i868] Foundation of Cornell University 



early development, held on to the New York allot- 

 ment of 700,000 acres. This it was enabled to do 

 through the unselfish interest of Mr. Cornell, who Mr. 

 first selected the tracts with excellent judgment Cor 

 and then advanced large loans upon them. Millions a 

 of dollars were thus saved to the university, though 

 Mr. Cornell was violently attacked on the ground 

 that he was "planning to rob the state, seeking to 

 erect a monument to himself." Concerning these 

 wanton slanders, he merely remarked that he was 

 "glad they were made in his lifetime," for such 

 attacks are hard to answer later on. The Morrill 

 lands being finally sold at a good price, the insti- 

 tution was firmly established with great potential 

 resources, following which, on the founder's advice, 

 White became its first president. 



The early years of my Alma Mater, though rela- pioneer 

 tively crude and cramped, were enriched by an enthusiasm 

 enthusiasm hard to maintain in days of prosperity. 

 And the pioneer impulse far outweighed, to our 

 minds, any deficiency in coordination, equipment, 

 or tradition. At that time we were all young 

 together, freshman students, freshman profess- 

 ors, freshman president, without experience, or 

 tradition to guide or impede. But we had youth 

 and we had truth, and not even the gods have 

 those ! 



It was a favorite theory of Ezra Cornell that 

 students should be able to pay their way by manual 

 and other labor; and in the beginning, therefore, we 



C793 



