Purdue University - Debris Yearbook (West Lafayette, IN)

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In Memoriam. BE,NJAMIN HARRISON, A Trustes of Purdue UniTerslt] from JulT. 1895. to March. 1901. Born August 20. 1833. Died March 13, 1901.

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President Stone assumed his official duties under very auspicious circumstances. He took up the work of the new year with an enthusiastic faculty and a loyal student body. The results of the year just closed are very gratifying to the friends of Purdue. The educational standard of the institution has been steadily raised, and the increase in attendance has been unprecedented in the history of the University. The friends of Purdtie, in Indiana and elsewhere, were never more aggres- sive in her behalf. The alumni, too, have recently esliibited a loyalty and an enthusiasm which are decidedly reassuring. Taking these things into consideration, the friends of Purdue are warranted In looking for great things from the administra- tion of President Stone. He is a young man in the very prime of life and in the best of health, and gives promise of a long and useful career. It is a significant fact that those college presidents who have done most for their institutions and who have influenced the educational thought of their time most decidedly, have been men who have entered upon their presidential duties at a comparatively early age and who have held office for a long term of years. Yale attained her most remarkable develop- ment under the long presidency of Doctor Dwight. Harvard has developed consistently and unprecedentedly during the long administration of Charles William Eliot. Doctor Daniel C. Gilman has been president of the Johns Hopkins University for a quarter of a century, and in that time has made the institution a centre for graduate study unsurpassed by none in America. The efforts of President Angell during the last thirty years have placed tlie University of Michigan in the van of the great State Universities of the West. These men during their long presidencies have rendered notable services to their respective institu- tions and their influence upon contemporaneous educational thought has been inestimable. The most fruitful college presi- dencies in the history of American institutions have been those of long duration, and the trustees of Purdue have acted wisely in selecting a man for the presidency of this institution, who, among other qualifications, has youth and strength in his favor. President Stone is the type of man most likely to be successful as the executive head of an American college. He has had extensive university training, is imbued with the scientific spirit, has a comprehensive knowledge of imiversity educa- tion, particularly along technical lines, and is, in addition, a man of affairs. The early college president was generally a doctor of divinity. He was often a man of broad culture, and sometimes of scientific mind ; but frequently unskilled in busi- ness matters. There was then a demand for the man of business talent, and educational ability was considered of secondary importance. Many mistakes were made by institutions in the selection of presidents on this basis. It was soon found that the really successful man must possess both executive ability and scholarly attainments. The most efficient college presidents in recent years have been men of this type, and the new President of Purdue must be included in this category. It is with pleasure that the editors of the Debris dedicate this volume to President Stone as a tribute to his sterling worth as a man, and as a recognition of his eminent and loyal services to their alma mater.

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HEN a great man dies, commonplace grief disappears in the contemplation of his virtues and attain- ments. Rarely has this been true to so great an extent as in the death of Benjamin Harrison, and this is due to the inherent quality of his greatness. He occupied a large place in the world, not by reason of any of those evanescent or superficial qualities to which some owe their prominence, but from true in- tellectuality and force of character. The possession of a perfect mental and physical equipment, trained and utilized to the utmost, but never overtaxed, produced in him a type of the highest modern evolution of civilized man. The American people wasted no time in trying to analyze his character. Instinctively men recognized in him a safe leader and sound adviser. In every field of activity which he entered, and his life was not narrow, he demonstrated his greatness; as an acknowledged head of the legal profession; as a leader in the councils of the church ; in the highest political ofiice ; as a distinguished man of affairs ; as a patriotic citizen and a brave soldier ; in whatever aspect life presented itself to him, it found him full-rounded and masterful. He had the mental bent of the student, approaching every subject from the standpoint of inquiry and mastering it by methods and with an accuracy truly scientific. Had his life-work called him to a career of scientific research, he would have become such a leader there, as he was in fact in other fields, through the sheer force of his intellectual persistence and thoroughness. It was wholly in keeping with his high sense of civic duty, to sustain an active interest in affairs of charity, religion and ed- ucation. In later years when relieved from the burdens of public office he gave much time to these matters. During this period, Purdue University was fortunate in the enjoyment of his cordial friendship and active service as a member of its board of trustees. To tliis oflice he brought all of his rare ability and high qualities, expending them freely in behalf of the institu- tion. His interest and activity in the affairs of the University was not surpassed by any of his colleagues, while the inspira- tion of his presence and the force of his example were of priceless value to every officer, instructor, and student. His death is an irreparable loss ; but the memory of his life is a precious heritage, which should be treasured by all future generations of students, for no loftier type of man can be raised up for the emulation of college youth than Benjamin Harrison.