Cornell University Medical College - Samaritan Yearbook (New York, NY)

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1 1 : 1 K l 1 I 1 1. lb 1 1 Sb-Wea' Vfjfomig 1 1 1 U 1 1 S 1 ,t 1 1 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 .,. L12 1 1 1 1 1 E council what action should be taken respecting it. That committee consisted of the Rev. Dr. john Hall, Dr. William Allen Butler, your President, and Messrs. William S. Opdyke, john Claflin, Frederic Baker, and William Wheelock. Our com- munication was laid before that committee. A letter of Colonel Oliver H. Payne, bearing date january 8, 1898, was also sent to that committee. That let- ter is as follows: 'New York, january 8, 1898 'To the Reverend Doctor Hafll, Chairman Com- mittee, etc.: 'Dear Sir: I understand your committee is about to take up the matters referred to you,-, and is de- sirous of having all the parties interested' before you. I am called out of the city by the serious illness of my sister, and therefore take this means of placing before you my relation to the matter. 'When the negotiations were in progress which resulted in the turning over to the University of the property 'by the Medical Laboratory Corpora- tion, my advice was sought by the physicians, and some of the latter, or members of the latter, cor- poration. I felt that from my past relations to those gentlemen and their institution, my advice might have m-ore weight than it was entitled to. I there- fore considered myself peculiarly bound to under- stand fully the conditions upon which the transac- tion was to be made. I repeatedly conferred with these gentlemen and the Chancellor, and the result was that I entertained no doubt but that it was fully and definitely understood by all parties that in case the property was turned over, both the prop- erty and the entire direction and control of all matters relating to medical affairs should. be vested in a medical committee, to 'be constituted by an agreement on the individuals by name. Such a com- mittee was constituted, two gentlemen being elected by the council for that purpose. Under such cir- cumstances, alone, I advised that the property be turned over, otherwise I should not have so advised. 'I feel that the agreement upon which I relied when giving the advice has been entirely violated, and my own honor demands that the property be returned. ' 'Yours very truly, O. H. Paynef This action and that of the committee and- of the council is stated as follows by one of its mem- bers in a circular letter addressed to all the mem- bers of the council: The committee, Mr. Wheelock being 211353112 arrived at the unanimous conclusion that the Uni- versity could not honorably retain P0SSCSSi0f1 of the property conveyed to it 'by the Medical College Bloofningdafe Sanitarinm-as it appeared when il war opened in 1821- 11 wa! Iocaled near the Jenen-mile .ftone on the Bloomingdale Road, now 116th Streel and Broadway. Laboratory Association, while continuing to use prOperty in such a way contrary to the wishes of the donors. The report of the special committee was not accepted by the council, although the emi- nent lawyers in the council, with one accord, urged the adoption of its conclusions on the highest grounds of hono-r and right. I In the light of this action of your committee and your council, it is difficult to see what more can be accomplished by an arbitration. No facts could be submitted by you which your committee has not already investigated and passed upon ad- versely to you, and nothing could be developed which would affect our firm conviction that you cannot honorably retain our property, given to you upon representation which you have failed to carry out. Nevertheless, we are willing to submit to arbit- ration the question whether you should return to us the property which we donated to you, provided such arbitration be confined to the question of what is right, just and equitable on your part, eliminating all legal technicalities. As it is import- ant for us that our position in regard to the property 'be speedily determined, we must make it a condition that you send us, within five days, a list of gentlemen, impartial in the matter, with whom you would be satisfied as arbitrators, and a proposed submission, on receipt of which we will either adopt your names and plan of submis- sion or submit to you another list, and any modih- cation of the submission which we desire, the arbitration to be commenced within two weeks from this date, and completed within ten days thereafter. No question of our future relations to each other or affecting the Loomis Laboratory to be co-nsidered by the arbitrators. Yours truly, QSignedj Charles E. Miller, Vice President. In everything that the medical faculty has done it has had the cordial support and approval of Colonel Payne and of every one of its own members. Colonel Payne, as is well known, has taken a very active interest in medical matters, and in addition to his generous contribution to the Medical College Laboratory, founded and supported the Loomis Laboratory at

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recommend to the council what action should be. taken re- specting it. What -thereafter took place is shown in the fol- lowing correspondence: New York, March 24, 1898. Israel C. Pierson, Esq., Secretary: ' Dear Sir: On behalf of the Medical College Laboratory, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your communication to its several members, dated March 7, 1898, advising it that at a meeting of the coun- cil of New York University, held March 7, 1898, the following action was taken: Resolved, That the council of New York Uni- versity is willing to submit to arbitration any dif- ferences between it, on the one hand, and the Medical College and Loomis Laboratories, on the other handg and if those corporations also desire an arbitration, the officers of the council and the Chancellor be authorized to make the necessary arrangements and agree on the appointment of three arbitratorsng and to state: There are no mat- ters indifference between the New York University and the Medical College Laboratory to which the Loomis Laboratory is a party, and we confine our reply to the matters in differencce between the New York University and our college. They are briefly set forth in our letter to the council of the New York University, bearing date january 8, 1898, a copy of which is as follows: New York, January 8, 1898, The Council of the New York University: Dear Sirs: About a year ago we transferred to your institution property representing the results of the labor of our faculty for Hfty years. That transfer was made with the object of bringing the medical department and your institution into closer touch, and with the understanding that the eonrrol and management of that property should remain with the medical department, and for that purpose the interests of our faculty should be represented by a medical committee selected by your institution composed of gentlemen of the faculty, to whoni should be entrusted the entire and exclusive man- agement of affairs appertaining to ir, The expectations of that transfer have not been attained. The experience of the past few months has shown that you are unable to carry out that understanding. The control of the medical depart- ment has been taken by you from the medical committeeg the expenses and salaries of the officers of the medical department have been fixed without their consent and without consultation with the medical committee, the personnel of the medical committee has been changed by you, and one of the gentlemen selected by our faculty to guard and protect their interests 'has been dropped from your council in direct opposition to the wishes of those who represent our faculty, and in direct violation of the understanding. Under these circumstances, we consider that you must necessarily be unwilling to retain the property which we gave to you on the foregoing understanding. By a restoration of that property to us, we trust to be able, as we have always been in the past, to carry on our institution with success, and by harmonious action, which under the present circumstances is impossible of attainment, to pro- mote the prosperity of both our institutions. We request that you will give the matter your immediate attention and re-transfer to us our prop- erty transferred to you last year. We remain, Yours very respectfully, D. Willis james, President Charles E. Miller, Vice President Francis Lynde Stetson, DireCtOr M. Polk, Director Lewis A. Stimson, Director R. A. Witthaus, Director Gilman Thompson, DireCf0f Prior to that time a committee had been ap- pointed by your President, Dr. William A1160 Butler, in pursuance of a resolution of the council dated November 5, 1897, adopted without any re- quest from us, directing the appointment of a com- mittee to investigate -the matter of the properly of the medical department and recommend to the llVard, Jecozrd New York Horpilal. Sha by Ibe First and Second Medical Division red r. c0UnCi That Hall, Fredfflf 8, ter is 35 mittee, ff .Deaf 5 to take U sirous Of You' I 3. illness of of Placing 'When resulted lf the PFOPC tion, my 1 some of fl poration. I gentlemen have more fore consie stand fully tion wisro? gentlemen that l enter and dehnit case the pr erly and tl matters rela in a medic agreement c mittee sm . by the cou Glmstances, turned or-er 'I feel rt when givin, and ml' out felumed. W1-lliS QQ iilt council bers in 3 O .The l L01 '1fl'lYQd .H , v u K F0 8 . P in Bloonriwdr., Y If 1 r -ur MMI: u'1'l flip.. v 4414.1 7, -4

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fi' Z. Z' ! ly Old Lying In Horpiml, 17ilo Street and Sefond 1414672113- his own expense. He is bitterly disappointed that the New York University, in whose future he took such a warm interest at one time, should have so utterly betrayed his expectations. It can be added authoritatively that several of the most prominent members of the council are practically sure to resign in the event of Chancellor MacCracken and his majority of the trustees refusing to return to the Medical College Laboratory the property conveyed to the University, that a number of other trustees are likely to take the same action, and that litigation will ensue. It is asserted that in the division of the council the men of real weight and influence in the community are arrayed against the Chancellor. An opportunity was offered to Chancellor MacCracken fully to state in these columns his side of the controversy, but he positively refused to discuss the matter. Chancellor MacCracken's campaign was destined for fail- ure and the services and resources of the Medical College Laboratory were lost to New York University for all time. In rapid succession thereafter: Q11 the dissident group formed its forces from the faculties of the old New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical schools and all their adherents, including 215 students of the Cgmbingd schools, set up under the banner of Cornell Medical School, using a small building on the Bellevue Hospital grounds, near the Twenty-Sixth Street entrance, and -the,Loomis Lab- oratory, Q21 Colonel Payne put up 351,500,000 and Plans were started immediately for the erection of what was planned to be the finest medical school plant in the country, Q31 legal proceedings were initiated to decide once and for all the distribution of the properties in dispute between the two institutions, Q41 Bellevue Hospital Medical School became the graduate medical school for New York Uni- versity, combining forces with the remnants of the old New York University medical faculty, under the name New York University Medical School. In the autumn of 1898 the new Cornell School opened its doors with an enrollment of 245 students 3 64 of whom were in the first year class, 83 in the second, and 98 in the two upper classes. Of these latter some were expecting to be graduated at the end of their third year, while the rema-inder were pursuing a fOur-year course in accordance with a recent ruling of the State Re- gents, which was to be made obligatory for al-l subsequent classes. The legal disputes between the two schools were carried to the S-tate Supreme Court, the Apellate Division of the Supreme Court and finally to the Court of Appeals of the State and all decisions were in favor of the Medical College Laboratory group whose legal counsel, incidentally, was Elihu Root, later to be Secretary of State. Another interest- ing aftermath of the split between the two schools 'was the graduation ceremony of the New York University Medi- cal School in May, 11898, during which Drs. William M, Polk, Lewis A. Stimson, W. Gilman Thompson, George Woolsey, Henry P. Loomis, J. Clifton Edgar, Frederick W, Gwyer and Irving S. Haynes, who were interested in the establishmen-t of the new Cornell University Medical C01- lege, sat on the stage and heard themselves publicly and roundly criticised 'by the Chancellor. One of the students typed out his impression of what the commencement exercises should include: Programme Metropolitan Opera House Annual Commencement Exercises, New York University Medical College, Wednesday, May 18, 1898 Musice Qlntroductory March1 Oh Boys we'll never go there any more . I. Roll-call of the Council by the exActing Dean. Music: QSchottische1 Miss Mulligan's home-made pie . II. Conferring of the degree of M.D. QMacCracken's Dishonor1 by the Lord High Chancellor. Music: QAdaptation from the Mikado1 I've'got him on the list . III. Students' Farewell Oration: The Old Homestead . Music: QTwo Step1 I don't want to play in your yard . IV. Distribution of Prizes: Q11 A first prize of S150 to the chap who has corraled the greatest number of students for Cornell. Q21 A second prize of 55100 to the physical diag- nosis student who has most accurately mea- sured the size of the Old Man's spleen. Q 31 A third prize of 350 to the nervous student who can make a diagnosis between the Old Man and a Kleptomaniac. Music: QOriginal composition for the evening1 Cornell Quickstep . QDuring this performance the audience are most earnestly requested to keep their seats.1 V. Oration by Citizen George Francis Train: Terri- ggfial, Aggrandizement and some home aspects of ar . Music: QEthiopian Oddity1 A Bullfrog am no Nightingale - VI. Brief Q?1 Address by the Very Reverend Dr. Hen- nery M. MacCracken, D.D., LL.D.: Why I am a Pedagogue . V Music: QSong1 No one to love me, none to caress . . VII. Grand Finale: Public incineration of the Will of the late Valentine Mott. March Funebre. Exeunt omnes-allegro con moto.