USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 70
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Even amid the exacting demands of business he was an earnest student, and nights of laborious reading followed days of exhausting work. He was interested in mod- ern speculation, and in the bearing of scientific truth upon the profound questions of human life and destiny. He read also upon economical questions. Literature, science and art have always interested him. Work difficult for one less strong has always appeared easy for him. He has never seemed weary when there is work to be done; and he turns with apparently fresh strength to any new subject of inter- est, demanding his attention. He is only weary in case of enforced rest. Prompt- ness and almost inexhaustible energy have characterized his life. In 1880, Mr. Sage removed to Ithaca, and from this time his life is closely identified with the his- tory of the university. However great his gifts, his noble personality has been his greatest gift to the life of the university. It is not too much to say that services ex- tending over nearly a quarter of a century have made him, to all who shall review this later period, the central figure in its history. Mr. Cornell's magnificent plan, conceived in so large a spirit of personal sacrifice, and maintained with so much ten- acity, had not as yet been realized. Indeed, a scheme which had involved so much labor, and which had been pursued for fifteen years with so much devotion, was on the point of failure after the death of Mr. Cornell. The university had retained the national lands, and paid every year an enormous sum, thus imposing a tax upon its income beyond what it was in its power to sustain. The struggle at last seemed hopeless to the trustees, who had been faithful so long. An offer came to dispose of the balance of the western lands in Wisconsin, consisting of about five hundred thousand acres, for one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The syndi- cate, which proposed to make this purchase, was unable to make the initial payment, and it was even proposed to sell the vast interest of the university for one million dollars. At this time Mr. Sage's influence was thrown decisively into the scale to preserve these lands. He maintained that their immediate value was at least three million dollars, and that, by retaining possession of them, and by judicious disposal, even a larger sum might be realized. This decisive action in a decisive moment saved the future of the university, and rescued it from perpetual limitation in its means and scope, and made it possible for it to become one of the representative universities of the land. The results of this policy were embodied in a report of the Land Committee, presented to the Executive Committee on October 30, 1889.
"During the year, a sale of timber land amounting to one hundred and sixty-eight thousand two hundred and three dollars was reported. The previous sales, up to August 1, 1888, had realized four million nine hundred and twenty thousand seven hundred and forty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents. One hundred and sixty-two thousand six hundred and sixty-one acres were still unsold, whose estimated value was one million two hundred and sixty-seven thousand three hundred and twenty- three dollars and eighty-six cents, which, added to the previous sales, made a total of six million one hundred and eighty-eight thousand and seventy-one dollars and sixty-one cents." The committee added: "Whatever results may be the outcome of present complications, the university is now established upon an enduring basis. We cannot know how almost wholly we have been indebted to the wisdom and statesmanship of Ezra Cornell, in his arrangements with the State, to let him sell five hundred and twelve thousand acres of land, without admiration and gratitude for the breadth and solidity of the financial basis he laid for us. His undertaking
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was to carry the land twenty years, from August 4, 1866, to August 4, 1886, and within that time to sell and return all proceeds, less his actual expenses, to the trea- surer of the State. He hoped at that time to create about two and one-quarter mil- lions for the benefit of the university. He died in 1874, after expending five hun- dred and seventy-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-three dollars of his own cash to carry the land; after which it was carried by the university to June, 1881-in all nearly fifteen years, at a further cost of four hundred and eighteen thousand three hundred dollars, making, in all, a cost of nine hundred and ninety-five thousand two hundred and fifty-three dollars, and the total outcome to that date was less by three thousand three hundred and one dollars and sixty-nine cents than the actual cost of carrying it. It was a most discouraging labor, and seemed for a time to be utterly hopeless. The university was at that time very poor. Professors were paid two thousand dollars per year, and the trustees could not pay even these beggarly sal- aries without creating a large debt. At one time one hundred and fifty-five thou- sand dollars of such debt was paid from their pockets. Nearly all the available funds were in the land grant. Had any offered a million for it at that time, a major- ity vote of the trustees would probably have sold it. We had by actual count three hundred and twenty students. The prospect ahead was dark enough, but our dark days were nearly over. In August, 1881, we sold four hundred and eighty thousand dollars worth of land at one sale, and by August 1, 1886-three days before the twenty years expired-our total sales were three million eight hundred and eighty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four dollars and nineteen cents, far in excess of Mr. Cornell's wildest dream; and to August 1, 1889, the total sales, added to the value of land yet unsold, are six million one hundred and eighty-eight thousand and seventy-one dollars and sixty-one cents. We have had since August, 1881, three million nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-six dol- lars and forty-four cents in solid cash, or its equivalent in productive securities, poured into our treasury. All this in eight years! What wonder that we have felt the impulse of such prosperity, that we have had power to increase the pay of our professors as well as their numbers, and ability to build houses, to increase equip- ments, and thus, by wise use of all, and by deserving it, to command public patron- age? We have secured large gifts from others in buildings and in endowments; but to whom, above all others, do we owe the largest debt of love and gratitude for our present and prospective prosperity? To Ezra Cornell, now sleeping peacefully in yonder Chapel. To his purpose of faith and hope, and, under God, to the officers and faculty of the university, working to establish what he so grandly founded." This is an incomparable exhibition of sagacity and lofty devotion to the university ; and above the material advantage, is that most beautiful and imperishable element which glorifies human life-the love, the sacrifice, the patient devotion of the bene- factors- an invisible but immortal gift to the university.
Mr. Sage's personal gifts have shown a wise purpose to aid the university when gifts were most needed and would serve it best. In addition to the Sage College, the Sage Chapel, and the endowment of the Sage School of Philosophy, the latter at an expense of more than a quarter of a million of dollars, Mr. Sage has given for the Library and its endowment five hundred and sixty thousand dollars, besides the cost of a residence upon the university grounds for the incumbent of the chair of philosophy, and a gift of eight thousand dollars for the Archaeological Museum. Mr.
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Sage is not simply a man of affairs, demanding as they do business gifts of a high order. He has not worked for mere acquisition, although valuing independence and the means of enlarged activity which wealth affords. There has been nothing in his life to withdraw him from sympathy with men, but every thing to give him an interest in all the struggles which form character and constitute manhood. One of his guiding thoughts is not to take from young men the incentive to labor, but through labor, whether of the hands or of the head, to develop their powers. With him work is honorable, essential to manhood, and he has a vigorous scorn of selfish indulgence. He would say: "Let every young man take life as he finds it, and make the most of it," and his own example shows that the field of such a one will expand with his proved powers. One principle has guided his personal life-adher- ence to justice and honor. That wretched subterfuge, by which men substitute mere expediency for justice and honor, he is incapable of. Mere temporizing when a matter of principle is involved, to secure by shift or device some substitute for just and generous action, is foreign to his nature. The opportunity of service has always imposed an imperative claim upon him. He has faith in the right, which will always prove to have been the wisest in the end. He has placed before himself as the crowning purpose of his life to contribute to the growth of this university. No one has grasped its future with a clearer comprehension of its needs than he. The debt of the university to him cannot be estimated, and is not embraced in his munificent gitts. His foresight in the wise administration of the university lands, in which his advice has fortunately been controlling, has made it possible to realize the large re- turns which formed a part of Mr. Cornell's dream. Mr. Sage has that grasp of prin- ciples which makes his judgment instantaneous and almost unerring. His friend- ship has been freely accorded to all members of the university, and his generous recognition and interest will be inseparably associated with his memory. His ser- vices are not surpassed in the long line of its illustrious benefactors.
On January 31, 1894, the university celebrated the eightieth birthday of the Honor- able Henry W. Sage. Upon this day the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Mr. Sage's latest gift to the university, was dedicated. The semi-annual meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at this time, and most of the members were present. The trus- tees and faculty met in Mr. Sage's house to express their gratitude, and extend their congratulations upon this occasion. The celebration was not confined to the university. Mr. Sage's benefactions had been recognized as a gift to the nation, and the most eminent of the land joined in expressing their recognition of his distin- guished services to the State. President Cleveland wrote from the White House: "As a friend of Cornell, deeply interested in all that relates to its history and future prosperity, I desire to thank you for your long devotion to her welfare, and for the aid you have thus rendered to practical and useful education. I am sure that the testi- monial which will assure you that your worth and generous work is appreciated, will be accompanied by the sincere wish of many hearts: that you may be long spared to enjoy the comfort and satisfaction which attend generous deeds." Governor Ros- well P. Flower telegraphed his regret at his inability to be present, and said: "Cor- nell has been fortunate in having interested in her welfare one whose gifts have made him one of the moft generous patrons of education in America, and whose sound ad- vice and constant watchfulness have also been invaluable in guiding the progress of this powerful institution. Few lives of four score years have been so busy in good
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works as that of Henry W. Sage, and not only Cornell, but the State of New York must feel proud that such a man has lived among us and has devoted so generously his wealth and time to a noble purpose. The monuments which his love and munifi- cence have built at Cornell will perpetuate his honored name forever." An address was also presented from the faculty beautifully engrossed and signed by every mem- ber, expressing their personal gratitude to Mr. Sage, not simply as an official with whom they had been related, but as a friend to whom they felt a personal indebted- ness. This address contained a beautiful estimate of Mr. Sage's services in behalf of the university. It read as follows:
Mr. Sage: Your friends who subscribe this paper have a feeling that the day which marks the beginning of the ninth decade of your life should not pass without some expression of the honor and regard they cherish for you. Not unmindful that an austere sense of duty inclines you to shrink from public or private eulogy, they are also mindful that a too delicate hesitation on their part may permit a golden opportunity to escape them. The prudence which would silence the voice of generous feeling, and would let pass the moment for the utterance of a just gratitude, would indeed be excessive. Suffer us, then, to recall the past. Fourteen years ago you surren- dered your home in a great city, and the large sphere of usefulness there open to you, to dwell among us. Prescient of the future and the demands upon your toil, solicitude and financial re- sources, you came upon the scene when the university we love sorely needed a generous heart, a wise mind, and a liberal hand. The great work of the founder and the first president seeined in peril of arrest and decline. A chivalric faith and courage, and a liberality without stint, were the only hope ; and Providence inspired you to address yourself to the noble work of conserving, fos- tering and enlarging the foundations of learning which illustrious men had begun. Your life from the first has been one of noble purpose, and that purpose has had a logical development. Amidst the ceaseless activities of a business career, your thouglits ever turned toward the promotion of the welfare of your country. To you the culture of the young in institutions of learning seemed the safest and most ennobling charity, the most enduring means of promoting patriotism, civic virtue and true, intelligent religion. Your sympathy from the first has been manifest for letters, arts and sciences as related by a common bond, as divine instruments of human progress and wel- fare. If Cicero could say that nature without education has oftener raised men to glory and vir- tue than education without natural abilities, you, on the contrary, have held fast the faith in the necessity and advantages of education for all mankind, to strengthen abilities however weak, to afford the young persons of native strength of mind a guidance in the way of the noblest aspira- tion.
You are fortunate to live to see the results of your sacrifice. You can enjoy now the serenity of retrospection. You have witnessed the achievements of women in letters, philosophy and science, and the women of America will never cease to regard you as one of their earliest benefactors. Structures founded by your hand, and by that of your noble consort who too soon left us, rise about us. Sage Hall, the Chapel, the great Library, the Museum of Classic Arts, the School of Philosophy, attest your beneficence and wisdom. These are enduring monuments, and will per- petuate human gratitude But you will receive a still greater reward. Long after you, together with us, shall have passed from earth, the impulse you have given to the culture of man will en- dure ; its vibrations will never cease. Generations of the young shall pass from these university halls in endless succession, who will honor your memory, be inspired to noble living by your ex- ample, and thus help to perpetuate the existence and the welfare of the republic you have loved so well.
We affectionately salute you on this, the eightieth anniversary, thankful that such vigor of mind and body is still yours ; that your wisdom is still at the service of the university in its councils of administration, and that we may hope for you still other years of well-earned rest and human gratitude. "The end of doubt is the beginning of repose." The solid base of your work here cannot be disturbed. That your remaining years may be full of sunshine and peace, that your hopeful presages of the future of Cornell inay " with the process of the suns " be unceasingly re- alized by those who shall come after us, and that you inay return late to the skies, is our earnest prayer.
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An address was also presented from members of the senior class, expressing the gratitude and affection of the entire student body for devoted services, invaluable counsel and generous benefactions.
In behalf of the trustees the Hon. Stewart L. Woodford in a few simple but deeply felt words, recalling the events of the twenty-five years in which he had been con- nected with the board, presented to Mr. Sage, as a gift from the former and present trustees, a vase of solid silver. Upon one side, a draped female figure with arms half raised and with a basket at her feet shows that she represents generosity. Carved upon the vase are pictures of the buildings which Mr. Sage has given to the university- the Sage College for Women, the Chapel, and the University Library-while a Greek porch, partly concealed by a scroll, was designed to symbolize the munificent endow- ment of the School of Philosophy. Around the neck of the vase are the words: "On earth there is nothing great but man, in man there is nothing great but mind;" while upon a hand below, just above the base, stands: "Glory to God in the highest .. and on earth peace, good will to men." The inscription upon the base was as fol- lows: " Presented to the Honorable Henry W. Sage on his eightieth birthday, Janu- ary 31, 1894, by former and present trustees of Cornell University, over whom as chairman of the board he has presided for nearly twenty years, as a mark of their esteem and affection for the man, and of their grateful appreciation of the devoted love, the wise and zealous services and the munificent gifts which he has bestowed upon the university." The decorations, composed of oak and ivy, symbolized the strength and tenderness, which are elements of Mr. Sage's character. Mr. Sage's language in accepting this gift was significant. In the few words which he uttered he expressed his appreciation of the love and kindness of his friends, and paid a lofty tribute to the learning and devotion of the faculty, whose worth he had come to know and prize from an association of so many years. A second tribute, to the de- votion of his coworkers among the trustees, and an expression of his love for the uni- versity to which his life has been devoted, concluded his remarks.
MR. JOHN McGRAW.
MR. JOHN MCGRAW, to whose generosity the university owes the noble building which bears his name, was born in Dryden, May 5, 1815, where he resided until 1848. He became early interested in the manufacture and sale of lumber, and later in the purchase of large forests in Michigan. He resided in various parts of the State, his longest residence, until his removal to Ithaca, being in the vicinity of New York, where his large business centered. He was chosen a trustee of the university at its opening. His interest in it soon led him to erect a building for the library and the scientific collections, which was completed in 1871. His purposes to contribute to the development of the university were not confined to this single gift, munificent as it was. He left to his only daughter the execution of his beneficence. Mr. Mc- Graw's residence here brought him into close connection with the business interests of the university, and his servives in the first years of its history were of great value. He died in Ithaca, May 4, 1877. Hon. Henry W. Sage, a former business
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associate, thus wrote of Mr. McGraw: "Among the most active and useful forces of a nation's life is a large class of the higher ranges of business men-those who orig- inate the enterprises of the period, and direct and control the industries pertaining to them. From these, result a nation's prosperity and the foundation of its growth in wealth, commerce, and the elevation and refinement which accompany them. Eminent among this class of nien was Mr. McGraw. He dealt with principles and ideas, boldly grasping the outlines of important projects which commanded his at- tention, and he followed up with all the force of his character any enterprise once entered upon, when his judgment was once convinced of its soundness and utility. His clear, practical head was always a power in the management of the interests of the university, He was upright, prompt, true, sensitive to the nicest shade of honor. His active, practical life, was a living exponent of that within, which abounded with faith, hope, courage, fidelity-the qualities which make up and stamp the noble man."
PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH.
PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH, whose interest in the university and numerous gifts have been a contribution to its reputation and its wealth, was born in Reading, Eng- land, August 13, 1823. He was educated at Eton, and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1845. He was an elegant classical scholar. winning scholarships and prizes for English and Latin essays, and for Latin verse. He was elected a Fellow and tutor of University College, where he taught for sev- eral years, and also a Fellow of Oriel College. He was called to the bar in Lincoln's Inn in 1847, but never practiced. He was secretary of two commissions to examine into the government, property and studies of the University of Oxford. His efforts in behalf of university reform exerted great influence in infusing new methods and life into wealthy, antiquated foundations. He was also a member of the Royal Com- mission of Education of England, and, from 1858 to 1866, Regius Professor of His- tory in the university. Mr. Smith was always a pronounced Liberal in politics. No possible favor could inducc him to sacrifice his opposition to aristocratic and irre- sponsible government, for popularity or temporary advantage. He can as little brook empty ritualism in religion as an exclusive privileged class in authority. His interest in America and its struggle for freedom, caused him to visit this country in 1864. As a steadfast friend of the Union and of republican institutions, his services to our government in dark days were at once recognized. He was welcomed by President Lincoln and our most prominent statesmen in Washington, and by schol- ars everywhere. Even in his enthusiastic reception, he was ready to peril the favor of his new-found friends rather than abandon his strong sense of justice, as was shown by his public opposition to current political discussion at that time. At the opening of the university in 1868, Mr. Smith became professor of English history. Numerous students were attracted by his name, and his classes were thronged. Recognizing the inadequate equipment of the library for historical study, he sent for his own valuable library, containing the rare accumulations of a lifetime, and
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presented it to the university. There were numerous hardships to the Oxford scholar in an inland village of a new country, in the crude condition of the young university. He wrote often for the college papers, gave receptions to his classes, and sought, in every way, to incite a cordial feeling among his students. Privately he ascertained the wants of those who were self-supporting, and often ministered to them by gifts of books. It is doubtful whether any university in England or Amer- ica offered at that time a course of lectures on English history equal to those deliv- ered here. The residence of Mr. Smith's family friends in Toronto took him, after a few years, to that city, where he married and now resides. Nearly every year he returns here upon a visit, and the students have an opportunity to hear one or more of his graphic and philosophical lectures upon some theme of current political inter- est. His attachment to the university is shown by constant gifts of work in history and literature to the library. It would be a boon to the students if he could be in- duced to spend half of each year here, resuming those lectures which were such an inspiration to former classes. Professor Smith's writings cover a vast variety of sub- jects besides history. He has defended religion against the deceptive views of Man- sel in his Bampton lectures, and discussed in reviews nearly all the prominent ques- tions which have agitated English and colonial politics in the last thirty years. Lit- erature has been indebted to him in many ways, most recently by a life of Cowper. No living English writer surpasses him in clear, incisive style, joined with graphic description and brilliant generalizations.
His reputation has received wide recognition in several volumes which he has re- cently published in rapid succession, especially: The United States; An Outline of Political History, 1492-1871-a brilliant outline sketch of American history; Essays on Questions of the Day, Political and Social; A Trip to England; Oxford and Her Colleges; Bay Leaves; Translations from the Latin Poets; Specimens of Greek Tragedy, etc.
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