1913
Two new constitutional amendments became effective: the Sixteenth legalized income taxes and
the Seventeenth provided for election of Senators by the people. The famous "Armory Show" of
Modern Art opened in New York. The Woolworth Building, tallest in the world, was completed.
Ford engineers adapted the meat packers' conveyor belt system to car assembly and soon the
company began producing 1,000 Fords a day, for which Ford began paying the revolutionary
high wage of $5 a day. Jim Thorpe, "greatest of all athletes," was stripped of his Olympic
medals. Ellis Island recorded a record day when 6,475 newcomers cleared the island, bringing
the total to 900,000 in nine months. E.G. Baker set a Trans-America record by driving a Stutz
Bearcat from the West Coast to New York City in 11 days, seven hours, and 15 minutes. Cecil
B. DeMille moved to Hollywood, California, to make motion pictures. Willa Cather's O
Pioneers, and D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, and the first crossword puzzle were
published. The Panama Canal opened.
• State Scholarships • Alumni Fund
• Last Degrees • Sports
• School Name Changed • Faculty Committees
State Scholarships.
On April 16 and May 1, 1913, the education law of New York State was
amended to provide for the establishment of scholarships for the aid of students in New York
colleges. Five such scholarships were to be awarded to each county annually for each assembly
district therein. Each recipient was to be awarded $100 for each year he or she was in
attendance at an approved college in the state during a four-year period.
The last four lines of article 77 of this law read as follows:
... and provided further, that the college selected by the person entitled to such a scholarship is situated within the
State of New York, and is incorporated as a college and authorized under the laws of this state and the rules of the
regents of the university to confer degrees.
A comparison of those lines with the wording of Clarkson's charter revealed that a strict
interpretation of this new law might exclude Clarkson from the benefits of these scholarships
because of the name of the institution: Memorial School of Technology. This change was
unimportant except technically. Engineering departments that form parts of universities are
quite generally called schools: the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, the Lawrence Scientific
School at Harvard, the Towne Scientific School at the University of Pennsylvania. Thus, the
original name of this institution seems to have been entirely appropriate, especially as it formed
a part of the University of the State of New York. Some of the Trustees, however, were not so
sure.
Last Degrees.
The Fourteenth Annual Commencement in June awarded 11 degrees which were
the last ones at Clarkson designated as a Bachelor of Science from the University of the State of
New York; henceforth, they would be from Clarkson alone.
