"President Charles William Eliot '53 today celebrates his ninetieth birthday. The whole nation unites in acclaiming him, who was president of Harvard 40 years and a leader of thought over 60, the Grand Old Man of America.

"Today he is the greatest figure in the History of American education, the foremost citizen of the United States--not honored only, but beloved," writes Dean Briggs in "The Atlantic Monthly." William Allan Neilson '96, a former professor of English at the University and now president of Smith College, says of President Eliot, "It is impossible to name a figure who has so continuously dominated our intellectual horizon for the last fifty years."

Describing President Eliot at his in augural Professor Emerton '71, writing in the "Harvard Graduates' Magazine," says, "His commanding figure, erect and alert, his noble voice, once heard never to be forgotten, the persuasive authority of his manner, free then as always from all elocutionary trickery, the forceful simplicity of his language, all combined to produce upon us the sense of a new era about to dawn."

Pres. Neilson Sees Many Benefits

And a new era did dawn, according to President Neilson, who has summed up the benefits Harvard received from his administration as follows:

"Thus were established the elective system, with the consequent development of specialization; the enrichment of the curriculum, especially on what is known as the modern side; the substitution of written for oral examinations and of lectures for recitations. In the administration of discipline a greater degree of liberty and responsibility was granted to the student, and entrance to the college was guarded by higher standards of admission. Meanwhile Harvard grew from one thousand students to five thousand: twenty million dollars were added to its endowment; and a New England college became a cosmopolitan university."

Mr. P. W. Wilson writes in the "New York Times," "For prolongation such a career has few, if any, parallels in the world, and none, I think, in the United States. President Eliot has witnessed the development of railways, of steamships, of ironclad, of submarines, of airplanes, of breech-loading guns, of the telegraph, of the telephone, of two-cent postage, of radio, of automobiles, of newspapers, of X-ray, of elevators, of skyscrapers and, last but not least, of golf. And at the end of it all I found him, a day or two ago, an enthusiastic and even exuberant optimist. From his severe and prolonged ordeal he emerges with faith unshaken in God and man. He left on my mind a glimpse of a man, upright in body and mind, full of good sprits, wholly unafraid of death, wholly glad to be himself. It is as an expert on happiness that President Eliot celebrates his ninetieth birthday. And on the art of happiness he is, perhaps, the greatest living expert."

"Not Austere"--The Nation

"Grave and stately in appearance," says the "Nation," "Dr. Eliot is not in reality an austere man. Even a slight intimacy reveals geniality, kindness, and humor; but his inability to trifle with the truth, his scorn of insincerity and affectation, and his courageous frankness of utterance sometimes frighten the timid. His spoken and written style is a faithful expression of his character. It is a style without applied ornament, without excess of kind, the utterance of a just and valiant man. Though strong-willed and self-assured, he sought to make his policies prevail not by the exercise of autocratic power, but by persuasion. Yet he never flattered, never played politics."

Professor Emerton says, "However much one might differ from this or that detail of his opinion, one always felt the purity and loftiness of his ideal, the firmness of his standards, the depth and sincerity of his sympathy."

Throughout his life President Eliot has been progressive, indeed, according to some, radical and revolutionary. An example may be taken from an account of his life published in the "New York Tribune" to illustrate this fact. "Dr. Eliot was the first to introduce gas in Harvard. Recognizing that his room in old Holworthy would be improved by the new discovery, he formally asked permission of the faculty to install it. The request at first was flatly refused. Later permission was granted with misgiving, and Dr. Eliot's room in Holworthy was the first to be so illuminated."

Held Advanced Ideas--N. Y. Times

His inaugural address, full of that clear thought and expression which is one of his characteristics, was regarded as revolutionary by the the elite of Boston. He was always a little ahead of his contemporaries, declares the New York Times.

"President Eliot," this paper continues, "does not lose his large vision. He believes that the United States is far better governed today than she was when he started life. And while he is cautiously reticent over the growing influence of the universities in public life, his usually reflective eyes gleam with subdued delight when he recalls how this or that Harvard man has been found faithful in the administration of some high office."