William S. Clark
William S. Clark | |
---|---|
Presidential Elector , 1864 | |
Personal details | |
Born | July 31, 1826 21st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
William Smith Clark (July 31, 1826 – March 9, 1886) was an American
In 1867, Clark became the third
After resigning the presidency of MAC in 1879, Clark left academia to become the president of a mining company, Clark & Bothwell. The company, in operation from 1881 to 1882, purchased several
Education and early career
Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1826, William Smith Clark was the son of a country physician, Atherton Clark, and Harriet Smith Clark.[5] In about 1834, his family moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts.[6] Clark was educated at Williston Seminary (now the Williston Northampton School) in Easthampton, and entered Amherst College in 1844. He earned membership in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and graduated in the class of 1848. Clark then taught chemistry at Williston Seminary from 1848 to 1850. In 1851, he departed to study chemistry and botany at Georgia Augusta University in Germany, now known as the University of Göttingen, where he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1852.[7][8]
Later that year, Clark returned to Amherst and accepted a professorship in analytical and applied chemistry at Amherst College. He held that position until 1867. He also served as professor of zoology from 1852 to 1858, and of botany from 1854 to 1858. Shortly after his appointment, Clark began to promote agricultural education, a subject which had attracted his attention during his time in Göttingen. Beginning in 1853, he headed a new Division of Science for the theoretical and practical study of agriculture.[9] The program was not successful, however, and was discontinued in 1857 due to poor enrollment.[10] It became clear to Clark that a new type of institution would be necessary if agricultural education were to be taught effectively. He was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture from 1859 to 1861 and was the president of the Hampshire Board of Agriculture from 1860 to 1861, and later from 1871 to 1872. He used his position in these organizations to seek support for an agricultural college in Massachusetts.[11][12]
Family
A few months after returning home from Germany, on May 25, 1853, Clark married Harriet Keopuolani Richards Williston. Harriet Williston was the daughter of Clarissa and
William and Harriet Clark had 11 children, only 7 of whom survived to adulthood. Their eldest child and daughter, Emily Williston Clark, married F.W. Stearns, the son of prominent trader and department store owner
Civil War
During its first months of service, the 21st Massachusetts was assigned garrison duty at the
After the 21st Massachusetts was transferred to Northern Virginia in July 1862, the regiment eventually became part of the
Clark's enthusiasm for the war waned considerably after the Battle of Fredericksburg during which the Union Army suffered severe casualties in repeated charges against a heavily fortified stone wall. In a January 1863 letter to a friend, Clark wrote that, although he still felt "the principles for which we fight are right and honorable," he was "disheartened and dissatisfied" with the government and the army.[23] By April 1863, the numbers of the 21st Massachusetts had been so thinned by what Clark called the "cruel fate of war," that the regiment had virtually ceased to exist and Clark's command was only nominal. He therefore resigned his commission and returned to Massachusetts.[24]
Massachusetts Agricultural College
Proponents of agricultural education, including Clark, felt that scientific advances were bypassing farmers as a class. Clark lamented that farmers in Massachusetts had little access to higher education and that, consequently, the profession was degenerating economically and intellectually. As Clark wrote,
In the good time coming, the refining, elevating, and strengthening influences of high intellectual and aesthetic culture will be considered as desirable in the agricultural profession as they are in medicine, law or theology ... If practical farmers are to remain ignorant of all the higher branches of learning, and to have only the mental discipline and culture of the country public schools, they can never occupy their proper position in society.[26]
The farmer's "proper position in society" was in particular jeopardy in New England, according to leaders of the agricultural education movement. Increasing industrialization caused the population of mill towns to grow exponentially in the mid-19th century at the expense of rural towns, many of which were left all but abandoned, especially in western Massachusetts.[27] Adding to the crisis was the phenomenon of westward movement and the lure of cheap land in the Midwest. The agricultural education movement in Massachusetts, in reaction to this crisis, had highly moralistic tones.[28] Clark criticized those who left New England, writing, "Will a wise man exchange the beautiful and diversified scenery of New England ... Will he forsake the school and churches and the social privileges of prosperous communities for the semi-barbarous condition of newly and sparsely settled districts?"[29] Further, Clark warned that if the decay of rural Massachusetts continued, farming would soon be considered, "degrading in its nature, and designed ... only for those poor, stupid, ignorant, or unfortunate persons."[30]
MAC went through two presidents in its first four years and by 1867 still did not have a faculty, nor students, nor finished buildings. Clark became president of the college in 1867 and immediately appointed a faculty and completed a plan for building construction. Clark's decisive management enabled the college to admit its first class of 49 students.[32] In addition to being president, he was professor of botany and horticulture.[8]
Although initially regarded as a great success, the college saw poor enrollment over the course of the 1870s. Clark was particularly disappointed with the lack of support from the farming community, writing, "To one who understands fully the greatness of the work which has been done in Amherst … the utter indifference in regard to the college manifested by most of the 75,000 farmers of Massachusetts is truly astounding."[33]
By the end of his presidency of MAC, Clark was falling under increasing criticism from the press and politicians in Boston. MAC, mounting an increasing debt, was declared a failure by some. Infuriated by what he called, "time-serving politicians and unprincipled newspapers seeking only to float on the tide of public opinion," Clark resigned in 1879.[34]
Clark was one of the commission of three, appointed by Massachusetts governor John Albion Andrew in 1863, to consider the expediency of establishing a state military academy. He was a presidential elector in 1864, and a representative to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1864–1865 and 1867. He was a member of a number of scientific societies.[8] In 1868, Clark was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[35]
Japan
In 1876, Clark was invited by the
Seeking a model agricultural college,
Clark signed his contract with the Japanese government on March 3, 1876, in
Clark spent eight months in Sapporo from 1876 to 1877. After enduring negative press in Massachusetts, he was pleased with the enthusiastic cooperation he received from the Japanese government. SAC was organized in just one month. Clark wrote to his wife, "I am actually rebuilding MAC ... on the other side of the earth."[41] In establishing SAC, Clark introduced the first American model farm and barn in Japan and the first college military unit in the country. He also introduced new crops and new techniques in agriculture, fishing, and animal husbandry.[42]
Clark's direct superior while working at SAC was the Governor of Hokkaido (and future Prime Minister of Japan) Kuroda Kiyotaka. The two men greatly respected one another and shared a bond in that they both had past military experience. Their positive relationship facilitated Clark's many accomplishments while in Sapporo and accounted for the wide latitude Clark was given in implementing not just SAC programs, but also his influence on the colonial development of Hokkaido.[43]
Hokkaido represented the Japanese frontier at that time and with so much work to be done in colonizing the island, Kuroda welcomed and frequently implemented Clark's advice.[40] Clark submitted recommendations to the governor on such diverse subjects as converting migratory fisherman into permanent colonists and establishing a textiles industry.[44] In fact, Clark himself was taken aback by the apparent scope of his influence on colonial affairs, writing to his wife, "Governor Kuroda consults me constantly and always follows my advice."[45] He later wrote, "I tremble to think how much confidence is reposed in me and what responsibilities I am daily assuming."[45]
Clark not only had a significant impact on colonial development, but also had a powerful personal effect on the first students of SAC. The same rhetoric of ambition and personal elevation he had employed at MAC resonated more deeply with his Japanese students and, further, with a Japanese nation just emerging from a rigid feudal caste system.[46] During classroom lectures, informal evening talks, and outings to collect botanical specimens, Clark discussed morality and urged his students to, "Be gentlemen."[47]
Although the Japanese government prohibited the teaching of the
During his stay in Hokkaido, Clark examined the local flora and introduced new species of plants and trees from Japan to the United States. He sent to Massachusetts a large assortment of seeds, many of which proved of special value to his own state, on account of the high latitude from which they were selected. In Teine-ku, Sapporo, he discovered a new lichen on the side of Mt. Teine, at an elevation of 3,200 feet (980 m), which was named Cetraria clarkii, in his honor, by Edward Tuckerman.[8]
On the day of Clark's departure, April 16, 1877, students and faculty of SAC rode with him as far as the village of
Later career
After his retirement from MAC, Clark became interested in a scientific floating college proposed by entrepreneur and real estate developer James O. Woodruff. This innovative concept attracted national attention and planning moved swiftly.[53] Funds were procured and Clark was named President of the Faculty. Before the enterprise could get underway, Woodruff's sudden death caused the abandonment of the scheme.[8][54]
Following this setback, Clark decided to depart from academia and teamed up with John R. Bothwell in 1880 to form the Clark & Bothwell mining company. For Clark, mining was a logical extension of his background in chemistry and geology. Exactly how Clark became associated with Bothwell, a man of questionable character who had been cashiered from the U.S. Army for fraud, is unknown. As an academic, Clark was ill-prepared for a financial career. This, coupled with Bothwell's disreputable history, would result in a short life for the firm.[55]
The firm of Clark & Bothwell opened for business on March 10, 1881, with offices at the corner of Nassau and Wall Street in New York City.[56] The first mine in which the company became invested was the Starr-Grove silver mine, just south of present-day Battle Mountain, Nevada. By the end of 1881 the company, with Clark as President, was involved in seven silver mines, predominantly in Utah and California. Although focused on the American West, the company had far-reaching interests spreading from Mexico to Nova Scotia. The Satemo Mining Company of Tangier, Nova Scotia (named by Clark after a Japanese word which, according to his translation, meant "all right") became a subsidiary of Clark & Bothwell in the summer of 1881. The company was among the first involved in the Nova Scotia gold rush of that period.[57]
In managing these mines, Clark took an active role as President. He traveled thousands of miles, recommending improvements to mills and machinery and overseeing the improvements.[58] Meeting initial success, the company's worth soon amounted to millions of dollars.[58] The good fortune extended throughout the town of Amherst where, according to biographer John Maki, there was a "craze in mining stocks" as Clark's friends, family, and former academic colleagues became heavily invested in the company. There were also substantial investors in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities.[58]
The first sign of serious trouble for the company came in March 1882 when the Starr-Grove mine shut down due to lack of profit and increasing debt. The stock values of Clark & Bothwell's various mines immediately plunged and were soon unsaleable.[59] The first of what was to be several lawsuits for investment money lost was brought in April 1882.[60] The most damaging development came when one of the subsidiaries, the Stormont Mining Company, sued Clark & Bothwell for funds withheld from Stormont. It soon became apparent that Bothwell, as Treasurer, had mismanaged affairs at the company's New York office resulting in the firm's collapse.[61] By May 1882, Bothwell was en route to San Francisco and was never heard from again.[62] The scandal was national news and the resulting lawsuits played out in New York and New England newspapers.[4]
Although Clark maintained that he had been "taken in" by Bothwell, his reputation in Amherst was nonetheless destroyed.[61] The stresses of the scandal ruined Clark's health, and for the last four years of his life, Clark was largely confined to his home in Amherst due to heart disease. He died in Amherst on March 9, 1886, and is buried in Amherst's West Cemetery.[63]
Legacy
Although he is almost forgotten in his home state of Massachusetts, Clark remains a national figure in Japan.[64] His influences on the agricultural and economic development of Hokkaido were significant, but it is primarily his cultural message that still resonates today. According to historian Fumiko Fujita, Clark's phrase, "Boys, be ambitious!" is "almost immortal in Japan."[65] The Japanese National Tourism Organization describes the slogan as "famous" and often quoted throughout the country.[66] Historian John Maki wrote that many Japanese school textbooks "have carried brief accounts of [Clark's] work and his slogan", and that Clark's name appears on "schools, buildings, shops, confections and countless tourist souvenirs."[67]
Clark's missionary activities produced the Sapporo Independent Christian Church in 1882, founded by students of SAC. It was one of the first cells of Christianity in Japan after the Meiji Restoration. Eventually, ten of the signers of Clark's "Covenant in the Believers of Jesus," raised funds to build the William S. Clark Memorial Church in Sapporo in 1922. The church was demolished in 1962, but rebuilt in another location and still houses the original "Covenant" as well as several Bibles Clark brought to Sapporo.[68]
In the United States, Clark's primary legacy is one of ongoing cooperation between the two colleges he founded, now the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Hokkaido University. Student and faculty exchanges were informal for many years until, according to journalist Daniel Fitzgibbons, the early 1960s when "the U.S. State Department contracted with the University to help strengthen the agricultural curriculum at Hokkaido. Through that program, 11 UMass faculty went to Sapporo and 52 Japanese faculty and students received advanced training in Amherst." Both universities maintain exchange programs through various academic departments.[69][70]
In 1969, Professor John H. Foster of the Center for International Agricultural Studies designated the collaboration between the institutions as "the oldest technical assistance relationship between a U.S. university and a foreign university."[69] In recognition of this fact, and of Clark's role in establishing the two colleges, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Hokkaido became sister universities in 1976. On February 7, 1990, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the prefecture of Hokkaido became sister states.[70][71][72]
One of the first public works of art in honor of Clark's legacy was a bust placed on the campus of the Hokkaido University in 1926 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of SAC. The original bust was melted down during World War II, but reconstructed in 1947.
Buildings named after Clark include Clark Hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, originally constructed in 1905 to house the Department of Botany, and the Clark Memorial Student Center, built on the campus of the Hokkaido University in 1960, the first and largest western-style collegiate student center in Japan.[74]
Works
Contributions to Liebig's Annalen:[75]
- "Ueber Chlormagnesium-Ammoniak" (1851)
- "Analyse des Steinmarks aus dem Sächsischen Topasfels" (1851)
- "Analysen von Meteoreisen" (1852)
Papers contributed to the annual reports of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture:[75]
- "Report on Horses" (1859–60)
- "Professional Education the Present Want of Agriculture" (1868)
- "The Work and the Wants of the Agricultural College" (1868)
- "The Cultivation of the Cereals" (1868)
- "Nature's Mode of Distributing Plants" (1870)
- "The Relations of Botany to Agriculture" (1872)
- "The Circulation of Sap in Plants" (1873)
- "Observations on the Phenomena of Plant-Life" (1874)
- "Agriculture in Japan" (1878)
In 1869 he translated Scheerer's Blow-pipe Manual for use at MAC.[75]
See also
- Nitobe Inazō Author of Bushido
- Nonchurch Movement
Notes
- ^ Browne, 2–3.
- ^ Maki, 124–125.
- ^ Maki, xv–xvi.
- ^ a b Maki, 267–272.
- ^ Maki, 1.
- ^ Maki, 1–3.
- ^ Maki, 30–46.
- ^ a b c d e Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ Maki, 48.
- ^ Maki, 49.
- ^ Browne, 6–7.
- ^ Browne, 15–16.
- ^ Maki, 7–8.
- ^ Maki, 6.
- ^ "Claude Moore Fuess Material for a Biography of Frank Waterman Stearns, Finding Aid". Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- ^ Maki, 12.
- ^ Maki, 58.
- ^ Walcott, 18–20.
- ^ Walcott, 81 and 119.
- ^ Bowen, 35–38.
- ^ Walcott, xiv.
- ^ Maki, 68.
- ^ Maki, 69.
- ^ Browne, 15.
- ^ Rand, 3.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 7.
- ^ Barron, 39.
- ^ Browne, 12.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 11.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 13.
- ^ Rand, 7–13.
- ^ Rand, 13–17.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 17.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 19.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter C" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
- ^ Adams, 35.
- ^ Maki, 122–130.
- ^ Maki, 130.
- ^ a b Maki, 131.
- ^ a b Maki, 151.
- ^ Clark, quoted in Browne, 22.
- ^ Browne, 24–25.
- ^ Maki, 150.
- ^ Browne, 24.
- ^ a b Clark, quoted in Browne, 24.
- ^ Browne, 25.
- ^ Maki, 173.
- ^ Maki, 144.
- ^ Czerwien, Christy Anne (September 14, 2011). ""Boys be Ambitious!": The Moral Philosophy of William Smith Clark and the Creation of the Sapporo Band". d-scholarship.pitt.edu. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
- ^ Duke, 217.
- ^ Maki, 181.
- ^ a b c Maki, 196.
- ^ Maki, 237.
- ^ "A Promising Life Ended" (PDF). The New York Times. New York. June 5, 1879. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
- ^ Maki, 254.
- ^ Maki, 249.
- ^ Maki, 258.
- ^ a b c Maki, 259.
- ^ Maki, 265.
- ^ Maki, 266.
- ^ a b Maki, 268.
- ^ Maki, 269.
- ^ Maki, 281.
- ^ Konishi, 230.
- ^ Walker, Brett L. Forward to A Yankee in Hokkaido, ix.
- ^ a b "Hitsujigoaka". Japan National Tourism Association. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
- ^ Maki, xvi.
- ^ Maki, 182.
- ^ a b Fitzgibbons, Daniel J. (October 5, 2001). "Hokkaido University Salutes 125 Year Old Campus Bonds with UMass". The Campus Chronicle. Amherst, Massachusetts. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
- ^ a b "International Relations: The Massachusetts Hokkaido Relationship". University of Massachusetts. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
- ^ "Sister State and Sister City Relations Between the U.S. and Northern Japan". Consulate General of the United States, Sapporo, Japan. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- ^ a b Tuttle, 4.
- ^ "The dedication exercises of the replica bust, Circa 1947". Digital Image Catalog. Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- ^ "Campus Guide Map" (PDF). International Affairs Division, Hokkaido University. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- ^ JSTOR 25129837.
References
- Adams, Donald K. (1970). Education and Modernization in Asia. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. OCLC 65337.
- Barron, Hal S (1984). Those Who Stayed Behind: Rural Society in Nineteenth Century New England. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-25784-0.
- Bowen, James L. (1889). Massachusetts in the War, 1861–1865. Springfield, Massachusetts: Clark W. Bryan & Co. OCLC 1986476.
- Browne, Patrick T.J. "Cultivation of the Higher Self: William Smith Clark and Agricultural Education". Historical Journal of Massachusetts. 36 (Winter 2008). Westfield State College. ISSN 0276-8313.
- Duke, Benjamin C. (2009). The History of Modern Japanese Education: Constructing the National School System, 1872–1890. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4648-3.
- Fitzgibbons, Daniel J (October 5, 2001). "Hokkaido University Salutes 125 Year Old Campus Bonds with UMass". Campus Chronicle. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- Konishi, Masakazu (December 12, 2008). Masakazu Konishi. Vol. 6. Oxford University Press. )
- Maki, John M. (2002). A Yankee in Hokkaido: The Life of William Smith Clark. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-0417-9.
- Rand, Frank Prentice (1933). Yesterdays at Massachusetts State College. Amherst: Associate Alumni of the Massachusetts State College. OCLC 1581093.
- Tuttle, Marjorie (1992). "The William Smith Clark Memorial" (PDF). UMass Arts Council, et al. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
- Walcott, Charles F. (1882). History of the Twenty-First Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. Boston: Riverside Press. OCLC 53864897.
External links