Whitest Man

In Europe this story is told more often than in the U. S.:

During the War a crowd of patriots was gathered in old Madison Square Garden to hear the president of Princeton University, President Woodrow Wilson's successor in that office, speak. The crowd saw a benign, slightly-built man walk on the platform, heard him say drowsily: ''I am for peace at any price." They clambered to their feet, booed. Then they heard him add brightly: "But in this case the price of peace is war!" They cheered, cheered, cheered.

Those who know Princeton's President John Grier Hibben are often surprised by such sudden sallies from his apparently innocent mind. He exemplifies, certainly, the charming, scholarly type of college president rather than the boisterous and administrative. For this reason he was chosen, as a compromise candidate, after Princeton trustees had been deadlocked for two years in trying to elect a successor to the provocative Woodrow Wilson. But Dr. Hibben took up the reins discarded by that active dreamer with no lack of confidence and soon was working out his own dreams of a university.

Those which have come true include: 1) limited enrolment; 2) the four-course system by which upper-class students choose two major courses and two minor, and must stand high in these; 3) increase in size and beauty of the physical plant and strengthening of the faculty. But, withal, President Hibben has been most notable for his general and tireless insistence on the intellectual side of the University.

Students know him as the kindly man who crosses the campus with an Airedale terrier, which shares his popularity. They know him also as the husband of a gracious spouse, and regard the pair much as King George & Queen Mary are regarded in England. There is a student song which goes:

Here's to Hibben, we call him Jack-- The whitest man in all the fac.

Last week a rumor got abroad which forced him to make a personal statement: "For a long time I have had in mind the intention of retiring at the end of 20 years of service, in June, 1932."

Because college presidents are public figures, not likely to be permitted obscurity, rumors flew to the effect that he would be nominated to, and accept, the Republican candidacy for Governor of New Jersey in the Spring. Therefore his past was scanned for its high spots. They are: born at Peoria, Ill., April 19, 1861; educated at Princeton and Berlin; served as Presbyterian minister at Chambersburg, Pa. (1887-91), then as instructor of logic, and later of psychology, at Princeton; author of several philosophical works.

Prominently mentioned last week as possible Princeton presidents were Lawyer Raymond Blaine Fosdick of Manhattan (brother of Harry Emerson) and Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Treasury Walter Ewing Hope.

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