University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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the importunities of friends and party associates. Having once made up his mind as to the justice of a certain course of action, no amount of opposition, condemnation, intrigue or cajolery could swerve him. Yet on unimportant matters or where he was shown to be in error, no one was ever more willing to change his decision. An enlightened and consistent friend of popular education, he gave of his best efforts during his official life to further the interests of the public schools. Believing in the inherent and inalienable right of every child to 'an education at the hands of the state, he brought forward while a member of the legislature the now famous Bare-foot School- Boy Bill, which is spite of the bitterest opposition, has become the basic principle of the states relation to the future citizen. In the welfare of the University as the head and crowning glory of the state school system, the Governor was always active and solici- tous. Nothing connected with his official life gave him more pleasure than to visit the youth of the commonwealth here gathered for the pursuit of knowledge, and none of his public utterances were more carefully prepared than the addresses delivered by him in Denny Hall. ln fact, many of the essays and philosophical discussions which went to make up his widely read Life,U were first submitted to the judg- ment of this institutions faculty and student body in the form of ad- dresses. He believed in the University's future development and in- creasing usefulness to the state. He believed in the importance of having a large proportion of scholarly men and women in the body of citizens, as well as the necessity of having a great school to serve as the center around which the intellectual activity of the people might revolve, and from which might radiate progressive ideas to make the state a factor in the onward march of civilization. The Governor left behind him abundant evidence of his abilities as an author successful in the field of fiction, essay, and philosophy. His View of life is best summed up in his own words: 'iLife is ci strug- gle, ct school, cv test of fizfnessg no str-uiggle, no schoolg no school, no fitnessj no fitfzzcss, vw future, cffzizflzei' Ain Hits l1v01f'ZcZ or in any Hbazf may come after.

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3obn 1Rankin 1Rogers El jfrienb of tbeflllniversitxg Ol-IN R. ROGERS, the late Governor, Z:5W',1m', f?5mi , 15 a marked example of what the world 'af , QQ f x f , . 14: - fav? , calls success, and the close of it was all b3pi'k3A!g that his best friends could have wished for ' zgilgiii, . . . , him. Wflth all his mental power in full f' 1 'f .1 . . . . .1 , Q5 strength, and with bodily vigor little abat' 1-'F ed, after a very few days of illness he X-- xg X .4 , , , c l, passed to his reward, respected by the 'li 'I ' fl . tx t slab people he had served, loved by all his asso- w H9 YS-i, ' ' , , X Mb 1 I. ' ciates honored even bv his stron est op- fi 'ws . J ' g iq ' ponents. 5, dpi' . I 1 . , I . Born in frugal, self-reliant New Eng- 3 -rcifrri .. ,-1- 'Kea' 4 , ' , - ' land, educated in the bioad school of active business life, trained by actual participation for many years in public affairs, mature in judgment, sympathetic to- ward all refornrmovemeiits, clear-headed and well informed on economic questions, he settled in WVashington in 1890, at the age of 52, and almost at once took rank as a leader in political thought. He served one term as a member of the state legislature and in 1896 was elected governor by a vote greater than any man had ever before received for that office. To say that he came to the omce exceptionally well qualified is to state but the simple truth. In addition to his wealth of experience as clerk, merchant, farmer, public school teacher, journalist, and legis- lator, he possessed a special aptitude for executive work, unimpeach- able honesty, and that rarest of qualities among public servants, moral courage-courage not only to confront his enemies, but to withstand

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be Ut. . On October 14, 1901, the corner stone of the new Science Hall for the University of Wfashington was laid amid appropriate ceremonies. Perhaps not more than one man present on that occasian could look back over the lapse of years through which our loved Alma Mater has struggled, to the day when the corner stone of the old University building was laid on May 21, 1861. That was a time when the call to arms was stirring the hearts of men, both north and southg a time when all over the country, from east to West, men were hurrying to the front, leaving their work, their homes, their loved ones to answer duty's call. 'lt speaks volumes for the temper of the American people, that a handful of pioneers on the far western slope, while the nation was torn with civil strife, should make a small clearing in the dark Fir woods and there plant an institution of learning. To tiace the growth of the University up to the present time is the purpose of this sketch. Nor is this an easy task. People were not so careful then as now to record everything of interest connected with their institution. A