Ross Affair: Notebook containing D. S. Jordan's statement with exhibits and ptd. report of Committee of Economists

47

Exhibit "S". Contd

copy

Stanford University,

Nov.20, 1900.

Pres. David S. Jordan,

Stanford University.

Dear Sir:

Pursuant to your request I called this morning on Dr. Ross in company with Professor Green and made formal request for the letters loaned him and which you instructed me to secure and return to the files of the office.

Professor Ross declined to give the papers to me. He asked me to assure you that he would not take the papers with him and would not publish them; that before he left the campus he would return everything in his possession that did not belong to him. When asked if he considered the letters as belonging to him, he said he did; that the papers were given him for a definite purpose; that he needed them in vindication of his character, and that when he gave them up, if he ever did, it would be in exchange for a statement signed by you to the effect that you did and said the things expressed in the letters.

I incidentally asked him for the receipt for his salary, check for which to July 31 had been mailed him on Friday, the amount being $2625.02. He declined to give the receipt until, as he put it, he had ''time to call at the bank and ascertain if the check was good and had not been countermanded. ''

Very truly yours,

G. A. Clark.

48

contd.

Exhibit ''S''

---COPY---

San Francisco, Cal.

(About Nov. 19 or 20, 1900)

Dear Mr. Clark:

The matter of the letters seems to me to be very simple. I want the clearance paper to which I am entitled after years of faithful work. Dr. Jordan wants the letters to which he is entitled. I am willing enough to give up the letters if I have the clearance paper. I can conceive of no reason why he should object to giving me the clearance paper.

The most valuable clearance paper to me is not an estimate of my work addressed to me but an estimate of it addressed to the personage I have been serving these years.

Is there any reason, then, why I should not receive tomorrow a letter like that on the enclosed sheet?

I should return at once letter dated May 21, and May 26.

I know nothing of any carbon copy of the Eliot letter. If I find such a letter I shall let you know. I know of no reason which I should not return it. I have a letter received from Pres. Eliot which I shall, of course, return when I get back to Stanford.

I can only add that I shall keep no copies of any letters returned.

Please understand that this has nothing to do with the check episode.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) Edward A Ross.

49

Contd

Exhibit "S"

---COPY---

San Francisco, Cal.

(Date any time after May 21,)

Dear Dr. Ross:

After seven years of association I was able to write of you recently to Mrs. Stanford in the following terms:

''At the University Dr. Ross has been a constant source of strength. He is one of the best teachers, always just, moderate and fair. He is beloved by his students and has steadily risen in the estimation of his colleagues.''

''In the time of trouble in the University he has been most loyal, accepting extra work and all kinds of embarrassments without a word of complaint. The sickness of Dr. Warner, the failure of Dr. Clark, and the sudden departure of Prof. Powers left him on each of three years with half the work of another man in addition to his own. But he took this uncomplainingly and I did not know till it was over that he was in consequence not strong enough to stand up to lecture and had to spend his afternoons in bed. If he had been a selfish man he would not have overtaxed himself.''

He is ''a wise learned and noble man, one of the most loyal and devoted of all the band we have brought together.''

You are at liberty to use this letter in seeking a position.

(Signed)

50

Exhibit "J."

The Dismissal of Professor Ross

REPORT OF - - - - - - -

COMMITTEE OF ECONOMISTS

Report of the Committee of Economists on the Dismissal of Professor Ross from Leland Stanford Junior University

The committee appointed at the meeting of the economists in Detroit, December 28, 1990, to enquire into the causes of the dismissal of Professor Ross from Leland Stanford University, have earnestly endeavored to learn the fact of the case. In addition to a careful examination of the statements made in the newspapers, we have asked Professor Jordan for a full and frank statement of the causes which led to Professor Ross's removal, and have obtained the replies printed in the appendix, in which Professor Jordan declines to give specific information in regard to them. We have also in our possession copies of letters bearing upon this case from various persons, including letters from Professor Ross, as well as from President Jordan, not only to Professor Ross, but also to others.

The following facts are, we believe, undisputed:

It is customary for professors in the Leland Stanford University to be reappointed early in May of each year. Professor Ross failed to receive his annual reappointment early in May, 1900. He was, however, reappointed on June 2. On June 5, he handed to President Jordan his resignation as follows:

''Dear Dr. Jordan: - I was sorry to learn from you a fortnight ago that Mrs. Stanford does not approve of me as an economist, and does not want me to remain here. It was a pleasure, however, to learn at the same time of the unqualified terms in which you had expressed to her your opinion of the work and your complete confidence in me as a teacher, a scientist and a man.

While I appreciate the steadfast support you have given me, I am unwilling to become a cause of worry to Mrs. Stanford or of embarrassment to you. I, therefore, beg leave to offer my resignation as professor of sociology, the same to take effect at the close of the academic year, 1900-1901.''