Class Book Depicts the '30 Man
Twenty-Five Years in the Wide, WideWorld, the 25-Year Book of the Class of 1930, published in time to be distributed to classmates at their 25th reunion, is a 279-page, hard-cover volume which presents a permanent record of what Dartmouth men, one fourth of a century out of college, are doing, as well as feeling and thinking on a number of matters.
Edited by Francis H. Horn '30, president of Pratt Institute, the book includes autobiographical w rite-ups and informal photographs of class members and their families, plus a composite account of the '30 man, prepared from questionnaires sent out. Greetings from President Emeritus Hopkins and President Dickey are opening features. In all, 424 men or 70 per cent of the class, sent in material for the book's main section of autobiographical reports. The remaining write-ups were prepared with the help of the Alumni Records Office.
In the composite picture of the class, 37 pages are devoted to conclusions derived from a special questionnaire. In the words of the class book, this is what "The Thirty-man" is like 25 years out of college:
"Taking him as a whole, one finds that the man of '30 falls pretty much into a pattern. He is engaged in business, earning a little more than $13,000 a year, still living with the girl he married around 1936, and the father of two or three children. He is quite happy in both his work and his family life. He resides in one of the eastern states near one of the larger cities where he commutes to work. As a citizen of suburbia, he owns his own home and has two cars. He also owns a summer place, or rents a cottage at the shore or lake for his vacations. He does little traveling for pleasure, although as he gets older, he is more likely to take off for Florida or the West Indies during the winter.
"Golf remains his only active sport, although he may do some hunting and fishing, and he continues to be a spectator, frequently via TV, of major sports events. He has little time for cultural activities but does not completely neglect reading, music, the theater and similar interests. He is fairly active in the business organizations serving his special interests, as well as in community affairs, but is not, on the whole, a great joiner, although he belongs to at least one social club or fraternal group. He is a Republican and an Episcopalian. He would go to Dartmouth if he had it to do over again and has sent, or tried to send, or hopes to send his sons to Dartmouth.
"While strongly loyal to the College, he is not so uncritical as he once was of his alma mater. On the whole, he appears to be a thoroughly mature and responsible citizen in the best sense of the word."
