City College of New York - Microcosm Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 24 text:

• THE 1 92 + • MICROCOSM Guitcrman, '91, popular poet, Montrose J. Moses, '99, dramatic critic and international authority on Ibsen and Maeterlinck; Upton Sinclair, ’97, social reformer, and author of “The Jungle,” “The Brass Cheek” and The Goose- Step”; Samuel A. Tanenbaum, '03, noted Shakespearian scholar, and co-editor of the Journal of l’sychanalysis and Sexology, George Sylvester Vicrcck. '06, and Lewis Freeman Mott, '83. In the world of business, John Claflin, ’69, Lee Kohns, '84, James ('. McCrecry, ’75, and Isaac N. Seligman, '53, have all made their mark. Among our educators have been, Thomas W. Churchill, '82, former President of the Board of Education, Bash ford Dean, '86, professor of Vertebrate Zoology at Columbia, Charles Derlath, Jr., ’94, Dean of the College of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado, and George S. Davis, '80, President of Hunter College, to which may be added the names of Edward Walmcslcy Stitt, ’81. Albert Ulinann, ’81, and Edward C. Zabriskic, '93. Richard Floyd Clarke, '80, stands out in the field of American legal thinkers and among those who occupy official positions of distinction at the bar today are Thomas W. Churchill. '82. Robert F. Wagner, ’98, and Julius M. Mayer, ’84. Among the religious leaders in our alumni body have been the Rev. Dr. Charles Prospero Fagnani, 73, professor of Biblical Literature at the Union 'rheological Seminary since 1892; Samuel Macaulay Jackson, '70, eminent church historian and editor of the SchaIT-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge; Stephen S. Wise, ’91, Samuel Schulman, '86 and Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Her , now Chief Rabbi of England. Distinguished in the field of science have been the late Cleveland Abbe, famous meteorologist and head of the U. S. Weather Bureau; the late Charles Avery Doremus, 70, for many years professor of Chemistry at the college; Ira Remsen, '65; in the field of medi- cine, Robert Abbe, 70. Nathan E. Brill, 77, and Sigmund Pollitzcr, 79, fore- most specialist on Dermatology. To these may be added the names of Jerome Alexander. ’96. expert on colloidal chemistry; Professor Selig Hccht, ’13, of Harvard University, bio-chemist; Dr. William Crozicr, '12, professor of Zool- ogy at Rutgers; Dr. I. N. Kugclmass, ’17, professor of Blood Chemistry at Yale, Dr. I. J. Kliglcr, ’ll, of the Public Health Department and head of the Malaria Division in Palestine, and Dr. F.. K. Morris, '04, geologist of the American Museum of Natural History. Morris R. Cohen. ’00. represents the college in the field of philosophy. Each generation has added to the .endless chain of loyalty to the college a link of service to the community, and a standard most difficult of attainment has been set for the two hundred and fifty men of Twenty-four, who have drunk full of the life-giving sustenance of Alma Mater. Just seventy-five years ago, on the 15th of January, 1S49, the gates of the new college building on Twenty-Third Street were thrown open to welcome the 143 young men who comprised the first class. A humble beginning, to be sure, but then King’s College, the well known Morningsidc institution today, u turn I y-three 5 =3d

Page 23 text:

• THE 1 924- • MICROCOSM £ euenty-fuie $rars nf JIjp (Enllrye 1349-1924 OVKRNOR BERKELEY »f Virginia historically crystallized the attitude of all enemies of free education in America two centuries ago, when, in reply to the query of the English Comniisioner of Foreign Plantations as to what course was taken in Virginia for public instruction, he said: ‘‘I thank Ciod there arc no free schools nor printing-presses, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world, and printing lias divulged them, and libels against the best of governments: (iod keep us from both!' This declaration, typical of much that has persisted in the attitude of apparent hostility to the ever-growing needs of higher education, is a direct challenge to the great experiment which made possible the College of the City of New York. Has the college justi- fied the confidence of those voters, who, by referendum in 1847, made possible its creation? Have we, the seventy-five college generations who have passed through its portals, given to our city of ourselves ceaselessly and unstintingly? Have we kept the faith with our Ephcbic Oath? The only answer conics through deeds, not through words. Yes, City College has kept the faith. For seventy-five years Alma Mater has sent on their way men whose personality and attainments are writ large in public service: Bernard M. Baruch, ’89. Director of the Allied War Industries Board during the war and donor of the institute of Politics at Williamstown; Col. (Icorgc W. Goethals, who made possible the monumental task symbolized by the words: Panama Canal;” Henry Morgenthau, '84, former American Am- bassador to Turkey; Roswell B. Burchard, '80 former Lieutenant-Governor of Rhode Island, to mention just a few. In every field of public welfare have the alumni of City College been prominent. In the Drama, James K. Hackctt, '91, the internationally famous Macbeth” of our decade; in Art, our own Leigh Hunt, 77, David C. Taylor. '90, critic. Arnold William Brunner. 78, celebrated architect, whose work in- cludes Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Columbia School of Mines, and the Lewisohn Stadium; and Edward Morse Shephard, 79, architect of the new college; in the field of belles lettres, Richard Rogers Bowker, '68, editor and critic; Arthur twenty-two “s; . c 3

Page 25 text:

found itself launched on its career with a half dozen students and Harvard found no need of adding a second man to its faculty staff” until sixty years after its founding. Our Military Science courses, in 1924 arc directly descend- ant from the great West Point tradition of the college’s early days. From Horace Webster, a product of the U. S. Military Academy, who held the post of President for twenty-one years, there emanated a tradition of strict discip- line and a military atmosphere which remained with the college during its adolescence and blossomed forth full grown during the recent war. In those days, a concerted hue and cry for aesthetics on a wholesale scale would have incurred anathema, for a rigid course in mathematics was the backbone of the curriculum. Hut, as Philip J. Moscnthal, '83, in his Essay on The Spirit of the College” has pointed out, the spirit of the finer culture was not lacking. If we had the military influence of Webster and Webb, we bad the literary influence of Anthon and Barton.” “Ye students think hole great a man is he Who ean at once a Harare and Webster be. was the amusing tribute of the college poet to the first President, earnest and dogmatic, and wholesomely intolerant of indolence. Richard Bowker, tells us the Doctor was rather a combination of Cato and Andrew Jackson. He stamped his mark indelibly on the faculty and student l»otly of his time, and to the venerable alumnus, he is the sort of man who looms up in memory as the years go by. For thirty-three years following the retirement of Dr. Webster (1869), General Webb, Civil War hero of Pensacola, Bull Run and the Seven Days’ Hattie, contributed his untiring efforts to the cause of the college. By his historic appearance on the floor of the state senate in 1898. he was directly instrumental in securing the passage of the supplementary act providing for the sum of $200,(XX) for the new college site. Staunch in his opposition to the new elective propaganda” and to the modernist innovations in higher education. Webb faithfully piloted the ship through its most dangerous age. With Hliphalct Nott, McCosh, Barnard and Eliot, he deservedly should be ranked among the really distinctive college presidents in the history of higher education in America. During the period of General Webb’s incumbency, two acts were passed which largely increased the college’s field for service. In 1882 the state legislature repealed that section of the statutes relating to the college which had named attendance at the public schools of New York City as a perequisite for admission, thus throwing open the college to all young men of sufficient preparation. In 1900 the legislature created a separate Board of Trustees, to be ap| ointed by the Mayor, and to be composed of nine members. An interregnum of one year, during which Professor Alfred George Comp- ton served as acting-president, followed the resignation of President Webb. twenty-four