Student Publications: “The Hatching of the Hatchet”
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Article
The Hatching of the Hatchet
by Jesse W. Barrett. LL.B., 1905
I am requested to reminisce. Very well. Time, 1902. Place, 15th and H Sts., NW., Columbian University [the name changed to George Washington University in 1904], a worthy institution, with a faculty of outstanding men like Dean Wilbur, Dean Munroe and Walter Clephane, who made up in large measure for the lack of campus and stately buildings. Dr. Charles W. Needham, dynamic President of the University, seized the vision of a new and greater University to be named for George Washington. A student body of excellent material but not united by any great amount of college spirit. The University needed a newspaper. Equally obvious to me was my need for more funds than my father, a Missouri country editor, was able to supply. I made the suggestion of founding a paper to President Needham, and he gave me every encouragement. I made a partnership with Otho L. Ferris, an Iowa boy in my law class, and he became business manager. We called it the "Weekly Columbian," and changed the name to "The Hatchet" when the University changed its name.
The main objectives were achieved. The paper did help to unite the student body and stir some college spirit. Too, it paid dividends which were timely and welcome. It was a pretty fair paper. I was billed as editor-in-chief but my duties also included gathering news items, soliciting advertising and reading proofs. Galt, the jeweler, on Pennsylvania Avenue (whose widow, after his death, became Mrs. Woodrow Wilson) was an advertiser I shall not forget. He made a liberal and exciting offer for the back page, but he specified that in every issue "jeweler" must be spelled with two l's; otherwise he would not pay for that issue. I was most careful each week in my proof reading to see that no compositor had knocked the "1" out of his title, and consequently, out of our pay.
The law school building was then on H Street, just to the east of 15th, and the site, I believe, is now covered by the Woodward Building. It was well suited to its use. However, our class on constitutional law had to hold its sessions in the larger room of what was called Columbian Hall since the lectures were given b the renowned Mr. Justice John Maynard Harlan, and there was always a gallery of visitors. The grand old jurist liked to chew tobacco while he lectured. All tobacco lovers understand how that clears the mental processes. He was a chivalrous southern gentleman, however, and when bevies of ladies appeared in the galleries to hear him he usually endeavored to slip the tobacco to his hand and thence to the floor without attracting attention. The classes always helped him as much as they could at that moment by pounding the floor with their heels.
Mr. Justice David Brewer also was a member of the law faculty, as was also Willis Van Devanter, destined later to become a member of the United States Supreme Court. These men were among the greatest jurists of that day and in addition our law faculty included such excellent instructors as Walter Clephane, W. R. Vance, Arthur Peter, and John Paul Earnest. It was a great law school and it has kept its fame and influence through the years. Law, we were taught in those days, was something permanent, because it was based upon the eternal principles of justice and truth. Even the bindings of our textbooks were of enduring fabric. We didn't know that in later years our law would be in loose leaf notebooks and that each morning you would receive a fresh batch of pages with instructions to discard those sent the day before. There was too, a doctrine of stare decisis, which today I suppose would be spelled laissez faire.
Washington was very different then, and so was the world. Dress in evening was always formal. Dignitaries who exuded dignity were all about. They frowned at the irreverent unconventionalities of Theodore Roosevelt, that glamorous hero to all young men. It was impressive to sit in the lobby of the Willard and watch ponderous gentlemen in Prince Alberts clasp hands and say "Doctor, I greet you." It wasn't until the following decade that the salutation changed to "Hello, Bill."
It would be futile to explain the atmosphere of that day to the present generation. There were quaint expressions now unintelligible, such as, “sound as a dollar” and “good as gold." No one spoke of "the capitalistic system," for capitalism was not regarded as a system but merely as a by-product of liberty. It was believed that a man's right to his earnings included the absolute right of choice, either to spend them or to save them.
In fact, both thrift and industry were understood to be virtues. No one thought of increasing wealth by limiting production for it hadn't been discovered that the economy of scarcity was the road to the more abundant life. It was thought that the people should support the government rather than the reverse and America was hailed as the land of opportunity. And so, many of our classmates, knowing no better, went forth and achieved distinct success.
Some years ago, in Washington, I had a nostalgic attack. I sought out the oldest cab driver I could find, who had the worst looking rig and the most decrepit horse. As we jogged along the Potomac talking of the changes we had witnessed, he pointed with his whip to the trees and said, "Mister, do you know why them willows is weepin'? They're weepin' for the Washington that was."
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Author or Source: GWU Alumni Review, September 1947
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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