Change and Challenge
THE FIFTY-YEAR ADDRESS
UNLIKE the traditional 50-year class talk, no effort will be made to prove "1915" the outstanding class ever to graduate from Dartmouth — we admit it.
The Civil War class of 1865 at their 50th had "Smith Brothers" beards, with an appearance of age which we feared would be our lot a half-century later. You men of 1965 must not get similar impressions. Your present point of view will change greatly in 50 years, just as ours has. Dreaming of the next 50 years is more pleasant but less realistic than recalling the past five decades. The steady loss of members will certainly be a sobering experience for you as it has been for us.
The older you become the more this Alumni Association will mean to you. Tomorrow you seniors will become members of this well-established unit of the "Great Society." From that moment, your reflections on your wonderful undergraduate days will grow and grow. Whenever you wish to remedy that nostalgic feeling which will frequently grip you, jump in your car or plane and head for Hanover, the Mecca of all Dartmouth men.
In 50 years many changes have taken place here. An announcement in the 1914 college catalogue estimated the average cost to a student for one year at between $600 and $700, and by close economy it could be kept at around $450. The principal items were tuition $l4O, board $140-$225, room rent, heat and light $50-$175, books $15-$30. Today, tuition alone is $1,800.
As undergraduates we walked to Lebanon or the Junction for dances and dates, and, on very special occasions, hired a "hitch" from the local livery stable. Today, the stable is gone, travel is by car or plane, and the dances and dates are frequently 150 miles away. In 1928 only 39 students had permission to drive cars in Hanover.
We had an annual tradition that the freshest freshmen should be nocturnally dunked in a watering trough in front of the Inn. Today — no horses — no trough — and possibly no "freshest freshmen"!
Organized winter sports were in their infancy. The Hanover golf course was the favorite ski area. There were no power tows to pull us up the slopes. We had to make it by the herring-bone method, now a forgotten art. Snowshoes were more popular than skis.
In 1911, we entered Dartmouth 426 strong — the first class over 400, and the first to wear freshman caps. In 1915 the College had 1,338 students. This year the total is 3,058 (including 57 who are studying abroad). Less than 15% received financial aid in our time; today, almost 40% of all students get some form of aid, or nearly the total number enrolled 50 years ago. Twice as many seek admission here annually as the total enrollment when we graduated.
A glance at the campus is further evidence of the tremendous change during the past five decades. On the East, Dartmouth Row has not changed in outward appearance. Yet in 1911, Wentworth, Thornton and Reed Halls were dormitories. Edward Tuck, one of the great benefactors of the College, once called on this speaker to inspect #1 Wentworth Hall where he once roomed. He did not attempt to sell me the electric fixtures or the radiators as some sophomores had tried to do.
On the North, in 1928, the spacious and stately multi-million-dollar Baker Library replaced a small wooden residence and the "Old White Church" from which Crosby residents used to "borrow" wood for their fireplaces. Webster Hall, where we had our first class assembly, remains intact.
On the West, Sanborn has been replaced by Robinson and McNutt Halls; Parkhurst and College Halls are unchanged. Crosby is now a second administration building.
On the South, Bissell Hall, Dartmouth's first gymnasium (1867) and later the home of the Thayer School of Engineering, has vanished, and in its place the indescribably beautiful Hopkins Center was finished in 1962, facing Baker across the campus which alone remains unchanged.
Other speakers for 50-year classes have told of their outstanding members. 1915 has so many that time forbids even their proper identification. We have had outstanding leaders in all the professions; in the business world, in the entertainment field; on the Dartmouth Faculty, and the Board of Trustees; in government at all levels, and in the service of their country in two World Wars. One name must be mentioned - Richard Neville Hall '15, the first Dartmouth man killed in World War I as an ambulance driver in Alsace, France on Christmas Day, 1915. A fitting memorial tablet stands in Baker Library, the gift of Edward Tuck in 1920. A boulder taken from near Hanover was placed on his grave in Alsace by his classmates in 1921.
In June 1915 there were 240 graduates. Of these, 134 are alive today, together with 76 non-grads, and 88 or 59% are here at this reunion. This is our challenge to 1965 for your 50th.
In 48 months light-hearted youngsters become serious young men at Dartmouth. Those who have the good fortune to return for a 50th reunion are senior citizens with occasional memory failure, but less absent-minded than Sir Isaac Newton who was once discovered "holding an egg while he boiled his watch."
Thus far, the concept of change has been related primarily to the past. Recently, Walter wanger '15 said in a lecture here, "The world is in the midst of a typhoon of change." The future will have changes too. Fifty years ago we had no conception of atomic energy, Tel-Star, helicopters, computers, social security, TV, space flights, and many others, now commonplace. Today we are equally ignorant of the great changes of the next half century. You men of 1965 will not find the world waiting with open arms to place you on a pedestal. You are facing a turbulent world which is constantly changing. It will challenge your abilities to accept change and perhaps help it. Success requires work at all levels.
A real challenge to Dartmouth men comes annually during the Alumni Fund Campaign. Then your generosity and loyalty to the College are tested. 1915 has an outstanding class record of support. Thirty-two members have given annually for over 40 years. This fund has given impetus to the magic growth of this College. Both must continue to grow if Dartmouth is to meet her challenge. To paraphrase our late President's famous words — "Ask not what has Dartmouth done for me, ask what have I done for Dartmouth!"
So long as there is a war on poverty in the richest country on earth; and half of the people in the world are hungry; so long as there is a threatened shortage of potable water in numerous areas all over the world, including our own country; so long as hot spots are increasing around the globe, and so long as civilized nations and people lose their sense of purpose and direction, there will be unsolved problems to challenge us.
Changes already made were once challenges. Today's challenges will be tomorrow's changes. Among them are the increasing crime wave, reapportionment, segregation, birth control, and numerous others.
Perhaps our national economy provides the greatest challenge. Some union leaders are too powerful. They often lack good judgment and common sense. Their code is to get more and more. $4.40 per hour is not enough for their steel workers. To them $25 for a day on a railroad engine is too little, and with overtime after 100 miles. Many runs are on overtime before the first stop. These trains now go 100 miles in 100 minutes. Overtime is now figured at 1½ times the regular hourly rate, but Congress proposes to double the hourly rate for overtime. Plans are under way to operate fast trains at over 100 miles an hour. Then overtime will begin after one hour's work for enginemen. Trainmen who have to go 150 miles for a day's pay, will be on overtime after 1½ hours. A change in this antiquated rule has been recommended by every impartial Com- mission and Court which has studied it, but union leaders still resist any change.
Finally, fantastic political campaign promises to raise wages, lower taxes, abolish poverty and the like, can be insincere. Spending more than one's income by increasing debt is dangerous. At every level - national, state, local, and individual - there is an upward spiral of increasing debt. Those who can recall the teachings of Professor George Ray Wicker of Tuck School know how he emphasized the law of supply and demand and its application to everything, including money. Many can remember when the entire national debt was less than the present annual interest charges of 11.3 billion dollars. Yet Congress would increase it further at a time when we are supposed to be in our most prosperous year. This may soon become the BIG challenge of our time.
From 1915 to 1965 is 50 years, even when computed by modern math methods. The difference between us is that you still have to make your decisions, while most of ours have already been made. You look to the future, we at the past. You have enthusiasm and anticipation, we contentment and nostalgia. Tomorrow will be your day, yesterday was ours. May we all strive to accomplish something every day.
That you may know all about your Dartmouth - from its founding to the present time, the Class of 1915 proudly presents to each member of the 1965 Class a copy of the most recently published Dartmouth history — The Collegeon the Hill by Ralph Hill '39 and his aides. We hope you will thoroughly enjoy reading this fine book about the "Old" and "New" Dartmouth. This remarkable Dartmouth Chronicle has an appeal for every alumnus on each page of its fascinating narrative, and excellent illustrations.
We of 1915 are starting our second 50 years as alumni, proud to be Dartmouth men, hoping to serve for many more years, while enjoying your respect, and our social security - and our grandchildren, one of whom is in this Senior Class.
After a half century the closing lines of our Class Ode by E. B. Bur gum are still most appropriate for us all:
"Our thoughts turn to the morrow, and the challenge waiting there."
Harold K. Davison '15 on the speakersplatform at Commencement Luncheon.
