Swarthmore College Alumni Bulletin 1941-10-01

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HOOD TROPHY TO BE PRESENTED AT HAVERFORD GAME
On
On November 15th, classmates and friends of Albert L.
Hood, Jr will present a Trophy in his honor. Those class­
mates and friends who were closely associated with Albert
Hood knew he was representative of the finest in Swarthmore
men.
is circle of friends included not only many from
Swarthmore but many from Haverford as well. Because of
those contacts, he was always interested in better relations be­
tween the two colleges. As football manager, his interest was
focused particularly on athletic relations between Swarthmore
and Haverford. He endeavored, in so far as it was possible for
an individual, to bring about a resumption o f complete athletic
relations between the colleges.
Those who were keenly interested in establishing a perma­
nent memorial in his honor felt that the resumption of the
annual football game between Haverford and Swarthmore oftered a unique opportunity to create a symbol of his close

interest. This f l i H R M I I M
B f e
..
I
interest. This Trophy covers the broader field of athletic rela­
tions because it is to be awarded annually to the winner of the
majority of the athletic contests and not to the winner of anv
single contest.
;
The Trophy itself is a large, plain, sterling silver bowl and
tray of the Paul Revere pattern. The bowl is approximately 10
inches high and about 18 inches in diameter. The only markB B Jhe bow1 will be the inscription: "Given in memory of
§B | | 1 B H ood, Jr., by his friends of Swarthmore and Havertord Colleges.’’ Under the bowl is a tray corresponding in de­
sign. On one end of the tray the name of "H averford” will be
engraved, and on the other end, "Swarthmore,” and begin­
ning m the fall of 1942, there will be entered under the col­
lege name the years in which it was won by the respective colB
T he Hood^ Trophy will be on display at Haverford on
the day of the Swarthmore-Haverford game, November 15th

S W A R T H M O R E A L U M N I ON T H E M A R C H
The Alumni Office m ll he eery

1923
A lban E. Rogers, U. S. Army, Langley Field, Virginia.

1927
J. Paxton U nger, U. S. Army, Indiantown Gap, Pa
Robert W hite Lafore , U. S. Navy, Alexandria, Virgima.

1928
T heodore F etter , U. S. Army, Camp Livingston, La.

1931
Robert K intner , Naval Intelligence, Capt., U. S. Navy.

1933
E dward E. Stevens , U. S. A., 103rd Engineers, Indiantown Gap, Pa.

1937
D udley P erkins, U. S. Army, Fort Shelby, Mass.
Drew Y oung .

1938
W illiam Smith , 9th Naval District, Great Lakes 111
FRgD L evering, U. S. Navy.
E llice M cD onald, U. S. Army. Discharged after year’s service.

1939
N ed M orningstar, U. S. Army, Camp Wheeler, Georgia
E dward D obbins, U. S. Army in Kansas.
S
WiLLiAM Campbell Rittman , U. S. Army, Camp Lee, Virginia
J ames M orrison W ilson , U S Army
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E dwin B. Smith , U. S. Army, Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Raymond A lbertson , Quartermaster’s Corps, Fort Jackson S C
D avid O lds, Naval Intelligence, Philadelphia Pa J
’
Robert N ea le , Air Corps.
W illiam B oam, Royal Dutch Air Corps, Batavia, Java.

gratefulfor any a n i o n s or c o r d o n s io Ms Us,,

1940
Rexford E merson T ompkins, Air Corps, U. S’. Army, Camp Lee
v lrginia.
^
’
W illiam Reller , U. S. Army, Camp Lee, Virginia.
W illiam W imer Smith , U. S. Army, Camp Edwards, Mass
A rthur Snyder, U. S. Navy. On board U. S. Illinois.
P eter H en l e , U. S. Army, Fort Eustis, Virginia
S ? ™ ^
h in n ey U. S. Army. Discharged after a year’s service.
W alter Isgrig, U. S. Army, Machine Records Unit, Arlington Va
J ohn Sanderson, U. S. Air Corps.
’
J ames B lackman , U. S. Army.
Martin L ow , Air Corps.
E dward B ooher, U. S. Army.
H eywood B roun , U. S. Army, Fort Bragg, N. C.
Robert H all , U. S. Army, Fort Bragg, N. C.
JoiE Redefer , Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland.

1941
George Richard E berle , U. S. Army, Bolling Field, D. C.
Grant H eilman , First Photographic Squadron, Bolling Field D. C.
r I rtS T p ° SS m
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U ’ S ’ Army’ CamP Davis>North Carolina.
B erton Paxon M arclay, Lieutenant, Flying Instructor, U. S. Army,
Gunter Field, Alabama.
J ohn M iller , training for naval reserve.
J ohn W right, U. S. Army, Camp Lee, Virginia
W illiam MacP hail , U. S. Army.
Steph en Lax , U. S. Army.
W illiam T immis, U. S. Air Corps.
Charles Canedy , U. S. Army.

1942
F red K ettner , U. S. Army
J ohn L eich , advised by draft board not to return to college.
Robert B raden, advised by draft board not to return to college.

R E S E R V E D S E A T S FDR H A V ERFO RD GAME
H

J H H H H H H
seats IS Q B h eld fo r Sw arth m °rean s on N ov em b er 15th . T ick ets w ill be
$ 2 .2 0 each (in clu d in g ta x ) and w ill be a v ailab le fo r distribution a fte r N o v em b er 1st Send vour
check and a stam ped self-ad d ressed envelope to th e A th le tic D ep artm en t, Sw arth m ore C o lle g e
7
G en eral adm ission w ill be 9 9 c and the tickets m ay be secured a t the g a te on the day o f th e gam e
Entered as s.eond-class „ a ,,., January 10. 1941, at ,h. past office at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, under ,h. Ae, of August 24, 1912.
Front Cover Photo by Ted Goodman, '43.

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letter

The Fall HomecDining — November 15th
A L E T T E R FROM DUR ALUM NI PR ESID EN T
Fellow Alum ni:
Leon Henderson!
Philip T . Sharpies!!
and a Swarthmore
Haverford football
game! ! ! That is the
feast offered for the
Fall Homecoming
this year.
If any heart re­
mains unstirred by „
this p ro g ra m m e
come back just to
meet again John
N aso n ^ H e is a
stream lined presi­
dent. His first year’s
administration
of
the College
has
won universal acclaim. Y et he has found time to visit alumni
clubs throughout the country. I have it from a leading
airline executive that, next to Mrs. Roosevelt, he is now their
best customer. His happiest ambition is to know personally
every man and woman who ever came to Swarthmore.
A year ago President Nason suggested to President Morley
of Haverford a revival of the traditional Swarthmore-Haverford football game. That was arranged and it settled both the
date and the theme of our reunion this Fall.
The football game is at Haverford. I proposed a tally-ho
parade with band, banners and fanfare. I was promptly over­
ruled. It seems that there are fears of possible unseemly conduct
among us. I never heard of such a thing among Swarthmoreans;
but after a beguiling sleuth exposed the skeleton that I once
was suspended from College for unseemly conduct, my advo­
cacy of the tally-ho failed.
However, so long as the game is really on again, I care
not how we get there. Some say that it matters not whether
we win or lose in this year’s Haverford game. I fail to follow
that reasoning. I never agreed with old Stephen Decatur in
his " ..................but right or wrong, my country”, but I do say,
Let the best team win and let that team be Swarthmore’s !
If we lose— and we may, for Haverford has, I am told, a
strong team— well, remember that those Haverford men are
a pretty sterling lot. They are real sportsmen, and so are we.
There will be no rancor anywhere.
The Fall Homecoming will not end when the final whistle
blows at Haverford that afternoon. W e return en masse to
Swarthmore immediately after the game for an evening of
rare enjoyment— win or lose.
W e have finagled the College treasury to provide us with

ADMISSION TD CLDTHIER
Alumni interested in reserved seats for the HendersonSharples speeches in Clothier on Homecoming Day must
make reservations not later than Nov. 1 0 . Those wishing
tickets in advance should send a self-addressed stamped
envelope to the Alumni office, Swarthmore College.
These tickets will hold seats not later than 8 P.M.

another free meal.
From 6 :0 0 to 7 :3 0
P.M . you are all in­
vited for a buffet
supper as guests of
the College.
After dinner there
will be revelry and
dancing and mirth
to strains of beauti­
ful music. Some say
there may even be
a bonfire.
T h e c o r p u le n t
M r. G i lb e r t K .
C h e s te r to n o n ce
claimed that he was
the politest man in
L o n d o n b e ca u s e
when he arose in a London bus he could give two ladies his
seat. It is not a reflection upon Leon Henderson, 20 and
Philip Sharpies, TO however, that we selected two of them
to fill the places in the limelight occupied by Lord Lothian in
1939 and by John Nason in 1940. W e felt that Swarthmore
has now such a galaxy of brilliant alumni that no single person
would be satisfied to try to stand alone as an exponent of
Swarthmore’s products.
In Leon, our Federal Price Administrator and member of
the President’s inner Cabinet we have, without challenge,
the most widely know alumnus now a member of the Federal
Government. In Phil, the president of two large corporations
and the developer of our greatest high speed centrifuges, we
have one of the country’s most capable business executives.
They will speak to us at 8 :1 5 in the evening in Clothier
Memorial on some of the problems of government and of
business in the present emergency.
And so my dear fellow alumni, however grim your tasks may
seem in this world’s present effort to rid itself of lawlessness
and brutality, you will perform those tasks better if you will
relax with us at Swarthmore on November 15, 1941. Certainly
such moments for relaxation as we can spare in these strenuous
times must be spent with old friends, for old friends are
always the best friends.
That means that you will be at Swarthmore for the Fall
Homecoming this year. If the price of the trip seems too high,
write to Leon Henderson about it. He can control it. If you
would like to come in Phil Sharpies’s private airplane, ask
Phil to send it for you. Could any guests of honor offer more ?
Most sincerely yours,

Amos J. Peaslee

YOUR INVITATION
The College has invited the alumni to be guests at a
buffet supper, this time in the Hall Gymnasium from
6 to 7 :3 0 P.M. on Homecoming Day. Admission will
be by ticket only and it will be necessary to make reserva­
tions in advance at the Alumni office. Those wishing
tickets mailed to their home should enclose a selfaddressed stamped envelope.

t he g a r n e t l e t t e r

4

. . from the President . . . .
(Excerpts from a T alk before Philadelphia Alumni Club Luncheon
O ctober 1, 1941)

Y TO PIC "Swarthmore
College and National
Defense” is ambiguous. It
does not indicate whether my
subject is what Swarthmore
College is doing for National
Defense, or what National
Defense is doing to Swarth­
more College. As a matter of
fact, I shall say something
under each of these headings,
and shall begin with the second.
A brief answer to the ques­
tion, what National Defense
is doing to Swarthmore Col­
le g e ? In the first place it is
making serious inroads on the
faculty. W ithin a week of the
scheduled opening of the college an officer in the Navy D e­
partment came to my office and insisted that the government
must have Howard Jenkins of our Engineering Faculty to do
a job which only he was qualified to do. A few days before
that a member of the History Department had come to me
with an offer from another university to take the place of a
man drafted to Washington. The offer was too attractive to
be turned down, and I advised Professor Dulles to accept it.
During the course of the summer a member of our Political
Science Department accepted an invitation to Washington, and
members of the Economics Department have been under con­
stant pressure— to which I am happy to say they have not so
far given way— to undertake important investigations for vari­
ous government bureaus.

M

In the second place, the National Defense program is wear­
ing out our entire Engineering faculty. I shall have some­
thing to say in a few minutes about the Engineering Defense
Training Program. It is a highly significant piece of work,
but it is unquestionably driving the members of the depart­
ment to the limit of their physical capacity. Third, the N a­
tional Defense is drawing off the skilled and semi-skilled
workmen employed about the college. The high wages of the
defense industries and of the government plants are making
it extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, for Mr.
Simpson, superintendent of buildings and grounds, to keep an
adequate force connected with the college. This picture is
further complicated by the priorities problem. W hile educa­
tional institutions have been given a priority rating, it is natu­
ral that the college’s needs should come well down the list.
Between the difficulty of getting some materials necessary to
operate our physical plant and the rapidly increasing cost of
those which we can obtain, combined with the scarcity of
skilled workmen to use what materials we have, the problem
of maintaining the physical side of the college in good run­
ning order is becoming increasingly severe. I should like to
add in this connection that as the National Defense adds day
by day to our operating costs, I am daily more grateful to all
the alumni of the college for their generosity in the first
Alumni Fund. The $ 1 8 ,0 0 0 which you and the other alumni
of the college contributed are worth double that amount to
the college in meeting the present emergency.

Finally, the National Defense program has not helped Dean
Hunt in selecting the right number and the right kind of men.
I am happy to report, however, that the draft has not affected
us severely up to the present time. Our enrolment this fall
is 7 1 6 students as contrasted with 760 a year ago. It is im­
portant to remember that last year’s enrolment was an all-time
high, and that a joint Board and Faculty committee went care­
fully into the question of the size of the college, reaching the
decision that the desirable size for the college was about 700
students. The Board of Managers accepted this conclusion last
year, and instructed the officers of the college to move in the
direction of a student enrolment of 700 students by gradual
steps during the next two years. Accordingly the Admissions
Committees deliberately accepted fewer students, both men
and women, than we have taken in the Freshman class for
several years. It is only fair to add that the draft has boosted
us along toward the figure of 700 a little more rapidly than
we should like to have gone, but you can still see that we
have more students in college than we consider a desirable
total. O f the 7 1 6 students enrolled, 376 are men and 340
women. There are 101 men in the Freshman class as con­
trasted with 83 women. So far as I know, only three Seniors
and one'Junior withdrew because of the Selective Service Act.
I turn now to the question of what Swarthmore College is
doing for National Defense. In the first place it is providing
a trained personnel for various parts of the government pro­
gram. W e are sending students in the Social Sciences into
various government bureaus and agencies. O f the eleven grad­
uates in engineering last June, one is continuing his studies in
graduate school, one is in the Naval Reserve, and the remain­
ing nine are all taking active part in strictly defense industries,
such as W right Aeronautical. In addition to the one engineer­
ing student in the Naval Reserve just mentioned, 7 of the
class of 1941 are in the Army or the Navy. According to our
present records, which I know to be incomplete, 24 of our re­
cent alumni are now serving the government in a military
capacity.
Second, we are providing expert technical skill from our
faculty for the solution of problems arising in connection with
defense. I have already mentioned Professor Jenkins of our
Engineering Department. A member of the Astronomy De­
partment is also undertaking an important technical job for
the Navy. The same is true of a member of the Psychology
Department and of a member of the Physics Department. I
wish that I could tell you more about the kind of problems
on which these men are working, but that is confidential in­
formation, and as a matter of fact I do not know all of the
details myself.
Third, the college has granted leave of absence to Professor
Newman and to Mary Newman for a year to direct the Civil­
ian Public Service camp for conscientious objectors at San
Dimas, California. It seemed eminently fitting that a Quaker
college should do everything in its power to aid and support
the program written into the draft act to provide an alternative
for military service to those individuals in our country who
cannot conscientiously bear arms. The work done in these
Civilian Public Service camps is of national service, and in the
tong run contributes indirectly to National Defense.
Finally, there is the quite extraordinary program carried out
by the members of our Engineering faculty under the general
heading of the Engineering Defense Training Program. T h ’s
program is essentially a government sponsored and financed
plan to use the facilities of the engineering schools in this
country to train men in industry for more important and more
(Continued on Page 6 )

5

t he g a r n e t l e t t e r

I N S T E A D DF G D L F C L U B S
An Adventure in Education, Swarthmore College under Frank Aydelotte, By the Faculty. The M acm illan Company, New Y ork, 1941. 236 pages.

A

S A N expression of ap­

preciation for w h a t
Frank Aydelotte had done for
Swarthmore College during
his nineteen years of adminis­
tration, the faculty thought
that since he was an enthusias­
tic golfer, "a good round bag­
ful of self-selected clubs”
might be a suitable gift. Hap­
pily they decided instead to
give him a book— a record of
the c o 11 e g e ’s outstanding
achievements and the educa­
tional philosophy which moti­
vated them in the years be­
tween 1921 and 1939. Since the book was written by
various members of the teaching staff who liberally gave and
received criticism from one another, the phrase, By the Faculty,
clothes the authorship of individuals in anonymity.
Although featuring a description of the development,
theory, spirit, and machinery of the system of reading for
honors, the book touches upon all that is vital in the educational
program of the college. In addition to those sections describing
honors work, the following list of chapter titles gives an in­
dication of the comprehensive and integrated view of Swarth­
more which has been provided: "The Student in General
Courses,” "Research in A Small College,” "Education and
Athletics,” "The Arts and Crafts,” "Some Effects of the
Swarthmore Program on College Community Life,” "Financ­
ing the Adventure,” "T he Role of Administration.”
Those who really want to know what has been going
on at Swarthmore will find this volume more illuminating
than the catalogue, The Phoenix, The Halcyon, or random
conversations with visiting alumni. It is designed, however, for
examination by those who are seriously interested in higher
education and is without apology an educational treatise. For­
tunately the dissolving acids of mutual criticism among the
authors seem to have reduced the professional patois of the
educators to a minimum number of obscure terms. The layman
will appreciate not having to conjure with such occult words as
— integration, correlation, orchestration, and others of that ilk.
The absence of such terminology is also due to the fact that the
objectives and the evolution of Swarthmore’s program are her
own. It is evident that the faculty has retained unique flavor and
developed strength by not bartering originality for sips at
the pedagogical punchbowl.
If this seems to be a smug statement, let us all admit that
whenever two or more Swarthmoreans are gathered together,
there is usually agreement that stars of evening shine, and
"Everybody takes his hat off to us.” The faculty authors are not
exceptions, although they are careful to state criticisms of
others, to note the areas in which they feel themselves uncer­
tain, and to acknowledge the numerous factors which con­
tributed to the. college’s success, only one of which was their
own work. They also reiterate the point that education is a
process in need of constant revision and refinement, and thus
there is reason to believe that the administration of John Nason

($

will continue the type of pioneering which is after all the basic
justification of a rather highly endowed small college.
Frank Aydelotte is characterized as a leader who had courage
in many trying situations, confidence in his colleagues, and the
habit of sharing ideas and responsibilities in such a way that
increased enthusiasm kept pace with increased participation. His
educational philosophy as illustrated by the curriculum at
Swarthmore is set forth as three fundamental principles. He
stood for the small college and against the mass production
methods which, as the result of large enrollments and the sus­
tained influence of the German lecture method, seemed to be
on the increase in American colleges. The small college, he felt,
was capable of providing for the individual needs and differ­
ences of any student qualified to be admitted. W ith a larger per
cent of students able to play on teams and otherwise partici­
pate in numerous activities, everyone had a chance to receive
some type of recognition for whatever unique ability he might
possess. Second, Mr. Aydelotte believed in the active process
of self-education as against passivity. The mind was more than
an empty jar to be filled with information. He wanted students
to develop the power of self-reliance and discrimination, to
know when to taste, when to chew, when to digest. This con­
viction led to the abolition of the lecture method for advanced
students and the institution of honors work. Finally, Mr. Aydel­
otte believed that contemporary educational methods were
going awry because of confused conceptions of the democratic
ideal. Democracy in education did not mean that everyone
should have complete freedom to choose at a vast curriculum
smorgasbord, sampling a little of this and that. This belief also
found expression in the honors method which gave opportunity
to study thoroughly a few related subjects; it also may be traced
in the introduction of the four-course plan, the elimination of
non-essential fields from the curriculum, and the resistance of
the doctrine that a liberal college should prepare for vocations
and skills. This resistance is important, for the failure to re­
strict the liberal arts program to a well-defined area has led
many institutions into frenzied starts and stops in an effort
to keep pace with a too rapidly changing socio-economic scene.
To be a champion of democracy did not mean for Swarth­
more that everyone should be given the same education or that
there should be a set level of opportunity. It did mean, "equat­
ing opportunity to capacity; and since capacities vary enor­
mously, that implies doing much for some that is not done for
others.” The criticism that the honors program meant neglect
of the students in general courses, one that used to be directed
at the Swarthmore curriculum, is adequately discussed and
answered in several places in the book, chiefly in one chapter
devoted to that purpose. Although considerable differences exist
between the instructional methods of seminars and classes,
class work was influenced by the techniques which instructors,
(the same who taught the honors courses), were developing.
Some of these changes were: less formal lecturing and more
group discussion, more opportunity for individual work with
assignments, less emphasis upon tests as the sole means of
evaluation, and more recognition of individual differences
among students.
The book should interest those undergraduates who are cu­
rious enough about their education to want to see where they fit
(Continued on Page 6 )

6

th e

g a r n e t

FROM THE PRESIDENT . . .
(Continued from Page 4 )
technical jobs. It is imperative that something like this should
be done at a time when the number of employees in the de­
fense plants is being increased many times. There is a des­
perate need for trained men in the Philadelphia area. For
example, the Sun Ship Company two years ago was employ­
ing 4 0 0 0 men. Today the figure is 11,0 0 0 , and as soon as the
new ways are completed, the total will be 2 0 ,0 0 0 . As W estinghouse completes its new South Philadelphia plant it will need
to take on an additional 2000 men. As unskilled, or only
partly skilled, men are taken in at the bottom, experienced
employees must be put in positions of increased responsibility.
If this program is to succeed, they need the training necessary
for those higher positions. Our Engineering faculty at the col­
lege has been working during the past year with the Sun Ship
Company, Westinghouse, and General Chemicals. They have
set up courses in Engineering Drawing, Elements of Engineer­
ing, Industrial Electricity, Naval Architecture, Power Plant
Operation, Industrial Management, and several other subjects
in class rooms for the most part provided by the companies
themselves. All in all, 700 men have been put through courses
of a technical character calculated to make them more useful
and more responsible to their companies. Since Sun Ship is
working on three shifts a day, instruction had to be given also
on a three-shift basis. For the most part the instructors have
been drawn from competent men within the company. Our
faculty has devoted its time to setting up the courses, deter­
mining their content, selecting qualified instructors, and super­
vising a mammoth extra-curricular program in engineering
adult education. The results of this program have been so
successful that we are under great pressure to continue it for
the present year on an enlarged basis. Our professors of engi­
neering will probably have in the neighborhood of 1200 men
to instruct and supervise during the course of this year. You
will appreciate the strain which this puts on them if you
realize that all of this work is carried in addition to their full
teaching program at the college. It is undesirable that it should
be this way, but we are in an emergency, and the desirable has
to give way to the necessary. One of the great advantages of
the program is its value for peace-time as well as for war-time
economy. The employees volunteering for this program are
taught principles of engineering which will make them more
valuable to society under any circumstances.
Some of you may be asking yourselves what all this defense
work has to do with ■Swarthmore College. Indeed, my very
topic "Swarthmore College and National Defense” might
seem as self-contradictory as a quadruped with two legs. I
think, however, that all of this work is entirely consistent
with the policy adopted by the Board of Managers last year.
According to that policy, the college as a corporate entity can­
not, consistently with its tradition, use its facilities for the
direct development of military activities. On the other hand, it
is equally clear that every individual within the college should
be free to decide what part he shall take in the light of his own
conscience. I have on various occasions refused requests from
the Army and the Navy to use the facilities of the college for
the work of enlistment or of the training of our students for
military service. W ithin the limit set by the policy adopted by
the Board, however, it seems to me extremely important that
the college should cooperate in every way which is open to it.
As you can see from the recital of the facts above, there is
much which the college can do and has done in playing its
part, for National Defense.

etter
INSTEAD OF GOLF CLUBS
(Continued from Page 5 )

into the whole pattern as it has developed. Alumni will be
similarly interested and will also find a clear exposition of the
financial record of the college: how money was raised, for
what it was used, and why a good education is necessarily ex­
pensive. It is signicant that during the period from 1921 to
1939, the total expenditure of the college increased over 100
per cent. That concern for the individual student was the
basis of the college’s policy is inherent in the fact that whereas
the enrolment has increased 33 per cent, the number of faculty
members has increased 100 per cent. The library budget of re­
cent years has exceeded by ten times that of 1 9 2 1 -1 9 2 2 . The
criticism sometimes expressed that Swarthmore is becoming a
college for the wealthy is well answered by another comparison
of figures. The number of students receiving scholarship aid
has increased 193 per cent, and the amount of aid given has
been augmented 365 per cent. All of this has been made pos­
sible by the success of the endowment campaign of 1929,
grants from the General Education Board, and subsequent
gifts from alumni and friends. The financial support that the
college has received during lean as well as fat years is sufficient
testimony in itself of widespread faith that the president and
the faculty were doing an excellent job.
The faculty members are grateful for the conditions which
have made good work possible. They mention first the en­
couragement they received from M r. Aydelotte who, not be­
cause of policy or tact or of fashionable adherence to demo­
cratic principles but because . . . "it was part of a tempermental faith in the people that were about him”, . . . "kept
breaking out into little whoops of blessing’ over them, reading their books with pride, sending them notes of apprecia­
tion, calling them in continually to give them advice.” They
are grateful also for security of tenure and academic freedom,
an adequate income, and a reasonable teaching load.
Swarthmore’s educational plans have already had wide in­
fluence on other institutions. An Adventure in Education will
extend that influence even further. It was not intended, how­
ever, to be a blueprint for others to follow in more than its
broad outlines. The success of M r. Aydelotte’s educational
plans, as one faculty member pointed out, was due in part to
flexibility and informality. It was also due to sheer excellence
of performance, perhaps, even more than to design, for one
suspects despite some faculty claims to the contrary that as
compared to many institutions of higher learning there was
and is more doing than theorizing. There is a friendly re­
lationship between faculty members and students at Swarth­
more because the teachers like young people, not because
there is a carefully prescribed guidance program. If there is vi­
tality in the arts and crafts program, it is because there are
students and teachers on the hill who like to paint, sing, act,
and beat brass and not because Swarthmore’s plan of taking
these activities out of the curriculum is necessarily a more pro­
found policy than leaving them in.
Mr. Aydelotte must have been a happy man when he read
this book, for between the lines of every page one senses the
admiration, respect, and gratitude of his colleagues during this
period of Swarthmore’s growth and flowering.
R. J. Cadigan, ’34.

t he

garnet

letter

FALL SPORTS PROGRAM
O M E N T IO N of our fall athletic program is
complete without again calling attention
to the Haverford - Swarthmore football game to
be played this year at Haverford on November 15.
The older alumni welcome a return of this game
which has been missing from the schedule since
1925. The younger alumni are gratified to know
that all differences have been settled and that from
here on they will be able to acquaint themselves with
one of the most natural and one of the oldest rival­
ries in the history of inter-collegiate football. All
alumni are hoping that the better team wins— with
a special hope that Swarthmore is the better team.

N

Far more important than any single game how­
ever, is 'how the athletic program in general is
shaping up. Because of the delayed opening of col­
lege it was necessary to cancel our first varsity foot­
ball game and reschedule the first soccer game at a
later date. Generally speaking our fall teams appear
as competent as last year’s squads— but the opposi­
tion on all fronts seems very noticeably improved.
Under these conditions it would be unwise to make
many predictions in advance. Declining income from the
endowed funds of the college probably spells temporary curtail­
ment of what might be considered "least important athletic
expenditures.” Such curtailment will be increasingly noticeable
as we become more involved with problems superimposed by
the war.
In addition to our team sports, large numbers of men
will busy themselves with informal activities. Two tennis
tournaments alone will attract approximately 110 students and
we will repeat our faculty-student team match with Haverford
some time in late October.
About our fall teams the respective coaches have the
following to say:
BOB D U N N — SOCCER
An inexperienced squad that might not average more than
145 pounds per man is preparing for one of our most diffi­
cult soccer seasons. Around a nucleus of five returning let­
ter men we are building a team to uphold the prestige of
Swarthmore soccer. Last year we finished second to the N a­
tional Champion Princeton team in the Middle Atlantic League.
This year our first game, October eleventh, was lost to
Temple, 2-1 . Temple and Princeton, whom we play October
eighteenth, each have one of the finest soccer squads in the
country.
Early season predictions on the outcome of the season
appear especially difficult. A one-goal margin may mean the
difference between an excellent and a mediocre season. But
you can count on a good scrappy Swarthmore team.
T O W N S E N D SCUDDER— CROSS C O U N T R Y
Although two varsity runners, Moore and Tanguy, from
whom much was expected this year, failed to return to col­
lege, cross country prospects, under Captain W alt Skallerup,

are reasonably promising. About ten men with varsity or
freshman team experience form a nucleus for this year’s team.
Counting the candidates for the freshman team, the entire
squad this fall numbers about twenty-five men with which
we are ready to face our most difficult schedule since the
revival of the sport a few years ago.
LEW

ELVERSON— FO O TB A LL

This year we are looking forward to the best Swarthmore
football team in the last four years. Any number of bad breaks
can disappoint us in this expectation, but we are counting heav­
ily on this year’s squad. The nine days of early practice at Ava­
lon, New Jersey, has put the team in sound physical condition.
Several sophomores seem certain to gain regular positions
from the outset. W alker, a 185-pound fullback and Mochel, an
end, from last year’s freshman team, seem sure of starting
assignments.
Two veteran backs, Captain Lin W olfe and Bill Finley, will
share the punting duties and Bill Richards, first string fullback,
will do most of the passing. All of this year’s opponents seem
stronger than usual, but our first game with American Univer­
sity at Washington, October eleventh, resulted in a 20-0 vic­
tory. W e are eagerly awaiting the Haverford game on Novem­
ber fifteenth.

SEASON TIC K ETS FO R A LU M N I
This year the College announces a new low-cost
athletic ticket for alumni. The price is $2.75 (including
federal tax) and admits the bearer to all home athletic
contests for the year. Send your check to the College care
of the Athletic Department.

ti l o g a r n e t l e t t e r

AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
B y E mma W illiam s V yssotsky , T 6

'T’OUR years ago Thomas R. Taylor reported in The Garnet
J7 Letter on the returns from a questionnaire to the class of
1912. Last April the members of 1916 were also subjected to
a grilling by mail.
This they bore with admirable
equanimity and considerable wit. The fact that 6 0 % of the
living sixteeners replied, as compared with 4 0 % of the mem­
bers of 1912 was probably due to the easier nature of the 1916
questionnaire. Returns were received from 26 men and 43
women. Among the graduates, 21 out of a possible 30 men
replied and 34 out of a possible 4 6 women. In other words,
7 2 % of the graduates replied as compared with 5 0 % in the
case of 1 9 1 2 .

Occupation. Eleven months after our graduation most of
the men were subject to the draft of 1 9 1 7 . Y et there are 6
cases in which a man reports that throughout the 25 years he
has had only one business address. In the cases of 4 other
men there have been only two. The average number of busi­
ness addresses since graduation is three. There are 4 engineers,
3 men connected with insurance, 3 in education, 2 each in
accounting, medicine and lumber, and one each in publishing,
law, oil , chemistry, distilling, banking and brokerage, also a
salesman, a head of an employment agency and one who is
incapacitated. Five men, not including the professional men,
head their organization. Seven others are company officers, a
general manager, two vice presidents, etc. Nineteen of the 26
men consider that the connection between their present occupa­
tion and their college training is fairly close.
Among the women the leading occupation is, naturally,
"housewife” . Twenty-eight of the 43 record this as at least one
of their occupations, and 7 or 8 more probably should have. As
to gainful occupations, there are 7 teachers, 2 librarians, 2
secretaries, 2 research workers, a camp owner and director,
a lawyer, a social worker, a free-lance writer, a medical doctor,
a shop proprietor and a manager of a tourist home. Ten of
the 20 women engaged in gainful occupations are married, and
among them they have 11 children; however, in 5 of the
cases the gainful occupation does not constitute a full-time
job.

Marriage and Children. Twenty-four of the 26 men have
married, the average date of marriage being 1 9 2 0 . Thirtythree of the 43 women have married; in the average they
married 2 % years later than the men. N o question was
included concerning divorce; but it is known that the rate
among those replying is at least 4 % .
The ^men have 41 living children as compared with the
women s 52. Thus the men average 1.6 children apiece as
compared with the average of 1.2 for the women. But for the
married men the average is 1.7, while the average for the
married women is 1 .6 . It is interesting that the class has 55
sons, whereas it has only 38 daughters*. There are 3 members
with 4 children each (the maximum num ber), and thirteen
married members without children. There were 31 children
in college at the time of the questionnaire and 11 of these were
at Swarthmore.
There were 31 other children for whom
college plans were more or less formulated; of these, 9 were
scheduled for Swarthmore.
*The 1912 returns showed a similar feature; they had 53 sons and
28 daughters.

Political Activities. The returns show a nearly unanimous
sense of responsibility in the matter of voting. But other
manifestations of political responsibility are slight.
The
most important political office, that of assistant district attorney
of Philadelphia, is held by a woman. There are 5 other minor
offices reported (borough council, e tc.).
Civic Activities. There seems no doubt but that the class
is very well represented on educational, community, health,
youth and relief organizations.
There are 4 school board
members and a school treasurer, 2 college board members
and a college treasurer, 3 library board members and a founder
and director of a city library, 2 hospital board members, a
chairman of a local draft board, a member of a city planning
board, officers of P. T. A., Rotary, Prison societies (page Dr
Robinson), visiting nurse associations, etc., and a great many
active members of such organizations. As would be expected,
the women are more active in civic work than the men,’
since they have more time available. But the men’s record
is good.
Religious Activities. Among the men there are 20 who are
church members and 5 who are n o t; the situation with the
women is about the same, there being 34 church members
and 7 non-members. O f these, 25 of the women, but only
eight of the men attend church as often as 5 times a year,
The women are also more active in church work than the
men.

I
I
I
!
1
|
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!
I

f
I
j c<
i k
j 1
k

Social Activities. Undoubtedly former Swarthmoreans en- '
joy a fair measure of social life. The 45 reporting mentioned
105 memberships in such organizations as country clubs,
garden clubs, bridge clubs, theatrical groups, etc. The men
and women were very similar in this respect. They agreed
also in reporting about four evenings a week on the average, i
which are free from social entanglements.
I

D
ir
sy
s
J

Leisure Activities. Reading is by all odds the most frequent i d
leisure activity. The question asked that two or three major
a
activities be listed. N ext come gardening, sewing and
L
knitting, and bridge for the women, and gardening, bridge | K
and golf for the men. The movies are mentioned in only 7 h
five cases, and they are mostly referred to as "an occasional
movie” .
!
.
There is considerable diversity in the leisure activities,
including radio experimenting (an engineer, of course),
j
directing and acting in plays, playing the piano accordion,
j
making jewelry, training and showing saddle horses, colj
lecting oriental art and answering questionnaires!
*
|

v
r<
b
C
n

Reading.

In answer to a question as to what types of read- j
*
3-side from news, they preferred, 27 women listed
biography, 20 fiction, 12 detective stories, 8 history and
h
5 adventure. Twelve of the men listed fiction, 11 biography,
| n
8 adventure, 7 history and 4 detective stories. There were p h
17 other votes scattered among poetry, essays, philosophy,
' p
psychology, horticulture, science and religion.
c

Writing. The class has one professional writer who writes
numerous articles in women s magazines and who ran a daily
newspaper column for a number of years. In all 7 men men­
tioned publications, including a book on Japan and a book
(Continued on Page 14)

I

I

1

9

ih e g a r n e t l e t t e r

ALUM NI COUNCIL LDSES TWO M EM BERS
H E death of Albert L. Hood, Jr., of the class of 1931, on
July 12, 1941, after an illness of a year, is known to most
Swarthmoreans. His passing leaves all who knew him with a
feeling of great personal loss, for one of A1 s endearing characteristics was his genuine personal interest in his friends and
acquaintances.
A1 was a member of a real Swarthmore family. He was a
grandson of Agnes Gaston Lawson, 83, and the son of Albert
L. Hood, ex’05, and Mary Lawson Hood. He was the brother
of Agnes L. Hood Miller, ’29, W illiam H. D. Hood, ’35, and
Kate D. Hood Bodine, ex’37.
i
He came to Swarthmore from Germantown Friends School,
where he was the president of the class of 1927. Many of the
interests which he carried on in college had their beginnings
at Frends School. At Swarthmore, A1 was a member of Delta
Upsilon, Book and Key, Quink, Manager of Football, Business
Manager of The Halcyon, and Junior Class President.
From Swarthmore he went to the University of Pennsylvania
Law School where he was a member of the Sharswood Club.
After Law School he was associated with the Philadelphia law
firm of Freeman, Fox, and Steeble.
On October 28, 1 9 3 8 , A1 married Matilda McCracken, of
Germantown and they continued to live in Germantown— on
Cedar Lane.
The scope of A l’s interests was wide. Very fond of his home
and garden, he still found time for Swarthmore alumni activi­
ties, and membership on many committees connected with the
Society of Friends. He was a member of the Board of Trustees
of the Green Street Monthly Meeting, the committee of the
Germantown Friends’ Boarding Home, the Board of the
Friends’ Neighborhood Guild, and assistant clerk of the Green
Street Monthly Meeting. He was also a member of the Swarth­
more Alumni Council, the Economics Discussion Group, and
the University Club.
A1 always made a real contribution to every group of which
he was a member. He gave to every activity his infectious en­
thusiasm, intense loyalty, integrity, ability, dependability. He
won not only the respect but the love of his associates for
A1 was, above all, a real friend.

T

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E dward M . B a s s e t t , ’05
N S A T U R D A Y, August 2, Edward M. Bassett died at his
home in Swarthmore after an illness which had kept him
confined to the house for the past eight months. Despite know­
ledge of his serious illness, caused by a heart condition, his
passing was a shock to all who knew him. It has deprived the
Swarthmore community of a leading citizen and one-time
Burgess; deprived the College of an active Board Member and
interested alumnus; and deprived a host of friends of h:s
sympathy and loyalty.

G

Born in Salem, N . ]., Edward Bassett completed the high
school course there, attended Swarthmore Preparatory School
and was graduated from Swa-thmo-e College in 1905. In
College he was active in the Glee Club; leader of the Man­
dolin Club for two years; and editor of The Phoenix. He was
a member of Book and Key and Phi Kappa Psi fraternities.
Later he was made Treasurer and National President of Phi
Kappa Psi. The degree of Bachelor of Science was awarded
him in 1 9 0 5 ; the Civil Engineering degree in 1911.
Edward Bassett’s vocation was building construction. He
had been associated with W ark and Company since 1918 as
vice-president and general superintendent and was personally
responsible for the erection of many large and important
buildings. As a member of the Master Carpenters and Builders
Company he represented the employers in working out agree­
ments with labor. His sound judgment and reasonable aLtitude
won him the confidence of all parties.
His loyalty and interest in the College were evidenced by
his service on the executive, properties and instruction com­
mittees of the Board of Managers during the eleven years that
he was a member of that body. They were also strikingly ap­
parent in the friends that he made among the students of each
college generation. To them he always gave his sympathy, un­
derstanding and guidance, and there were many who gratefully
sought and received his advice.
He was a member of the Alumni Council, as is his wife,
Elbe Simons Bassett, TO. There are two daughters, Elizabeth
and Kathryn, ex’35, and a son Edward Morris, Jr., in the
class of 1943 now in College.

Albert L. Hood, Jr., ’31

IO

the garnet letter

T H E C L A S S OF ' 4 5 . .
advice of the committee on the size of the college,
ÜNthethenumber
of new women students has been drastically
cut. W e have only eighty-three freshmen and four transfers.
There are thirteen daughters of Alumni whose faces look
out at you from the opposite page, their parents represent
twelve classes from 1899 to 1 9 2 2 . There are also eight sisters
of Alumni or of present students. Four of the alumni daugh­
ters belong to the group of a dozen Friends; thirteen freshmen
women come from eight Friends schools. Allowing for those
who fall into more than one of these categories, we have alto­
gether twenty-seven new women students whose backgrounds
help them find their places in Swarthmore with special ease.
W e have begun to expect that a number of teachers in schools
and colleges will pay us the compliment of letting us educate
their daughters. This year there are eighteen all told, repre­
senting a wider geographical distribution than usual: six from
middle western institutions: Minnesota, Chicago, Northwest­
ern, Michigan, Purdue and W ashington University in St.
Louis; two from Harvard. The whole group of new women
represents nineteen states and the District: Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Y ork, New Jersey, Pennsyl­
vania, Delaware, M aryland; South Carolina and Florida; Mich­
igan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and W isconsin; Iowa
and Missouri; California. To our surprise, the state sending
the largest number is not Pennsylvania, with 18, but New
York, with 24. Our foreign contingent this year comes from
the Far East and from South America. Their fathers include
one missionary in China and one in Korea, one engineer in
India, and two men who have just left posts in the Foreign
Service in Brazil.
The French House will be continued, but has been moved
nearer the campus, to W oolman House. Miss Monaco of the
French Department will be in charge again, assisted by Denise
Maréchale, who left Paris just before it fell. W e are trying the
experiment of letting four freshmen live in the house.
This year we feel better acquainted with the students than
usual, thanks to our new plan of writing to parents for sug­
gestions about their children’s needs and interests. The replies
have been immensely interesting, and should help us all get
off to a good start.
F rances B lanshard .

H E N the Board of Managers voted a gradual reduction
in enrolment at Swarthmore, it was not yet clear how
many boys the Army might take, and the future is still uncer­
tain. The attempt of the Admissions Committee to make an
easy landing cannot be judged until the year is over. O f the
48 students who registered for the draft in October, 1940,
three are now in the Army, with a Swarthmore degree; two
have left college to join the Army. O f the 28 upperclassmen
who registered last July, one is in the Army, a few have been
deferred as "potentially necessary men” in engineering or med­
icine, some have drawn numbers which will allow them some
time at least in College, and five are not returning to College
because-they expect almost immediate induction.

W

Mr. Hitler did not materially reduce the number of
Swarthmore applicants in 1941, and now that the selections are
finally made, the hundred Freshmen boys fill the dormitories
and offer excellent material for the Sophomores to drag across
the Crum in the annual tug of war.
The number of boys from the Friends schools has increased,
and some of the Scholastic Aptitudes of the children of
Quaker Alumni test the recording powers of the College
Board. There is still a California group; Nebraska, Illinois,
Iowa and Indiana are sending boys, but the geographical dis­
tribution is not quite as wide as in some former years. Events
seem to encourage boys to stay nearer home for college. When
elder brothers are drafted parents want the younger sons
nearby.
Increased attention will be given this year to the adjustment
of Freshmen to College life. The organization of the upperclass advisers has been improved, more Faculty counsel has been
provided, and a booklet of pictures of all the Freshmen is being
printed in a further effort to help every one to get ac­
quainted. This should enable all the fraternity boys to call a
frosh by his right name after the first meeting. Professors will
have the book on their desks and distinguish Tom from
Harry by the end of the first week. Knowing the Freshmen
is one of the pleasures of a small college.
E v erett H u n t .

CHI OMEGA FRATERNITY GIVES SCHOLARSHIP
The Swarthmore Chapter of the Chi Omega Fraternity
has just made available to the college the sum of $ 5,00 0 .0 0 to
be used to establish an annual Chi Omega Scholarship. This
fraternity, now of course entirely an alumnae group, had this
sum in its possession at the close of all fraternity business.
It has decided, and the college has expressed its willingness, to
have the money added to the general endowment funds of the
college for scholarship purposes.
The Chi Omega Scholarship will be awarded for the first
time next year. Any child (male or female) of a member
of the Swarthmore chapter of Chi Omega, who is applying for
admission to Swarthmore, and who meets all the college admis­
sion requirements and is in financial need will receive prefer­
ence. In any year when there is no such applicant it will be a

woman s scholarship, awarded on the same basis as the
W hite Open Scholarships. The Committee of Award will be
the Open Scholarship Committee, plus one member of the
Chi Omega Fraternity. Application for the scholarship must
be made in January of the year the candidate seeks admis­
sion that is, next January is the dead-line for anyone applying
for admission in September, 1 9 4 2 .
The Chi Omega Alumnae are delighted to be able to make
this gift to Swarthmore. They are also happy that the
chapter, which was the source of so many pleasant associations
for its members, will continue to bring pleasant associations
to future Swarthmoreans who will hold the Chi Omega
Scholarship.
E l l e n F er n o n R eisn er , ’31,

the garnet letter

.4 3

ALUMNI RELATED F R ES H M E N

brother of William Adamson, ’40
J. F uller A damson
N orris C. B arnard, J r . son of Norris C., ’19 and Elizabeth Jones
Barnard, ’20
son of Natalie Turner Beard, T2
Stuart M. B eard III
son of Jlelen Miller Beck, ex’19; brother
Robert J. B eck
of Wendell Beck, ’42
son of Newlin T ., ’07 and Isabel Jenkins
Charles F. J. B ooth
Booth, T 6
brother of Newlin T. Booth, Jr., ex’4 0 ;
grandson of Charles Francis Jenkins
daughter of Augustus, T2 and Laura Parry
Laura Cadwallader
Cadwallader, ex’l 4 ; sister of Sidney
Cadwallader, ’36
daughter of Helen Sigler Carpenter, ’20
N ancy Carpenter
daughter of Allison G. Cornog, T9
P hoebe Cornog
son of Ellsworth F., T 6 and Margaretta
P hilip C urtin
Cope Curtin, T 8 ; brother of David
Curtin, ’43
son of Charles J. Darlington, T 5 ; brother
Robert P. D arlington
*
of Charles L. Darlington
’42
son of Hallie Hulbert Douglas, ’03
Gordon D ouglas
daughter of Marion Gratz Farnum, ex’18
H elen F arnum
son of Howard Fussell, ’07
W illiam F ussell
daughter of F. Bramwell, ex’05, and Alice
Ann T. G eddes
Worth Geddes, ’0 8 ; sister of Elizabeth
Geddes, ’34, and W illiam Geddes, ’41
Clifford R. Gillam , J r . son of Clifford R. and Cornelia Stabler
Gillam, ’20
son of Helen Meredith Hall, A.M., ’31;
Alan N orman H all
brother of Robert Hall, ’40
great-great-great nephew of Benjamin West
W illiam P. H uston
daughter of Jesse Johnson, ex’20
J oan J ohnson
Edward McC lung J ones son of Ruth McClung Jones, ’21
sister of Joan Kelley, ’37
Anita K elley

brother of John Kirn, ’37, and Henrietta
Kirn, ’41
daughter of Auguste Jellinghaus Knaur, T5
E lise K naur
Catharine M acD onald sister of Jean MacDonald, ’40
sister of Jean Merritt, ’41
J essica M erritt
daughter of Edna Powell Miller, 18
Marjorie Miller
son of Harry L., ’l l , and Phoebe Lukens
P eter L ukens Miller
Miller, T 2 ; brother of John Anthony
Miller, ’4 1 ; grandson of Dr. John A.
Miller
brother of Theda Ostrander, ’40
Gilman Ostrander
son of Horace Perry, T 6
M itchell P erry
H erbert G. Reinhardsen nephew of Clement M. Biddle, ’96
E lliott Richardson, J r . son of Elliott, ’02, and Dorothy Strode
Richardson, T 2 , and brother of Jane
Richardson, ’41
daughter of Katherine Crosby Robinson,
N ancy L. Robinson
ex’2 2
sister of Walter J. Scott, Jr., ’41
B eatrice Scott
______________
brother of Robert Shaw, ’41
R
ichard Shaw
J ohn W orth Spackman son of George Donald and Elizabeth Worth
Spackman, T 7
W hitney Stearns
brother of Barbara Stearns, ’39
D orothy P aine St . J ohn daughter of Dorothy Paine St. John, T8
Roland P. Stratton , J r . son of Roland P. Stratton, T8
Margery V an T rump
daughter of Donald H. Van Trump, T3
daughter of L. S. Walton, ’99
V irginia W alton
daughter of D. Herbert, T 6, and Edith
Marjorie W ay
Williams Way, T 4 ; sister of David S.
Way, ’43
son of John Josiah White, Jr., ex’21 and
A. K irby W hite , J r .
grandson of Allen K. and Emma C.
Chambers White, ’94.
brother of Barbara Winne, ’41
D avid N. W inne
sister of Joan Woollcott, ’39
P olly W oollcott
D avid F. K irn

Barnard, Beck, Ostrander, Perry, Curtin, Stratton
Beard, Hall, Carpenter, VanTrump, MacDonald, W oollcott, Walton, Knaur, Geddes, Guild, Stearns, White, Winne
Fussell, Kirn, Shaw, Douglas, Booth, St. John, Farnum, Robinson, Scott, Miller, Cadwallader, Cornog, Gillam, Spackman, RJieinhardson, Jones.
Adamson

12

t he g a r n e t l e t t e r

VARSITY
"Varsity Swarthmoreans” is an attempt to focus your attention on some of our fellow
alumni who are doing a commendable fob in the game of life. This feature will be
repeated from time to t:me, and ive invite nominations from Garnet Letter readers.
The Halcyon’s cap­
tion — "sturdy, studious
and sensible’’— still ap­
plies to our Constance,
for she beseeches me to
make it very clear that
she is no celebrity, has
performed no unusual
service or established
any particular reputa­
tion, so is chosen for the
Swarthmore V a r s i t y
line-up only because she
illustrates one of the
varied occupations in
which
Swarthmoreans
are happily engaged.
She does admit at the
same time though, that
she "could illustrate op­
portunities for women
in government service.”

In spite of the above Career Outline, as it might be termed,
I assure you all that Constance is still the same much loved
Connie of our. College days and has many outside interests.
She shares an apartment with a friend, Helen Hyndman, a
Smith graduate, who has a book shop. It is a most attractive
apartment and a hospitable gathering place for all of u,s.
Their Ford carries them near and far on week-ends and vaca­
tions. The accompanying snapshot was taken this past summer
at camp— and it should be clearly understood that the ban­
danna is not worn on the jo b !
B y A n n a L ippin co tt M il l e r Sm ith , ’15.

In Washington the other day, a group of high-powered
thinkers were conferring about the price of a basic commodity.
This was their second day of conferring, and they had almost
come to the point of making a decision.

C o n stan ce B a l l , T 4

Again as The Halcyon intimates, the Y . M. C. A. is her first
love, and this continued to be from 191 4 to 1 9 3 0 . During this
time Connie held secretarial positions which provided in­
teresting opportunities for travel, visiting local organizations
and attending local and national conferences and conventions
throughout the country. She said to me about a year before she
left the Y .W . " I f I ’m ever going to get out I must do it now.”
So she did, and after some study, became a member of the staff
of the Emergency Relief Bureau of New York City, later
qualifying as Examiner on the Civil Service Commission of
New Y ork City.
From 1938 on the New York State Employment Service of
the Department of Labo:* has been Constance’s chief concern,
for she has been a manager (not the manager, she emphasizes)
in the Bronx, responsible for the office management which
handles claims for unemployment insurance and carries on a
free placement service. About November first the N Y.S.E.S.
will open eleven new offices specializing in the placement of
household workers and she is assigned to supervise five of
these, located in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. Much
time is now being spent planning layouts, procedures, publicity,
selection and training of the staff. Such a specialized free place­
ment service is greatly needed in New York City, where thou­
sands of women earn their living in this way and the demands
for workers far exceeds the present labor supply.
Constance admits that she "enjoys working with a staff of
usually forty to fifty interviewers and clerks and thinks she
has a fair reputation with the personnel.” Again The Halcyon
forecast proved true when it said "she has the love of the
Juniors and the respect of the Seniors”— not to mention what
may happen when one has had the early experiences of being
President of Student Exec.

Suddenly, the door of the conference room was flung open,
and the boy from Millville stuck his head in. "D on ’t talk so
much. The price has got to go up, and you might as well
make up your minds to it.” He retreated and closed the door.
A few minutes later, the high-powered thinkers formally
resolved that the Office of Price Administration would permit
the price of this basic commodity to rise.
Thus is business done in the OPA, by a combination of
high-powered thinking on the part of experts, with dynamic
action on the part of Leon Henderson, ’2 0 , the bov from
Millville.
There are a lot of Henderson haters in Philadelphia who
would be glad to tell this story as indicating that Hender­
son s only skill lies in his ability to stick his head in the door
and shout. They just
don’t know. They didn’t
attend the Congressional
hearings last month.
They didn’t see Hender­
son under that inquisi­
tion day after day. N o
imposter ever survived
that withering cross fire.
If Henderson were a
hoax, W a s h i n g t o n
would have known it
before Philadelphia.
And Bill Batt would
have known it. Batt is
President of Philadel­
phia’s SKF Ballbearing
Company. H e’s a pro­
duction man, and it’s
the production men who
T h e M illv ille B oy
generally scoff at Hen­
derson (before they know h im ), saying he’s a theorist who
has never done anything but teach school and work for the
government.

%

é

13

t he g a r n e t l e t t e r

SWARTHMDREANS
Batt was talking with Henderson one day about aluminum,
and Henderson showed that he knew the subject down to the
ground.
"I thought you were an economist,” said Batt. How do you
know so much about aluminum?”
Henderson grinned, and he answered by twisting that old
businessman’s bromide about the New Deal. "If you fellows
would get away from your business for a while, where you
have to meet a payroll every month— if you would roll up your
sleeves and work the way you have to work in the government
—you might learn something, too.”
Some people think Henderson is a menace, and that he has
no business being in a position of power. Most Swarthmoreans
are agreeably amazed that "D ub” Henderson should have gone
so far. They didn’t see it in him back in 1914, when he first
came up from Millville. They didn’t even see it six years later
(Continued on Page 1 4 )

Astronomy seemed too much "up in the clouds” to Hazel
Hamphill Brown, when she left Swarthmore in 1918 to make
her way in war-time America. So she went in for social work,
which somehow or other led to the study of law. And now she’s
Assistant District Attorney of Philadelphia County.
Astronomy was Hazel’s major at Swarthmore and also— odd
as it may seem to an extra-curricular fan, ’46 — her main interest.
After graduation in 1 9 1 6 , she continued her studies in this
subject on the Quaker campus, earned her M. A. two years
later, and then waved goodby to the stars forever. Her first job
was doing case work for the Family Society in Philadelphia.
Seems like a far stretch between that first job of Hazel’s and
her present position as Assistant District Attorney. But she says
it’s not. In fact, her social work was what first got her interested
in the study of law. "I got
curious about the legal angles
of some of my cases,” she ex­
plains.
Since her appointment to
her present office in 1 9 3 2 ,
District Attorney Charles F.
Kelley has always assigned her
to work in one of the several
social courts, and, during the
past year or two, she has
worked almost exclusively in
the Court of Domestic Rela­
tions.

"A person is a success at 35
or a failure.” That was what
the president of the Knox
Hat Company told Fred Red­
efer to help the latter make
up his mind. Fred was being
offered an important position.
He had already been given a
summer camp job, and since
he was the ninth child of a
poor Methodist minister, and
had never known the fun of
camp life, hats lost. Even
though Fred was newly grad­
uated from Swarthmore as a
civil engineer, equipped for
the future with only the real­
ization that he would never
be a good one, he has not re­ F rederick L. R e d e fe r , ’27
gretted that choice; for at
35, Frederick Lovatt Redefer
was listed in W ho’s W ho in America, 1940-41 — but not as en­
gineer or business man.
Fred’s career stems from his meeting at camp, that summer
of 1926, Mr. Ralph I. Underhill, an educator from Scarsdale,
N . Y ., who urged Redefer to study education. So Fred returned
to Swarthmore the following autumn, did honors work under
Dr. W . Carson Ryan, and wa^ graduated in 1927 with Highest
Honors in Education, having completed two years work in one.
The following year, Fred’s time was divided between work
at Smith Memorial Playground, in Philadelphia’s Hell’s
Kitchen, and teaching at "exclusive and expensive” Oak Lane
Country Day School, under W illiam Curry, a progressive
educator from England.
After a year’s graduate work at Teachers’ College, Columbia
University, Redefer became Assistant Superintendent of
Schools in Glencoe, 111. Two years later, in 1931, he was
elected superintendent of that wealthy suburb’s progressive
school system.
Fred resigned this position in 1932 to become Executive
Secretary of the Progressive Education Association. According
to Time (issue of October 31, 1 9 3 8 , featuring Redefer on the
cover), the membership then numbered 4 ,0 0 0 , and was
" $ 11,000 in the hole.” By 1 9 3 8 , membership had increased to
10,500, and the General Education Board of Carnegie Foun­
dation alone had granted $ 1,00 0,0 0 0 for experimental projects
in public schools'. Time gives most of the credit to Fred.

Four or five days a week,
dressed in sober little business
frocks of brown and black,
she argues the cases of wom­
en who petition for support H a z el H a m ph ill B ro w n , ’18
from husbands who have de­
serted them, of aged parents
who cannot get relief and petition for support from unwilling
sons and daughters, of women separated from their husbands
who want custody of their own children.

Running P.E.A ., according to Redefer, "consists of the
creative job of organizing conferences and projects, and find­
ing the means by which they may be financed. This latter is the
hardest part of my job. I am also called into conference by
schools, colleges and communities, and for certain aspects of
the work of the national Government. It is most interesting
work in that I am in constant contact with leaders of Amer­
ican life and could tell some very amusing stories of how
human great people are.”

(Continued on Page 14)

(Continued on Page 1 4 )

HEN D ER SO N
(Continued from Page 1 3 )
when, after two years’ absence in the Army, he graduated in
1 9 2 0 . They are still looking for the explanation.
Here is the answer. In the first place, Henderson had more
stuff in him than he was able to show in Swarthmore. He
emerged late. He started with the handicap of being a poor
small town boy. H e had to spend so much time earning money
to pay the tuition bills that he hadn’t time to make a campus
figure of himself.
r
Secondly, Henderson works. Y ou can underscore that word as
many times as you like without exaggeration. If he knows
aluminum, or steel, or rubber, or carpets, or the names of all
the members of the British Cabinet, it’s because he works. A
favorite appointment hour for Henderson is 7 :3 0 in the morning. H e starts early and he works late. H e doesn’t give the char­
women a chance. A lot of other people could be smart too,
if they were willing to drive themselves as unsparingly as Leon
Henderson.
John Hamm is Leon’s deputy administrator and, incidentally,
his cousin by marriage. In Hamm’s office you can see a pile of
back copies of the Millville Daily Republican. I don’t know
why they should be there, except for sentimental reasons.
Henderson used to work as a reporter for that paper, but the
widow of the publisher, his former employer, declares,’ "W e ’ve
disowned him. He used to be a nice Republican boy.”

The trouble with that is that Millville can’t disown Leon
Henderson. He has gone too far for that. The Millville boy has
gone to town.
L eo n P earson , ’20.

BR O W N
(Continued from Page 13)
Sounds like a gloomy profession, but Hazel is quite cheerful
about it all. "Quite often we bring about reconciliations,” she
says._ In addition to her work in court, Hazel has maintained
her interest in welfare work carried on by private institutions.
She is on the board of directors of the Family Society and of
the Glen Mills School, a corrective institution for delinquent
boys.
^
■^■rier 3. hard day s work, the Assistant D. A. usually spends
her evenings quietly at her home at 1 426 Mt. Vernon St., where
she lives with her father, President of the Municipal Court,
Charles L. Brown. H er chief after-dinner occupation: reading
mystery stories and playing with her pet spaniel.
Hazel got her degree in law at the University of Pennsyl­
vania in 1924 and was admitted to the bar the following Octo­
ber.^ She went into private practice, which she still continues
during the hours that court is not in session.
private office, incidentally, is called "N o-M an’s-Land”
by others of the profession. That s because she shares it with
four other lawyers, all women. The first names on the door
read: "Caroline, Mary, Hazel, Elizabeth and Adda.”
B y J oan W o olcott , ’39.

REDEFER
(Continued from Page 13)
Fred also has found time to contribute not less than sixteen
articles to educational publications (see Education Index 1932
to date) and the New Y ork Times has as frequently’ given
space to articles, lectures, and interviews. Thus he is spokesman
as well as director of the Association. The New Education
Fellowship, an international organization of which P.E A is
the U . S. section, has Fred on its Board of Directors.

When he is not traveling in behalf of a better world for the
younger generation, Fred lives in New York City with his
wife, formerly Helen Sisson.
By H e l e n B essem er St o ll n it z , ’30

AFTER 25 YEARS
(Continued from Page 8)
on Inventory, book reviews, songs, and articles on insurance,
education and economics. Eleven women listed publications
which include verse, a check list of flora, book reviews, articles
° n . education, on social work and on China, and research
articles in astro-physics, economics and medicine.

Opinions. The questions asking for opinions were left
blank more frequently than the others. In particular is this
true of the women who tend to take a middle ground rather
than an extreme position. Thus, in response to a question con­
cerning the Lease-Lend Bill, there were 9 men who favored
its passage unmodified, 8 men who opposed its passage in
any form and only 4 who preferred its passage in a modified
orm. On the other hand, there were 18 women who pre­
ferred the modified bill, 10 who favored it unmodified
and only 3 who opposed it altogether.
n^r
all of the women and all but two of the men were satisfied.
One man favored athletic scholarships.
Concerning the honors system there were 8 men and 8
women who gave their unqualified approval; 4 men and 4
women voiced objections to certain aspects of it and 2
men condemned it completely. The objectors include three
parents of present-day Swarthmoreans and a professor in a
graduate school who has taught several honors graduates.
The objections are mainly to the effect that intense specializa­
tion may well come later and that there is a danger of pro­
ducing intellectual snobs rather than well-rounded students.
In particular the parents seem to feel that even a brilliant
non-honors student does not get much attention from the
faculty and that he is not given nearly the assistance in finding
a job that the honors students get.
The class was practically unanimous in deploring the dining
room system of the past few years at Swarthmore.
The
general feeling is that the students are missing an excellent
opportunity for social development in not having coeducational
tables required; that for us it was frequently difficult but
altogether very valuable experience.
There were warm tributes to the Swarthmore of our day,
15 different faculty members being appreciatively mentioned.
On the other hand, the favorite undergraduate reminiscence
of one member was "catching the 1 :2 8 train to town” !