The American Oxonian THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RHODES SCHOLARS Published Quarterly. Copyright 1927 by the Alumni Association of America Rhodes Scholars. Entered as Second-Class matter at New Haven, Conn. under Act of March 3, 1879. Printed in the United States of America Subscription Two Dollars a year (Ten Shillings in England). Advertising rates upon application. EDITOR: TUCKER BROOKE, 88 Cold Spring Street, New Haven, Connecticut. CLASS SECRETARIES: '04, G. E. HAMILTON, Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pennsylvania '05, C. R. ALBURN, 1585 Union Trust Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio '07, R. M. SCOON, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey '08, T. J. MOSLEY, Univ. Extension Div., University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. '10, W. A. STUART, Abingdon, Virginia '11, F. F. RUSSELL, 49 Wall St., New York City '13, T. P. LOCKWOOD, 128 Broadway, New York City. '14, C. R. CLASON, 241-3 Court Square Bldg., Springfield, Massachu setts '16, W. R. BURWELL, Macedonia, Ohio '17, H. D. NATESTAD, 833 Head St., San Francisco, California '18, DR. F. B. CARTER, New Haven General Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut '19, B. M. BosWORTH, 120 Broadway, New York City '20, C. E. NEWTON, 31 Nassau St., New York City '21, J. E. NORWOOD, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina '22, F. FLOURNOY, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va. '23, W. BLACKBURN, Duke University, Durham, N. C. '24, J. D. BENNETT, 347 Temple St., New Haven, Connecticut. Oxford Correspondent: MASON HAMMOND, Balliol College. President of the Alumni Association: LEONARD W. CRONKHITE, 310 Congress St., Boston, Massachusetts T January, 1927 Oxford Letter By Dexter BENNETT, Wyoming and Oriel, '24. HE American at Oxford continues to make his presence felt without playing a too conspicuous part. This, one may assume, is as it should be. He is still chiefly eminent in athletics. Of the Varsity relay team last month at least half the members were Americans. Cook (Vermont and Exeter), Gates (New Jersey and Balliol), Hyatt (Arkansas and Balliol), Norton (Yale and University), Rosebraugh (Oregon and Christ Church), Sams (Georgia and Merton), and Thoenen (West Virginia and Exeter) took part in the Cambridge meet, which was lost after a close contest. Darlington (Harvard and New College), Kingsbury (Yale and Queen's), and Merrill (California and Christ Church) are candidates for the Varsity crew. They row in the two trial eights which have been out on the river throughout the term. These are our major triumphs. On the other hand, it may be noted that there were no Americans on the Rugger side, which lost rather disastrously to Cambridge; nor were there any on the Soccer side, which won a narrow victory. We who are indifferently athletic remain more or less obscure. Stauffer (Colorado and Merton) is an exception: he is the editor of Oxford's undergraduate literary magazine, the Outlook. We others do not even manage our own affairs any longer, now that the American Club has gone out of existence. During Michaelmas Term its fortnightly meetings were capably conducted by the President, Thoenen (West Virginia and Exeter) and the Secretary, Davis (Utah and Exeter), and the Club seemed likely to continue in its customary informal way. Mr. Wylie was present on one occasion, when the new plan for the apportionment of Rhodes Scholarships in the United States was discussed. At another time Mr. G. K. Chesterton addressed the Club. These meetings were deservedly well attended, but there was a great falling off afterwards. For some time the Club itself, apart from the attraction afforded by its speakers, has had few supporters, and it has at last been decided to discontinue its meetings. Perhaps a new organization will one day arise from the ashes. Other societies have fared better. At present the O. U. D. S. are at work on King Lear, which will be given in Hilary Term. Lord Oxford and Lord Birkenhead spoke recently at the Union, when a bust of Lord Curzon was unveiled. Later, on a less sober occasion, the Union voted that "the women's colleges of this University should be levelled to the ground," and for the first time a woman undergraduate addressed the society. Term ended with the Opera Club's production of Gluck's Alceste; the Bach Choir sang the Christmas Oratorio, and at the Super-Cinema a quite acceptable film, the work of Oxford undergraduates, was shown. But, on the whole, it has not been a particularly memorable term. For one thing there was the weather, which one would like to forget: its greyness cannot have failed to reflect on the temper of university life. Moreover, there are fewer great men among us than once there were. The undergraduate heroes of last year have gone down. One of them is writing his impressions of America for the Isis, so that his lambs at least are not unfed. Above all, aesthetic Oxford has united to lament the departure of Harold Acton. The editorial comment of one of the weekly magazines on his passing is delightfully youthful. "Cambridge," we learn, "only produces Rupert Brookes, charming boys, not Gods." This worship reminds one of Mr. Chesterton's remarks at the American Club. He told us that in England there is ́liberty, and in America democracy, and that these two were to be contrasted rather than compared. The English, in his opinion, esteem the exceptional man, the individual, or, as he preferred to call him, the eccentric: in America, it seems, it is the mass of men which is significant; our greatness lies in our capacity for spontaneous organization from below. Well, in Oxford at any rate our power of organization seems to have lapsed. The American Club is no more, and henceforth perhaps we too may hope to grow more eccentric. HE results of the annual election of Rhodes Scholars held in thirty-two states (Groups B and C) were announced on December 12 by President Aydelotte of Swarthmore College, American Secretary to the Rhodes Trustees. These Scholars will enter Oxford in October 1927. In announcing the results of this year's election President Aydelotte made public a summary of the record of the Rhodes Scholars from the United States and from the Dominions for the last twenty years recently compiled by the Rhodes Trustees for the information of Committees of Selection. About half of all the Rhodes Scholars come from the United States, the other half come from the British Dominions, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Jamaica, Bermuda, and Newfoundland. The records of the two groups of Scholars from the United States and from the Dominions for twenty years are almost exactly equal. The Dominion Scholars exceed the Americans by one per cent in the number of First Classes obtained and by four per cent in the number of Seconds. On the other hand the Americans have taken more advanced degrees than the Scholars from the Dominions, 67 as against 39, so that honors between the two groups are about equally divided. The whole group of Rhodes Scholars, American and Dominion alike, stand much higher at Oxford than the English "Commoners. On the other hand the Englishmen who win the Open Scholarships in the Oxford Colleges by competitive examination make a still higher record than the Rhodes Scholars. In First and Second Classes taken together the English Scholars show a record of 73% as against 67% for the Rhodes Scholars and 40% for the English "Commoners." The American record as compared with that of English Scholars shows a decided improvement since it was last compiled five years ago, and of the group which finished in 1926 the percentage of Firsts and Seconds combined rose to 74. Individual honors won by American Rhodes Scholars at Oxford last year included five Doctor's degrees, four First Classes in final honors examinations, three University prizes, and twelve "blues" for representing Oxford against Cambridge in athletic sports. |