Greenfield High School - Evergreen / Exponent Yearbook (Greenfield, MA)

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V 8 THE EXPONENT • CLASS ORATION Conservation From the beginning of the great word war in 1914 to the signing of the armistice, one of the words most often seen in the papers was con¬ servation. Conservation of what? Meat, sugar and wheat. It affected all of us. I know it because I was forced to try to live and expand on less sugar, wheat and meat. Abaut the only unforbidden articles that I remember were fish, fruits, com meal mush and molasses. We all remem¬ ber the time when we were compelled to use peppermint candy in our cof¬ fee. Now peppermint candy is very nice in its place but dissolved in coffee it had the happy faculty of turning the coffee green. But aside from these homely meanings of conservation there is one meaning of greater and deeper significance, a meaning which only a few of our great men have truly known. The man best known to us perhaps is Mr. Hoover. He was re- snonsible in a measure for our lack of wheat, sugar and meat. But he had other plans. He was a world thinker, a man that thought not in terms of town, state or nation but in terms of the world. There are few men who have done this. Mr. Hoover ' s conduct during the war was most praiseworthy. As food admin¬ istrator he saw to it that our broth¬ ers across the sea received as much food as possible. We did not be¬ grudge it for we knew where it was going. We cannot help feeling that a man of Hoover ' s type would look well seated in the presidential chair. What is the thing that most im¬ presses a foreigner on coming to th‘s country? To him America is a land of riches unbounded, a land of free¬ dom and democracy. But when he has been here awhile what faults does he notice in us? Oh, you Americans are a wasteful people, you save nothing. That is a simple sentence in itself but for us it should have a deeper significance. Why is it that we are so wasteful? Because here among unparalled riches we have all that can be de¬ sired. In the family of nations America is the spoiled child who has all that it wants. We are a smart people but we are spoiled children. A spoiled child is cute but wears on one after a time. Let us be ex¬ ceedingly careful that we do not wear on the old nerves of the world. That brings up another point,—po¬ litical economy or political conserva¬ tion, as you wish. The majority of us are not politicians, so perhaps our judgment may be faulty. A group of ring politicians, called Senators, down in Washington have prevented our entrance into one of the most sagacious schemes ever invented to bring about political economy. What does that League mean to us? It means increased international con¬ fidence; and would tear down inter¬ national jealousies. We say we are a democracy and yet we let a bunch of egotistical aristocrats, called Sen¬ ators, run our government without check or caution. Thousands of taxpayers ' money have gone to sup¬ port an idle senate who have done practically nothing in the matter of legislation for the past three years. Oh, yes, I hear someone say, they passed the Volstead act, and re¬ turned the railroads and repealed daylight saving. Isn ' t that a fine lot of legislation? Something seems to be radically wrong with our po¬ litical system. Our old ship ' of state is nearing a very rocky shore. Let us watch and guide it ere it be too late. Now let us take up a few of our great champions of conservation and see what they accomplished. Washington was one of the great champions of political economy. He believed in economic peace and Puritan thrift. In the beginning our governmental plan was termed the Articles of Confederation. Under these articles there was not enough power given to the federal govern¬ ment, and such was the general dis¬ satisfaction that certain events ter¬ minated in a federal convention. At this federal convention an efficient plan of government was drawn up. Washington was president of the convention and Monroe the father of the plan. That plan is our pres¬ ent constitution. We are still using it. The second of our great cham¬ pions of conservation as I look upon them is Lincoln. I suppose in the

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THE EXPONENT 7 is just as proud of all her citizens today as she is of those of former days. Let us hope that the citizens of the future will be as worthy of remembrance. We of the class of 1920 wish to tell you people of Greenfield how much we appreciate your interest in us. We feel that during our school years you have been watching us and helping us. It always pleases young people to feel that their fathers and mothers and friends are vitally con¬ cerned in school affairs. And we thank you for coming here to-night, at a time that means so much to us. To you teachers we owe a great debt of gratitude for your patient, helpful work. You have not been simply teachers, but you have proven yourselves friends as well. Underclassmen, as we leave high school, you are coming on to fill our places. We have tried to be worthy of Greenfield High School. Will not you also try to uphold her honor? My Classmates, for the last four years we have been in high school. During that period our thoughts have ever been anticipating the time which to-night is realized. We have had many good times together, and we owe a great deal to dear old Green¬ field. Now no longer are we high school pupils. We are young men and women. And this is a time when men and women with pluck and abil¬ ity and stick-to-itiveness are wanted. Our country needs citizens anxious to work for her. Shall we not, each and every one of us, do our very best to fill our place? Now, as we go on into life, let us not forget our school, but always keep a place in our hearts for our own G. H. S. And let us carry with us those words that mean so much in whatever we do, “Loyalty, Honor. Scholarshin.” Ellen E. Pierce, ’20. CLASS SONG The Crimson and the Gold Tune: “The Orange and the Black.” I We are gathered now together At the end of four long years; We have had our fun and pleasure We have shared our doubts and fears. Now has come the time of parting May our hearts in mem’ry fold Loving thoughts of 1920 And the crimson and the gold. Chorus Here’s to dear old 1920! When time our fate unfolds, May we always stand together For the crimson and the gold! II G. H. S. we hate to leave you. Our friends and classmates true. As we journey on life’s pathway We will often think of you. Though our paths may be divided Pleasant mem’ries we will hold Of our days in Greenfield High School ’Neath the crimson and the gold. NORMA FOSTER.’ PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS OF WELCOME As president of the Class of 1920, I extend a hearty welcome to the parents and friends of its members, gathered for our class day exercises which precede the momentous oc¬ casion, better known as Graduation. The benefit which we have gained from the four years of study will be given an opportunity to reveal itself in the immediate future. The years to come will afford to the high school graduate more opportunities than any period before and the successful com¬ pletion of our four years of study only gives to the members of the Class of 1920 a firm foundation for the life work of each. We owe to the mothers and the fathers a debt which we can never repay, but we can show our apprecia¬ tion by making an overwhelming suc¬ cess of our life work. To the faculty and teachers our gratitude for their teaching can be shown by the constant use of the principles taught. Looking back over our high school course each can find flaws in what he has done and in the way he has done it. The next step in life gives to each a field of practice for what¬ ever knowledge he has. But wher¬ ever we go and whatever we do, there will always remain in the minds of each in the Class of 1920, three words which the Greenfield High School has impressed upon us—Honor, Loyalty and Scholarship.

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THE EXPONENT 9 ordinary sense of the word he was not a champion of conservation. But let’s see what he did. He estab¬ lished equality among men by eman¬ cipating the slaves. By his strength of character and tenacity to right principles he formed a precedent for succeeding presidents. By emanci¬ pating he was conserving for he was saving the south from itself. Eco¬ nomically the south is better today with compensated labor than it was before 1865 with slavery. That in itself is partly a return from the three billion dollars expended on the Civil war. Now I come to the greatest of our conservation champions, Roose¬ velt. Altho, to many people, he was not great yet he was preeminently a man of the people, with a mind virile and active to all great prob¬ lems. He knew what internal im¬ provements would mean, he carefully guided bills through congress. All of us have heard of the Roosevelt Dam and the Elephant Butte Dam, both products of Roosevelt’s active imagination put into material form. By means of these great reservoirs billions of gallons of water are stored up to be used on a land that heretofore had produced nothing but cactus and sage grass, now destined to become one of our most produc¬ tive sections. Irrigation accom¬ plished conservation. Furthermore, Roosevelt caused money to be appro¬ priated in order to buy land so that our domestic forests could be saved, thereby conserving our timber sup¬ ply. It is due to Roosevelt’s great planning and unceasing activity that we now have national forests equiva¬ lent iji area to France and Bel¬ gium combined. In saving our tim¬ ber lands, which border our streams, we are also sure of a continuous sup ply of water power. China is an example of a country which has not regarded her timber lands as a val¬ uable asset. Her hills are constantly erroding. Yearly great floods sweep thru her valleys, carrying away and drowning thousands of inhabitants. The world is looking today for in¬ creased production. America has great natural power stored in its hills. The damming of countless streams in the west has brought about a great, new source of cheap power; hydraulic-electricity. This is a crowning example of Roosevelt’s conservation policy. Finally I came to that form of con¬ servation which more directly con¬ cerns each one of us. We are con¬ stantly reminded that young Amer¬ ica is the hope of the world. Now it is up to us to show the world that we are not hopeless. Most of young America is in school now or at least should be. During the war increased demand for manufactured products and scarcity of labor, caused many young people to leave school for what appeared to them to be great op¬ portunity. They were temporarily blinded by what seemed to be high wages. We shall have to admit that in some cases leaving school would be excusable because of the financial aid which the family might need. Let us hope that young America will con¬ tinue to go to school and learn the three R’s as well as other things. Let us not forget that governments do not hanpen; but that they are born of a spirit, and a desire for something better. With these thoughts in our minds let our fervent prayers always be that this shall continue to be a government of, by and for the peo¬ ple. J. Norman Alberti. IVY ORATION Why Go To College The question of “Why Go to Col¬ lege?” is not so sharply contested as formerly, for the people of the pres¬ ent age see more clearly the neces¬ sity of trained men and women, and young people, understand, if they ob¬ serve carefully, that in order to com¬ pete for honors in the game of life, they must specialize or train them¬ selves highly along some particular line of work. In spite of this general change in sentiment, there are many who are too content to drift along into a mere job instead of striving to do something worth while. I have not quite made up my mind whether these people are just plain lazy or whether they do not understand the advantage of higher education and so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they do not appre-