Young, John C. Letter to David G. Cowan (March 22, 1832)

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New York March 22d [1832]

Dear Brother,

I arrived here 3 days ago & have been moving around busily if not efficiently. I fear that I shall do literally & absolutely nothing. There is a state of things here such as not been seen for many years. The merchants are all trembling. Had not the U.S. bank discounted half a million in one day, 10 days since, there would have been such a crash as this city has never witnessed. But the relief is considered to be merely temporary - the only safety is in the rapid curtailment of business. The merchants here are glutted with goods & nothing to pay with to any extent. They have overdone their business, & the drain of the specie from this country renders the banks unwilling to discount - this is the chief cause of the distress. I have seen & conversed with some of the most actively benevolent men & they all think nothing can be done, at present. Dr. Spring tells me he

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has tried to raise money for a session-house which the congregation see that they need, but he cannot procure half the requisite amount of funds. My hopes, you know, were to get a meeting of 15 or 20 of the giving men, & obtain from their subscriptions a start, which would enable me to make up the deficit [from?] individual application, in which I could spend 3 or 4 weeks. But I can procure no start, as no one will come to a meeting of this kind, when he feels unable to pledge himself. The distress makes them on whom we could mainly rely in ordinary circumstances, unwilling to lend even an attentive ear. I am in great perplexity & trouble. Spring advises me to make no attempt now, as there is almost a certainty of failure. Tappen says it is impossible to succeed now - but advises me to hold a meeting to lay facts before the minds of some individuals & interest them in the object for another day. This, indeed, I feel to be all I can do - if I can do that - but the difficulty is to get men in such circumstances to attend such a meeting. I would rather [illegible word] $50 out

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of my own pocket that I had not come on. Edward Bucher has been working all winter here & in Philadelphia to raise $15,000 for Illinois, & I presume will succeed; & I doubt not that if I could spend 6 months, & make thorough work I could raise what we need. But I have no time for protracted measures, & there is no chance for an [unclear: impulse?].

The $10,000 from the compromise should by all means be funded for the Literary & Scientific Department, & an agent (I hope Rice) sent out among our own churches. If we could collect $15,000 in addition to our present funds & the $10,000, we could do nobly even without anything from the East. Even what we have, if the whole $10,000 be funded, will enable us to employ one additional Professor. We must by all means have another. I would sooner continue on my present salary some years [unclear: longer?] & have a fuller Faculty - it is necessary for our prosperity that we should enlarge. Princeton by such a course has risen from 60 to 120 in 2 years.

As to Nichols' business, it appears to me, that students complaints are

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to be regarded just so far as they can prove the man to be morally or intellectually unfit for his station. Any one's complaints of one of our officers is to be regarded, if he offers proof of his allegations, & they be such as, if proved would show the man unsuited to his place. Many an officer stands too high with a community & with Trustees to be affected by students' complaints - but that is not always the case. If there are complaints the Trustees ought to put them down by explicitly declaring them groundless, or they should give them full weight. A [illegible word]

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& strong course is necessary - otherwise you retain an officer whose character is soiled. Clear him or dismiss him. I only state my opinion as to the principle - as to the facts I know nothing - though I have often & [illegible word] different quarters heard [unclear: aspersing?] rumors. I will attempt to the [illegible words].

Remember me to all friends. I have been unwell, but am now restored to ordinary health.

Your friend J.C.Y. [John C. Young]