Harvard Law School - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL IN THE FIRST GREAT WAR N 1916-17 there were 857 students C 66 more than in the previous yearj. In 1917-18 the number fell from 857 to 297, in 1918-19 from 297 to 128. The light guttered, flickered, but did not go out. In December, 1918, announcement was made of a special session of seven months CFebruary to August 19195. The intent was to save, so to speak, a year of their lives to students who had been honorably discharged from the services. 507 students came to this special session. In 1919-20 the number of students bounded back again to 883. The Faculty in 1916-17 was only about a third as large as it now is -- the Presi- dent, the Dean and ten other members. Three have died, President Lowell and Professors Williston and Beale have become Emeritus, Dean Pound has, as Dean, become Emeritus but as a University Professor still gives an important part of his time to the School, Professor Frankfurter has become the fifth man who has both taught in the Harvard Law School and has also been a Justice of the Supreme Court. joseph Warren, Scott, Chafee and I were the other members of the 1916-17 Faculty. In the special session of 1919 the courses offered were: First year, Procedure, Con- tracts, Criminal Law and Principles of Liability, Property, Torts, Second year, Agency, Bills and Notes, Equity, Evidence, Property, Sales, Thircl year, Conflict of Laws, Con- situtional Law, Corporations, Equity, Public Utilities, Trusts. From February to june 1919, when the School was a double-barrelled school, most of the courses were given in the special session by the same men who gave them in the regular session. Throughout the war years there was no resolution by the Faculty on any matter relating to the war which was not, after discussion and moulding, voted unanimously. The resolutions adopted included the following CApril 24, 19179: 1. Third-Year Sluflemr. Third-year students actually in the service of the United States or actually called into the service of the United States prior to the end of the school year, including such students as shall be accepted in federal training camps, will 14

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educated mind as successfully as in legal practice. You can, if you will, become a force of great value to the nation. From your personal standpoint, it is very important that you give your best. First, if you determine to make the best of a series of uninviting tasks in an unwanted en- vironment you can become reasonably happy. You will End many problems which, while you may disagree with the army's way of meeting them, will be interesting. You will gain confidence in the army's ability to care for the physical condition of its men and you will acquire respect for the loyalty to duty of most of the regular army officers. Secondly, you will acquire a great deal of valuable experience in dealing with the cross section of young America. It will add to your armory of weapons in your profes- sion, for the ability to understand others is perhaps the most important mental attribute of a successful lawyer. And finally, if you put your back into the work cheerfully, it will give you a moral background that will stand you in great stead in the difficult days which we shall have to meet. Looking back, we cannot call our life in the army a waste of our time, but rather a distinct advantage for the days that followed. We confidently believe that army life will prove to be no waste of your time or effort. Furthermore, it will be no small satisfaction, as you travel through life, to carry with you the realization that you played a part in serving the nation in its hour of need. You have our affection and our confidence. We wish for you all those manifold benefits which come from a job well done. ,f. 26744. L .Tl... ...

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be excused from residence from the date at which they are so actually called into service or accepted in training camps, and, if their record at the present date is such that, if continued, they would be recommended for a degree in june, 1917, they will be recom- mended therefor. 2. Second Year Slurlenlr. Any second-year student in full and regular standing actually called into the service of the United States, as above defined, now or before the end of the school year, will be excused from residence from the date at which he is so actually called into service. Such students may return and complete their third year, and if they take successfully all their third-year examinations, such examinations will also be accepted in lieu of second-year examinations. 3. Fim-Year Stmlenu. Any first-year student who has been in regular attendance up to the date of his actual calling into the service of the United States, as above defined, who is so called into the service prior to the end of the school year, will be excused from residence from the date at which he is so actually called into service. Such students may return and complete their second year, and if they take successfully all their second year examinations, such examinations will also be accepted in lieu of first-year examinations. A word as to the financial wherewithal. In 1916-17 more than two-thirds of the income was from tuition. In the next two years there was, of course, a sharp break in such income. Nevertheless, the surplus of the School fthe amount standing to its credit on the books of the Treasurer of the Corporation under the heading General Suspense J increased from 373,837.96 on june 30, 1917, to 379,590.30 on june 30, 1919. Several factors contributed to this result - Austin Hall was leased to the U. S. Naval Radio School for f543,750, the members of the Faculty who served in the special session de- sired to receive therefor only an amount in the nature of an honorariumg and in the front office there was an Aberdeen watch over every item of expenditure, no matter how trivial. Expenditure for the Library was cut, but only about 12 per cent. The state of mind of some Cnot mostj citizens in the present emergency is dis- quieting. There are some who are conscious, keenly conscious, of what the country owes them but are not so conscious of what they owe the country, and there are some who, like an ostrich, refuse to face ugly facts. Persons who assert that, under present world conditions, our democracy will not prove fit to survive Cin the Darwinian sense of the phrasej are abviously a menace. But persons who assert with complacent optimism and 15