Bowdoin College - Bugle Yearbook (Brunswick, ME)

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WILLIAM LeBARON PUTNAM, LL.I). For many years, the name of William LeBaron Putnam has stood among those of the trustees of Bowdoin College. “For a quarter of a century, as chan- man of our finance committee, he has borne the burden of our financial problems from the largest responsibility for investment down to the smallest detail of ex- penditure.” He has given unsparingly of time and labor to the interests of his Alma Mater. Bowdoin’s present financial prosperity owes a vast debt to Judge Putnam. The college is stronger and safer for his brains. And her students though they too seldom sec him face to face, are continually confronted with tin- evidence of his service. Judge Putnam was born in Bath, May 12, 1835. At the age of sixteen he entered Bowdoin with the class of 1855. While in college, he distinguished himsel f as a diligent student. Of his marvelous powers of application, some one has said. “He will work twenty-five hours out of every twenty-four”; and this seems to have been true of him while in college. He joined the Chi Psi fraternity: and, though naturally shy, his sterling qualities were universally admired. One of his classmates writes of him as follows, “There were few in the class of whose ap- pearance and manner in our student days, I have a more distinct recollection. Physically he was tall and straight. Intellectually, he was in the front rank of his classmates, not noticeably brilliant but strong, not worried by any recitation, and making us feel that he had a reserve of power. If one had been a prophet, he might have seen in Putnam a future judge. I doubt if those most intimate with him ever saw him greatly excited, or when lie lacked complete self-possession. Judge Putnam as a student not only had the respect of all his classmates for his ability, but, by his bearing towards them, he won from all the most kindly feeling. There was recognition of his weight of character; and no surprise has been felt by those who knew him during his college life, in view of his achievements and the high positions which he has reached and filled.” Judge Putnam graduated in 1855, with the award of Phi Beta Kappa and the assignment of the English oration, an honor given to the first man in the class.

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TO WILLIAM LeBARON PUTNAM, LL.D. THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE Class of 1910

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The Bowdoin Bugle, 1910 For some years, he worked on the Bath newspapers. In 1858. lie was admitted to the bar; and his long legal career was begun. His ability for close and continuous application, the thorough, logical qualities of his mind soon won him fame in the profession. His power of systematic labor is unequalled. In this, he is a model for all students. At the bar. there was no safer or abler counsellor; he took the lead in commercial and corporation law. Portland’s best known men employed him as their business adviser; the principal railroads and business corporations retained him as their counsel. In 1892, Mr. Putnam’s high qualities received their just recognition in an appointment to the bench of the United States Circuit Court. It was at a great personal sacrifice that he accepted this position. His service here has been noteworthy. He is strong in every branch of judicial work. In matters of maritime and commercial law, his authority is everywhere recognized. There is no abler or more valuable judge on any Federal bench in the country. In politics, Judge Putnam has been a staunch Democrat. In 18G9, he was elected Mayor of Portland, and in 1888, he received the largest vote ever given a Democratic candidate for Governor. Judge Putnam has also been prominent in international affairs. In 1897, he received an appointment from President Cleveland, as commissioner in behalf of the United States, to negotiate with Great Britain in settlement of the rights of American fishermen in Canadian waters. His great legal learning, his determination to arrive at an honorable agreement, brought him into prominence in two countries; and he came to be recognized as one of the leading lawyers on this continent. Again in 1896, Judge Putnam served as commissioner under a treaty between the United States and Great Britain. And so Judge Putnam's fame has extended far and wide. But in the grateful affection of their regard, Bowdoin men will surpass all others. To them, he seems to be peculiarly a Bowdoin man; and all the other achievements of his life sink into insignificance when weighed with the work he has done for his Alma Mater. The bond of common love for the college brings him close to the hearts of all the men of BOWDOIN. 9