SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 1925
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE SEVENTEEN
.
.,., ,...
This Leaden Age?
Facts About Student Loan Funds
An American Heidelberg
By 'Hard Allen Howe
"Pale druggists in remote towns of
the hog and cotton belt, endlessly
drapping up Peruna. . . . Women hid-
den away in the damp kitchens of un-
painted houses along the railroad
tracks, frying tough beefstakes.
Ticket choppers in the subway breath-
ing sweat in its gaseous form....
Farmers plowing sterile fields behind
sad meditative horses both suffering
from the bites of insects. . . . Metho-
dist preachers retired after forty
years of service in the trenches of God
upon pensions of six hundred dollars
a, year... ..Decayed and hopeless
men writing editorials at midnight for,
leading papers in Mississippi, Arkan-
sas and Alabama.....
- These are a few of the items in a
melancholy catalogue of modern Am-
erican life as seen through the gloomy
spectacles of H. L. Mencken. Writing
in the New Republic some years ago,.
Edmund Wilson Jr. contrasted this
picture with the age of yesterday, with
the apocalyptic vision of Walt Whit-
man whose "clean-hair'd Yankee
worked with her sewing machine or in
the factory or mill," whose "pure con-
tralto sang in the olrgan loft," and
whose carpenter delighted in the
whistle of the plane as the shavings
curled away.
in other words the question at issue
is .whether America today is uglier,
and more sordid and less lovely than
it was fifty to a hundred years agc
There is a . widely heralded beh
which is continually being sweetened
and made more palatable by the sugar
of Time that "the good old days" were
days of high public and private mor-
ality, of essential pureness and of thej
exhaltation of the simple virtues--,
certainly far ahead of the present hec-
ticand high tension age characterized1
by bootleggers, Teapot Dome scandals,t
wailing saxophones,, and so on adt
naiseam. But were they?
Simplicity and frugality there werec
to be sure from the very nature of
existing conditions but it is hard to
see any marked superiority in public
and private standards of the time ast
compared with the present. The age
of big business with it attendant prob-<
lems of special privilege, graft and'
corruption had not yet arrived but
political standards of the time weret
low. The historian, McMaster, has
said, "In all the frauds and tricks r
that go to make up the worst form of c
'practical politics'-the men who'
founded our State and National gov-
ernments were, always our equals and1
ften our masters" And in the latter
part of the nineteenth century fromn
about 1870 to .1890 which has been
called thd age of waste and plunder
the lowering moral tone caused evenc
such an optimistic believer in dem-
ocracy as James .Russell Lowell to
write:
"I loved her old renown, her stain-f
less fame.
What better cause that I shouldt
loathe her shame!" If
In private life drunkeness was a
great vice and found victims in all
classes. Fights in which ears were
bitten off and eyes gouged out werel
common, There was often a lack ofI
cleanliness, and manners and con-
versation were apt to be coarse. 1
It is interesting to compare ther
opinions of foreign critics of that timeC
with those of today. English travelers,f
especidlly, took a vast delight in ex-I
posing American crudities. Most o1
them missed the larger and grandert
-pectacle of a continent being sub-
dued and a nation in the making and
confined themselves to smaller things.
Even Charles Dickens emphasized
such points as spittoons and lunch-G
time hurry and bustle. And in 1820
came the famous outburst of Sydneys
Smith:
-"Who, in the four quarters of thek
globe, reads an American book? or
goes to an American play? or looks
at an American painting ort
statue?...Who drinks out of Am-
erican glasses?.,.... or sleeps in
American blankets?"'
-iOf course all Americans could say;
in-reply to these taunts was "wait and
see." This only provolted more ridi-
cule. Said the English Review:
'tthers claim honor because of
things done by a long line of ances- I
tor9: an American glories in theI
achievement of a distant posterity...
Others appeal to history; an Ameri-
'can appeals to prophecy. . . . If al
traveler complains of the inns, and
hints a dislike for sleeping four in a
bed, he. . . is told to wait a hundredi
years and se the superiority of Am.
erican inns over British. If- Shakes-
peare, ililton, Newton, are mentioned,
he is told again, 'Wait till 1900, and
then see how much nobler our poets
and profounder our philosophers and
longer our telescopes, than any your
decrepit old hemisphere will pro
duce.'"~
Many other instances could be cited
of English contempt for American
manners and customs of the "good old
days." But how does the America of
today appeal to them? A couple of
quotations will be sufficient. That dis,.
The first loan fund at Michigan was mittee shall hold stated meetings in
established by the class of 1894 at the October. November, January, and Feb.
time of its graduation. This fund, ruary of each year, and at such other
amounting originally to an endow, times as may be necessary. All loans
-ment of a little over $1,500, was first shall be made in regular meetings of
taken advantage of early in 1897 when the committee, after a personal ap,!
a loan of $50 was made. The income
from the endowment is available for
loans to undergraduates in the Collegc
of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
From this modest beginning the
number of different loan funds has in-
creased to more than 60. In some, the
principal fund itself may be loaned
while in others the income only can
be used. The total amount available
from both sources is now slightly
'over $8,000.
cerning observer, II. W. Nevinson, Only twelve of these funds amount-
found America a land of "scrappi ing in all to less than $8,000 are avail.
suburbs littered with rubbish of old able to students of the University as a
whole. Nineteen with a total of be-
boards, tin pails, empty cans and tween $21,000 and $22,000 are limited
boots. . . . standardized villages and to women. About the same amount
small towns, alike in litter, in ropes of money,, in eight different funds,
of electric wires along the streets, in has been given for the benefit of stu-
clanking 'trolleys,' in chapels, stores, dents in the College of Engineering
railway stations, Main streets and iso- and Architecture, while the College of
lated wooden houses flung at random Literature, Science and the Arts has
over the country. . . . of heaven piled between $17,000 and $18,000 from the
offices, so clean, so warm, where love- seven funds given for the exclusive
ly stenographers, with silk stockings use of Its students.
and powdered faces, sit leisurely at The mistake must not be made of
work or converse in charming thinking that this amount of money is
ease. . . . of politicians contending available annually, for such is far
for aims more practical than princi. from the case. Very few loans are
p.es. . . .Republicans and Democrats I made for less than one year, the aver,
distinguished only by mutual age length being about two years.
hatred. . . ." This means that a large percentage of
Of a different sort was the reaction the funds is "working" all of the
of Sidney F. Wicks, who after his re- time.
cent tour of this country wrote in the During the 27 years that have
Manchester Guardian Weekly that elapsed since the first loan fund was
"America is simply one vast Hamlet established, over 1300 loans have been
engaged in the weary soliloquy, 'To ,made, aggregating nearly $120,000, of
park or not to park, that is the ques- which amount over seventy thousand
tion'. . . . Automobiles affect every- dollars has been repaid. The balance
thing in America. . ... Home life means is represented by note, by far the
that you have a starting point for a larger part of which are not yet due.
dash in the car. . . Gathered from When it is realized that in nearly
all nations of the earth, this people all cases the only security given by
ioves restlessly about, driven on by: the signer of the note is his word, the
tireless energy, sometimes forgetting number of past-due notes is remark.
what they started to do and therefore ably small. Most of the beneficiaries
driving all the faster, but conscious realize both that they are on their
all the time of a vast destiny, and honor to repay the University, and
singing 'America, I love you-and that a failure to do so means that
there are a hundred millions more like some other student in the future may
me.' America is a civilization on be denied much needed assistance due
wheels, and who knows where Am- to a lack of money in the loan funds.
erica will finally 'park'?" Prior to 1923 the loans were ad,
While life today is vastly different ministered by various individual com-
from that of yesterday it does not fol- mittees. In February of that year the,
low that it is also uglier and more Regents took the following action:
sordid. Probably the main difference "RESOLVED, That the Regents
is that life has become more complex suggest to future donors of loan funds
and more complicated. The last half that they give such funds subject to
century has 'been one of stupendous existing University regulations re
industrial and economic growth. How garding them as provided in the plan
stupendous one may dimly realize given below.
wvhen he reads that in the 'fifty years "RESOLVED, further, That when
from 1870 to 1920 the steam railroad possible and expedient the Regents
mileage increased from 53,000 miles' ask the donors of existing funds to
pearance of the applicant, and in ac-
cordance with any special provisions
of the fund.
In the administration of the loan
funds it has been the practice to limit
the beneficiaries largely to members
of the senior and occasionally the
junior class. It is only in very ex-
ceptional cases that loans are given to
sophomores and practically never to
freshmen.
It is felt that in general a student
should not borrow during his fresh,
man or sophomore years. If he were
given a loan during his first year in
college, he might well expect assis-.
tance right on throught his course. It
granted, this would tend to give himJ
the impression that the world owed
him a living, and also would turn him
out, when graduated, with a debt
which in many cases would be too
heavy for him to carry without great
difficulty. .
As the loans are generally made to
fall due a year after graduation, the
length of time that the money is tied
up is only from one to two years in
the case of loans made to seniors,
while if lent to freshmen the period
between the date of the note and its
due date would be from four to five
years. As it is desirable to turn the.
money over as frequently as possibl
in order to help the greatest number
of students, this is another reason for
limitibg the loans to the later years
of a student's college life.
Many interesting and at times
pathetic incidents come to light in
connection with the applications for
loans. In one case a student apply-
ing said that he did not feel that he
could carry on his studies satisfactor-
ily unless he gave up some of his out-
side work. Investigation showed that
he was trying to carry fifteen hours
in the College of Engineering and at
the same time work in a local garage
every night from 11 o'clock to 7
o'clock the next morning. lie re-
ceived the loan.
Another case was that of a boy
who was working in a local machine
shop from 5:30 o'clock in' the after-
noon to 4:30 o'clock next morning, six
days a week, and going to an 8
o'clock class for five of those days be-
sides carrying seven hours more.
When told that he could not keep on
such a schedule without breaking
down, he merely replied that he had
to do it to get the money to remain in
college. He did not even want to
borrow from the loan funds as he had
a horror of a debt, but he was finally
persuaded that this money had been
given to the University to help just'
such cases as his.
Occasionally the spirit prompting
the gift of the loan funds is misunder-
stood. This was the case of one young
man who evidently thought that here
was an easy way to get money to pay
his debts. He came in the office short-
ly after one Christmas vacation and
said that he would like to borrow two
hundred dollars. He went on to say
that he had just became engaged
against the wishes of his father who
had consequently cut his allowance to
just enough for him to live on for the
balance of the college year, about six
months. He owed his tailor and his
fraternity nearly two hundred dollars'
and they were apparently endeavoring
to collect. Upon being questioned as
to how much his father was going to
give him, the reply was "only one hun-
dred and twenty dollars per month."
He did not get the loan but was ad-
vised that probably if he tried hard
enough he could live on five hundred
dollars for the next six months and
could use the balance left from his
allowance to pay his creditors. He
agreed that probably he could, and I
imagine he did for he did not come
back.
A point which is not fully appre-
ciated by many students is that in
general it is better to borrow mone)
from a loan fund while going through
college than to overwork. After a
student has passed through the first
years of his college career and has
formed regular habits and has proved
his general worth; he might better
contract a financial obligation which
he can pay off after graduation than
a possible physical impairment which
can with difficulty if ever be remedied.
This must not be understood as ad-
vice to anyone to incur a debt tin-
necessarily. It is rather i suggestion
to those students in urgent need oft
financial aid that there is a possibility
of obtaining assistance from the loan
funds which have been given the Uni-
versity for the purpose of helping
such cases.
Home Making School
(Continued from Page Fourteen)
is converted into a children's dining-
room during lunch'hour. Small tables
and chair are placed in it with from
three to five children and a teacher
at each table. One long table is used
for serving, and at this each child
is given his tray or plate which he
carries to his own place. The milk
pitchers are taken to each table by
the small diners. The teachers eat
the same meal as the children, but
have extra servings of such foods as
butter, jelly and seasoning. These are
served to them by the pupils. The
kitchen has been remodelled to meet
the needs of the school.
Everything in the school is clean
and hygienic. The decorations are
bright, dainty, and colorful. Bright
drapes cover the fronts of 'the cup-
boards. Miss Lord, the director,
wears colored smock-dresses em-
broidered in pleasing colors which in
England are called "overalls." In this
way the children can be. taught the
various colors and foundations can be
laid for good taste.
Professor Barbara H. Bartlett, of
the department of public health nurs-
ing and hygiene, who gives a course in
child hygiene for the pre-school age,
when asked about the' opening of the
University nursery branch of the Mer-
rill-Palmer School said: "The opening
of the University branch of the Mer-
rill-Palmer school will be a great
benefit to all women students of the
University, whether they are planning
to teach or do social work. In fat,
all women interested in childhood ar
concerned with child development imd
training. The work that is being
organized by Miss Lord in the Merrill-
Palmer School will be of value, not
only to future mothers, but to all
University women interested in child
training and child development. Al-
though the school in Detroit has been
in operation since February, 1920, the
directors and staff have attracted na-
tional interest and praise in their
three fields, of general education and
advisory work in the fundamentals of
nutrition, of unit extension courses In
homemaking, dealing with food, cloth-
ing, home, family, and health, and a
nursery school."
An American Heidelberg, Big Head
By Dr. 0. F. Frankl, Professor Unli.
versity of Tlenna,
Translated from Neue Frele Presse,
By Dr. Bernhard Friedlaender, Detroit
Michigan.
Under the title "An American
Heidelberg," Professor 0. F.
Frankl, who delivered lectures
here last fall, has written an ar-
ticle comparing Ann Arbor to
Heidelberg, that gem among Ger-
man cities and universities. A
rather free translation is attempt-
edin the following:
Ann Arbor! thy name is sweet and
lovely, and lovely art thou like the
gentle rolling plane among which
thou art situated.
Nothing in this wonderful univer-
sity town reveals the fact that we are
dealing with a center of busy intel-'
lectual life. The university buildings
including libraries, dormitories, and
fraternities, seem to arise from the
vast green lawns and to be organically
connected with the remains of an al
most primeval forest. Numerous
sturdy youths and pretty maidens
wander along the streets and lanes.
Truly a sight to rejoice the hearts of
those who have not lost their youth in
the pursuit of wisdom and learning.
Although the city scarce counts 30,-
000 inhabitants, the university num-
bers 12,000 'students. 'No wonder so
many seek these hospitable halls of
learning,-for every opportunity is of-
fered them. The town itself would be
conducive' to deep concentration on
the part of the students. This is even
abetted by the fine example set by'
ambitious elderly people who attend
for the purpose of increasing their
store of knowledge.
Most of the buildings are situated
on the campus somewhat like Trinity
College of Dublin. Ann Arbor, how-
ever, is new and modern and at once
impresses the visitor with its indomit-
able will to grow and grow. A spac-
ious science building whose ground
floor is of stone, was erected quite re-
cently. Likewise a chemical labora-
tory. The medical building is plain
and severe,' but its mighty new wing
at present under construction, will
make it the equal of the largest medi-
cal schoofs. A new hospital, to cost
several millions of dollars, is being
built and will soon reach completion.
Also a new library, a rectangular
stone edifice of dignified style, its
middle section with slender pillars,
will soon be ready. The new engi-
neering school is magnificent, though
naturally its style is subservient to
its, purpose. On one corner of the
campus stands Memormal Hall, all of
stone and full of simple charm.
Truly great is the number of build-
ings, each of which serves some
special branch of science.
Long since, the buildings have over-
stepped the original confines of the
carpus. Hill Auditorium, with its
6,000 seats, is the delight of all the
students, for here concerts are held,
'and lectures, and the far-famed de-
bates in which skilled and worthy op-
ponents engage in intellectual fencing.
Quite recently the Auditorium wit-
(essed such a duel between Oxford
and Michigan. Doubtless, however,
the new quarters of the Lawyers' Club
would be considered the most beauti-
ful of all the buildings. It is a veri-
table palace, in Tudor style, of New
england granite, and charming In line
and color. All its halls and rooms
give proof of the taste and great
wealth of its donors. My guide told
me that during the past 'year over
twenty-three millions had been grant-
ed to the University of Michigan, in
part by the state, and in part by pr
vate donations.
A sunny morning; the air is warm
and pleasant. Happiness and joyous
ekcitement on the faces of the young
people standing in groups and dis-
cussing the events of the day. Football
in Ferry Field! The girls holding
yellow chrysanthemums tied with
blue ribbons. The boys in blue sweat-
ers with the beautiful yellow "M"
And Michigan honored, her praises
sung in every word, in every song and
game, for she lavishes upon her chil-
dren whatever they may need.
The immense concrete stadium al-
most enclosing the green lawns, rises
to dizzy heights. All of the 60,000
seats are occupied. Airplanes circling
above the field, drop chrysanthemums
upon those beneath. And now the
band of a hundred students marchlfkg
in from the south, strike up. Dressed
in dark blue, their short capes lined
with yellow silk, the musicians ad-
vance coquette and triumphant.
The game is on between Michigan
and Wisconsin. One longside of the
stands is reserved for the latter, while
Michigan occupies all the others. The
yell-masters of both factions, smart,
graceful boys, now enter; Wisconsin
in red sweaters, Michigan in blue
trimmed in yellow. As the foot-ball
players line up, the yell-masters'
activities begin. These leaders, mov-
ing deftly and gracefully, as they di-
'rect the audience, shot their orders
and clear cut rythm through their
megaphones. And with due precision,
40,000 voices take up the cheers, thus
arousing the proper mood and awak-
ening enthusiasm. During the whole
game the yell-masters' activities never
flag. New yells are constantly being
"megaphoned", the cheer leaders
leaping up a d down and keeping pace
with the spirit of the players. Wiscon-
sin's: U-rah-rah Wisconsin. U-rah-rah
Wiscon-sin. Yea!" at once is answered
by"Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Mi-chigan!
Rah!" And 40,000 voices intonate:
"0 Michigan, dear Michigan,
Thy sons will ne'er forget.
and never will her students forget the
golden days at U. of M.
The game, most excellent sport,
lasts two hours. Michigan wins 20:0
Yet Wisconsin is honored, and as they
sing their college song, Michigan
rises, 40,000 strong, and joins in en-
thusiastically.
The dust raised by 20,000 machines
gradually settles again. As my auto
rolls on smoothly to Detroit, the yel-
low and red of the sugar maples lin-
ing both sides of the road, gleam in
the twilight. Behind us recedes the
city of youth, the city of the future,
-Ann Arbor--and ahead, coming ever
closer, is th0 l'uill w-ov0P d -city of
D)Ptrof .w th v 4 ilindui,4 l ttan,
An Iitiii b a ti u vy cl nsmooth
and without hindrance between these
two cities, is the course leading from
the seat of learning to the world of
active life. This path is straight and
purposeful and firm in the belief that
knowledge and learning is not the
only asset in this new and strong
world, and that much depends upon
early preparation if theory and prac-
tice are to go hand in hand. Such
preparation is based not upon the
mere acquisition of facts to be stored
in the memory, rather it depends upon
the physical upbuilding of the individ-
ual. Finally this course rests upon
the knowledge that In this world
happiness consists mainly in making
and keeping friends and in working
and creating in company with them.
To this end do present-day univer-
sities contribute by means of fraterni-
ties, campus-life' and rigorous fair-
play games.
to 253,000 miles or a growth of 375
per cent. Population increased from
38,000,000 to 105,000,000, representing
a gain of 138 per cent. National wealth
expanded from thirty billions of dol-
lars to three hundred billions of dol-
lars; wheat and corn from a billion
and a quarter bushels together to four
billions of bushels; cotton from four
million bales to twelve; coal from 29,-
000,000 tons to 576,000,000 tons; manu-
facturing materials from a billion dol-
lars in value to fourteen billions of
dollars in 1914. And the list could
be lengthened indefinitely.
It is true, however, that this growth
along with the development of mech-
anical contrivances has enabled sor-
didness and vulgarity to flaunt them-
selves more glaringly. But this in it-
self should be a fresh challenge to
aesthetic souls. Their problem is to
bring machinery to the service of
beauty.
This, a leaden age? The answer
must be no, yet neither can it be said
that this is a golden age. But to make
it such should be the common goal
of mankind.
"Allons! the road is before us!"
Private Life of A Champ
(Continued from Page Eleven)
in the hall. Again his laugh filled thel
place. That boyish nature! How thel
children must love him!!
And so, I left without the story 1
had sought, but with a closer, richer,
deeper understanding of-not Jack
Dempsey, the fighter, but of--Jack
Dempsey, the MAN.
make such modifications of the condi-
tions under which loans are to be ad-
ministered that they -may all be sub-
ject to the same general plan.
"RESOLVED, further, That a uni-
form rate of interest of five per cent on
all loans be charged from and after
graduation or withdrawal from the
University.
"RESOLED, further, That all loan
funds contributed by University classes
shall be combined in a fund to be
known as the "Alumni Loan Fund"
and administered as a unit, the names
of the various classes contributing to
it, arrapged according to the school
or college, to be published in the list
of donors to the funds, and that the
various classes which have establish-
ed loan funds be requested at their
next reunions to agree to such an ar-
rangement, it being understood that
the University Committee on Loan
Funds will administer the combined
fund in the interest of all departments
contributing thereto.
"RESOLVED, further, That all ap
plications for loans from men be made
in the office of the Dean of! Students,
where application blanks will be fur-
nished. Women should apply to the
Dean of Women.
"RESOLVER, further, That the Re-
gents authorize a University Commit-
tee on Student Loans, to consist of
the Dean of Students, the Dean of
Women, the Treasurer of the Univer-
sity, and one representative from each
school or college, such representatives
to be appointed by their respective
Deans. The Dean of Students shall
act as chairman of the committee, and
the Treasurer as secretary. This com-
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