Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 69

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194

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for me to identify myself with it. Finally, convinced that it would shortly lead me on the road of fortune, I acceded to Mr. Smith's earnest solicitation, and engaged to undertake the work on condition that I should first devote a little time to the settle- ment of my business in Maine." This was the beginning of Mr. Cornell's connection with the electric telegraph, which became the source of his fortune. It has been shown how incomplete the invention was as a practical achievement. Professor Morse says that up to the autumn of 1837, his telegraph apparatus existed in so crude a form that he felt a reluctance to have it seen; but on the 6th of January, 1838, he operated his system successfully over a wire three miles long, in the presence of a number of personal friends, at Morristown, N. J. Later, the leading scientists of New York and the faculty of the University, as well as the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, recognized its pre-eminent merit. Mr. Morse removed his apparatus from Philadelphia to Washington, where he demonstrated its success in the presence of President Van Buren and his cabinet, foreign ministers, and members of Congress. Congress finally appropriated at the close of the session of 1843 thirty thousand dollars for the erection of an experimental line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore. The original plan of placing the wires underground proved unsuccessful from the impossibility of effective insulation. Mr. Cornell then made a careful study of all the available scientific works which treated of electrical science, and finally urged the adoption of the method which had proved successful in England, in the hands of Cooke and Wheatstone-of placing the wires on poles. On May 1, 1844, the line was completed and in operation between Washington and Baltimore. Mr. Morse now offered to sell the patent to the United States government, to be used in con- nection with the postal service, for one hundred thousand dollars. The post-office department, to which this proposition was referred, reported that the operation of the telegraph between Washington and Baltimore had not satisfied the postmaster- general, and that at any possible rate of postage, could its revenues be made to cover its expenditures. Under the influence of this report, Congress declined to accept the offer of the patentees, and the telegraph was left to seek development by the aid of private capital. Mr. Cornell was now formally enlisted in the depelopment of this invention. He had short lines of telegraph erected across streets or between buildings in Boston and New York, with the purpose of interesting capitalists in the formation of a company to erect a line between New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington. Mr. Cornell constructed the section of the line between Fort Lee, opposite New York, and Philadelphia, in the summer of 1845. His compensation for superintendence was at this time one thousand dollars per annum. All the money that he could spare was now invested in the capital stock of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, the first incorporated organization to promote this new enterprise. It was not merely as a superintendent and constructor of telegraph that Mr. Cornell's admi- rable powers were displayed. He designed apparatus to facilitate the transmission of messages, among other things, a relay magnet which was used successfully for a considerable time. Mr. Cornell next erected a line between New York and Albany, under contract with the New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Company, which was completed successfully in the autumn of 1846. From this enterprise Mr. Cornell realized a profit of six thousand dollars, his first substantial gain after three years of labor in connection with the telegraph. Later, he also erected lines from Troy to Montreal, and a portion of a line to Quebec. Mr. Cornell now assumed a larger

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responsibility in establishing the telegraph system of this country. He organized the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company to provide a line of telegraph between Buffalo and Milwaukee via Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, and also the New York and Erie Telegraph Company to connect Dunkirk with the city of New York, passing throuth the southern counties of the State. In much of the territory west of Buffalo, telegraph lines were established before the railways, branch lines were erected to connect with the Erie and Michigan Company's lines, from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, from Cleveland to Zanesville and Wheeling, and from Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati. The rapid development of telegraphic communication created a rivalry between opposing lines, and competing offices were erected in various cities for the transaction of business. In 1855, the Western Union Telegraph Company was organized, by which these conflicting interests were consolidated. This company embraced at first the lines in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Illinois. The success of this union of opposing interests was at once manifested. The profits of the enterprise increased rapidly, and the company em- ployed its accumulating profits in extending its system over a wider field. Other lines were purchased, new lines were built, others leased in perpetuity, and thus the position of the new company was rendered complete and impregnable. Later, the Western Union Telegraph Company assumed the contract of Mr. Sibley, and extended its lines across the continent ten years in advance of the railroad.

In 1862 Mr. Cornell took his seat in the Legislature of the State. He served for two terms as representative, and for two terms, as senator. His term of service fell, in part, within the years of the Civil War, when it was necessary to sustain the Fed- eral Government with cvery influence emanating from its most powerful State. In all the questions to which the war gave rise, Mr. Cornell supported earnestly the na- tional cause. During his residence in Albany he was chairman of the committee on agriculture in the Senate, and, also, chairman of the committee on finance. He was an uncompromising advocate of sustaining the credit of the State by payment of the principal and interest of the public debt in specie, in accordance with the true spirit under which the obligation was incurred. He also advocated the creation of sinking funds for the gradual extinction of the debts of the State. These wise measures have almost extinguished the entire indebtedness of the State. We find him active in the labor of the committees of which he was a member. Although not an orator, his remarks were terse and convincing. His name is associated with numer- ous measures for the benefit of agriculture, finance, and education. His services in the Legislature were recognized by his constituents by a unanimous renomination for senator. When he retired, it was at his personal wish, in order to devote himself to the interests of the university which he had founded. All Mr. Cornell's acts ex- pressed his strong individuality. Definiteness characterized all his opinions, and views, once adopted, were sustained with tenacity in the face of all opposition. All idealists are perhaps visionary, and the erection of the university which bears his name was a noble ideal which Mr. Cornell set before him as the crown of his life. Visionary he may have been in other things, but a humane purpose underlay all. To promote its interests, he was led to withdraw his capital from the telegraph, in which it was rapidly increasing, and where its security seemed unassailable, in order to promote the erection of railways through his native city. Mr. Cornell's letter- books show the enormous labor to which he subjected himself, the minute and pa-

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

tient detail with which he answered inquiries and attended to every question of the administration of the university lands. He was unable to relinquish minor matters to others, and the new and untried responsibilities which he had assumed in connec- tion with the railways were beyond his powers of immediate direction. In these vast undertakings to which he was impelled by a desire to benefit his native place, as well as to build up the university, his large fortune was impaired. Prosperous times could not probably have secured the success of his venture; but in the paraly- sis of all business in the crisis of 1873, it is not strange that his enterprises yielded to inevitable laws upon which all industrial prosperity depends. The blow of impend- ing loss was met by Mr. Cornell silently, heroically, but with unfaltering resolution. The vigor and courage which had won his great fortune made his spirit still hopeful, almost triumphant, amid financial loss. In June, 1874, Mr. Cornell was suddenly in- capacitated from attention to business by serious illness which he had contracted by unconscious exposure while traveling. From this illness he never recovered. Pneu- monia passed into a settled affection of the lungs, and all hope was at an end. Dur- ing his last months of weakness, mindful of the university which lay so near his heart, he transferred to it all his interests in the national lands which he had pur- chased, and thus secured its permanence. During his sickness he longed to recover ; he could not bear the thought of defeat, and he wished to earn, as he said, a half million dollars more for the university. The enormous task of administering the es- tate of the university, which he had assumed, and the terrible burdens associated with the three railway enterprises in which he was engaged, added a crushing weight to the suffering of his last months. Even upon the morning of the 9th of December, 1874, he rose with the wonderful energy inherent in his nature, and was dressed, and devoted himself during the hours of the morning to business. At last, overcome by weakness, he sought his couch, and soon after noon, his work was over.

Although Mr. Cornell was by nature reserved, and there was an element of stern- ness in his exterior, only those who were intimate knew the warmth of personal af- fection which burned in his heart. His devotion to his family-his longing, when absent, for the sight of his little girls, and his remembrance of every member, found constant expression in his letters. His integrity and loyalty in the support of every- thing that he believed right, all knew; but the warmth of feeling in his nature was known only to his most intimate friends. The news of his death called out an ex- pression of popular sorrow in the community in which he lived, such as is but rarely awakened; and neighboring cities held meetings to pass resolutions of respect for · his memory. He rests in a Memorial Chapel erected in the center of the university, which will be his truest monument.

THE HONORABLE ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, LL.D.

The Honorable Andrew D. White, LL. D., the first president of the university was born in Homer, N. Y., November 7, 1832. After spending one year in Hobart, he entered Yale College, where he spent the last three years of his college course, gradu- ating in the class of 1853. Mr. White won distinction in a class noted for its bril-

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liant members. He received prizes in English essays, and was one of the editors of the Yale Literary Magazine. Upon graduation, he obtained the De Forest Gold Medal, one of the most coveted honors of an undergraduate course, for an oration upon The Diplomatic History of Modern Times.

Among his classmates were many who afterwards became distinguished, among them, E. C. Stedman, the poet; Henry C. Robinson, governor of Connecticut; Bishop Theodore F. Davis, of Michigan; Senator Gibson, of Louisiana; Wayne Mac- Veagh, United States attorney-general, and minister to Italy, and George Shiras, judge of the United States Supreme Court. After graduation he went abroad, where he spent three years in travel and study. He resided longest in Paris, where he heard lect- ures at the Sorbonne, pursuing with ardor the study of French history, in which sub- lect his lectures have always possessed an especial interest. He was a member for a few months of the official family of the Honorable Thomas H. Seymour, United States minister to St. Petersburg, during the exciting events associated with the Crimean war, where he obtained some glimpse of diplomatic affairs and of political and court life. He also traveled extensively through Europe. In intervals of other work, he inspected the archives of France and studied on the spot nearly every great event of the Revolution. He also made several journeys through various parts of France, in- cluding excursions on foot through Picardy, Normandy, Brittany, Touraine and the borders of La Vendée, during which he conversed with many who had an intimate knowledge of those great events. He says: "While thus satisfying my love for a study which has fascinated me, I have hoped to do something to counteract the in- fluence of prejudiced English historians and the American dilutions of their works, and to give that view of the struggle which, so far from disheartening young men, will strengthen their faith and hope."

Upon Mr. White's return in 1856, he spent a year in advanced study at Yale. In the following year, he was elected professor of history and English literature in the University of Michigan, which position he held from 1857 to 1862. His large business interests recalled him to Syracuse where, after a second period of foreign travel, he resumed his residence. He was twice elected a 'State Senator from that district, serving from 1864 to 1868. His connection with the University of Michigan was, however, from this time merely nominal; after giving up the regular duties of his professorship he occasionally delivered a few lectures. His residence there was a most fruitful period in his educational experience. Michigan University was at that time under the intelligent direction of President Tappan, one of the wisest and most progressive administrators whom this country has produced. The independence of a State university, which had received enduring form under the moulding hand of the first superintendent of instruction, the Rev. John B. Pierce, although hampered at times by political interference, attracted Mr. White. President Tappan's views of the relation of the university to the school system of the State, as the crown of higher public education, were exemplificd in the organization of theschools. President Tappan maintained that scientific learning had a right to compare, in modern education, with ancient learning. Views which Mr. White later incorporated into the constitu- tion of Cornell University were seen here in practice, where their effects could be measured. President White himself said in an address in Ann Arbor that Cornell was the daughter of Michigan University. Mr. White, as chairman of the commit- tee on literature in the Senate of New York, was an efficient agent in aiding his col-

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league, Mr. Ezra Cornell, to secure the Land Grant for this university. Indeed, wc may say that Mr. White made definite the plans of Mr. Cornell, and that the original purpose of the latter to found an industrial institution was expanded under Mr. White's advocacy, so as to include a university. Mr. White's strong faith, that the one great opportunity for the establishment of a university in the State of New York worthy of the name had come with the National Grant, and that, by preserving this gift in its integrity, the cause of higher education would be promoted and its success achieved, determined Mr. Cornell's views upon this important subject.

Mr. White was elected a trustee of the university at the first meeting of the Board of Trustees held April 28, 1865. At the request of Mr. Cornell he drew up a proposed plan of organization which was presented to the trustees on October 21, 1866, at the same meeting at which he was elected president of the new university. About this time, the directorship of the School of Fine Arts at Yale was offered to Mr. White but declined. Mr. White's influence during his term of senatorial service was of great value. He was independent, and brought a knowledge of the world, and a study of political institutions to bear, in the discharge of his duties, which was un- usual in legislation. His influence in extending the system of normal schools through- out the State was felt, and one or two addresses which he delivered, in which he dis- cussed national questions were vigorous defences of Republican principles. The ad- dress, in which he advocated withdrawing the National Grant from the People's College and bestowing it upon Cornell University, was an able defence of the pro- posed legislative action, and exerted a marked influence. After the close of his duties as State senator, in the summer of 1868, President White went abroad for a few months in order to execute numerous orders from the trustees for the purchase of scientific apparatus, books and maps for the university, and also to visit various schools of applied science. During this visit Professor Goldwin Smith de- cided to come to Ithaca to reside during his proposed visit to America, and Dr. James Law was secured as Professor of Veterinary Science. Mr. White retained his resi- dence in Syracuse for the first four years after the opening of the university, until the completion of the president's inansion on the university grounds in the autumn of 1872. During this time, while residing in Ithaca, he occupied rooms in Cascadilla Place which was the center of official as well as of social life. His diversified inter- ests often called him away from the university in those early years, and the im- mediate administration devolved in his absence upon the vice-president. In 1871 President White was appointed by President Grant one of the United States com- missioners to San Domingo to report upon the expediency of the annexation of that island; in 1876 he received a leave of absence from the university for the purpose of visiting Europe and was absent until the autumn of 1878, during which year he was a commissioner to the Paris Exposition and, at its close, received the cross of Com- mander of the Legion of Honor. His return was welcomed by the entire student- world by processions and an address. President White remained in Ithaca until the spring of the following year, when, in April, he was appointed as envoy extraordi- nary and minister plenipotentiary to Germany. He sailed from New York May ?, 1879. Mr. White was well qualified to represent the United States at a foreign court. His acquaintance with European history and life, and his social gifts attracted to his house the most accomplished scholars and artists of the capital, and his broad and genial sympathy with literary men made his residence a center of charming social

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intercourse and hospitality. In the autumn of 1881 President White again assumed the discharge of his duties as president of the university and resided continuously in Ithaca until the date of his resignation in June, 1885.

The early interest of President White in historical study, which was exhibited during his college life, has continued until the present time. His favorite depart- ment is the history of European culture since the dawn of the Renaissance. He lias devoted most attention to French and German history, especially to the period of the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution. He collected a rare and exten- sive library, possibly not surpassed in America upon these periods. The formative ideas which determined the early character of the university are largely due to President White. He was fertile in theories, and active in investigating different courses of study and systems of education both in this country and abroad. To him belongs undoubtedly the credit of advocating, even if he did not originate, many of the views which prevail in modern university education. Among these we may mention the importance of history, especially of American history, and of modern languages, both as a means of culture and for scientific investigation; he has advo- cated instruction in sociology, and in lectures upon free trade and protection he has urged that both sides shall be represented by their ablest advocates; the equal value for intellectual training of parallel courses of study, and the dignity and importance of industrial education to the nation. He has insisted upon the superior value of Latin for the general student above Greek. He has also been an earnest advocate of the improvements of the secondary schools throughout the State. Freedom in the choice of studies has been a prominent characteristic of the university from the beginning. The solution of the conflict in regard to classics he found in the establishment of definite parallel courses, such as have been adopted in this university.

If a certain native disinclination to the details of executive duties, an undue reliance in important questions upon the formulated and aggressive views of those in whom he had confidence, an impetuosity and personal element in the solution of vital questions, combined with a peculiar indecision, and adherence to theoretical views after they had been disproved in practice, were manifest in administration, so many beautiful and generous traits were revealed, so much personal thoughtfulness as to preserve the enduring affection of his colleagues. He loved to gather his friends in his home which was the centre of delightful literary and social intereourse ; his large library was open to the use of the poorest students without hesitation, and there was no case of distress in the university world that did not appeal to him.

The position of dean of the School of History and Political Science was offered to President White upon its establishment in 1887, but he declined the honor. In 1892 he received again the honor of a foreign diplomatic position. President Harrison appointed him minister to the court of St. Petersburg, where he has since resided. Mr. White has presented to the university numerous works upon art, medallions, and manuscripts. Upon the completion of the Sage Library, Mr. White transferred to it his own valuable historical library consisting of 19,300 volumes. In order to secure the development of the studies of history and political science in which he was especially interested, he made as a condition of this gift the establishment and sup- port by the university of a School of History and Political Science, and also that it should maintain fellowships in these subjects, defray the salary of a librarian in the White Library and the cost of the publication of a catalogue of the library.

Rui l' Ithaca N

Atlantic Publ. ling & Ergrowing C: NY

I.M. Sage

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THE HONORABLE HENRY W. SAGE.

THE Honorable Henry W. Sage was born in Middletown, Conn., January 31, 1814. He is a descendant of David Sage, a native of Wales, who settled in Middletown as early as 1652. His father, Mr. Charles Sage, married Miss Sally Williams, a sister of the Hon. J. B. Williams, of Ithaea. Henry W. Sage was the oldest child. His early boyhood was passed in Bristol, Conn., until his father moved westward in 1827, with the early tide of emigration, and settled in Ithaea. In early years he learned the lesson which so many eminent Americans have had to acquire-that of self-sup- port and self-dependence. This discipline of sacrifiee and of arduous toil was one of his earliest aequisitions. It had been the ardent wish of the boy to enter Yale Col- lege, but the removal of the family to this State interrupted this plan. Even in Ithaca his desire for a profession did not forsake him, and he began the study of medicine, which, however, he was forced by ill-health to abandon, and in the year 1832 he entered the employ of his uncles, Williams & Brothers, men of great energy and probity, who were merchants and large shipping agents, owning lines of trans- portation which traversed the lakes of Central New York, connecting, by means of the Erie canal and the Hudson river, with the trade of the metropolis. Mr. Sage's energy and business sagacity were soon manifested, and his enterprise en- larged the sphere of his activity. Five years later he became proprietor of the busi- ness. He early foresaw the rising importance of the West, and became interested in the vast forests of Canada and of Michigan. In 1854 he purchased a large tract of timber land around Lake Simcoe, in Canada, where he manufactured lumber on a large scale. He engaged, soon after, in business with Mr. John McGraw, and erected in Winona, Mieh., a manufactory which, at that time, was regarded as the largest in the world. When comparatively a young man, during the memorable campaign of 1847, he was elected upon the Whig ticket to the Legislature. In 1857 he removed to Brooklyn, where he resided until 1880. Here his great ability, and above all, the marked force of his character, made him at once one of the most prominent citizens, He was the friend of the Rev. Henry Ward Beeeher, and the great preacher, in all his difficulties, rested upon no heart with more intimate and ten- der affection than upon that of his parishioner, Mr. Henry W. Sage. In 1870 Mr. Sage was elected trustee of the university, and since 1875 he has been president of the Board of Trustees. As a youth he wandered over the hills of this, his early home, and rejoiced in the beautiful views of lake and valley, and he saw in the new university an opportunity to realize a purpose, which he had deeply cherished, to promote the higher education of woman. Even when residing at a distance, he had given generously the endowment which formed the Sage foundation for the educa- tion of women and erected the Sage Chapel, which his son, Mr. Dean Sage, in noble enthusiasm for his father's purpose, endowed, thus securing to the university the valuable courses of sermons which have been delivered for twenty years in the Uni- versity Chapel, and which will constitute a permanent fund for the promotion of the religious and moral life of the university. It is evident from this that Mr. Sage is a man of lofty personal faith, who has the courage to follow his convictions wherever they lead. His faith in the education of woman, and in the future which is before her, was a part of his being, in advance of the leading thinkers of this country.

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Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 69

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194