you have noticed that this year we have no sons in the freshman class, but you may rest easy, as there are still some on the way. And we have even heard of instances where a man didn't have a son of his own to send through Dartmouth, so he actually borrowed one and sent him along as being the next best thing. Perhaps just now there are more who would loan rather than borrow sons, but I have Denny Lyons' promise that things are going to be better as soon as "we Democrats" can get under way. It
Secretary, 130 Woodridge Place, Leonia, N. J
