Word: franklin
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...when questioned last night concerning the recent demands which have been made by a Mr. J. Henry Smythe Jr., of New York, that an investigation be made by the University, and the Academy of Arts and Sciences, as to the truth of the famous "kite flying" experiment of Benjamin Franklin. The demand was made in a letter to the University, which charged Professor McAdie with detracting from Franklin's name by calling the kite incident "a myth," and demanded that committees be formed to determine the truth of the charge...
Professor McAdie also upheld the statement which has been quoted by Mr. Smythe as having done "untold harm" to Franklin's character. "The story as it a commonly conceived," he said, "is on the face of it extremely fanciful. The picture of the old man standing out in the rain and wind with a small silk kite, which has been one of the favorite subjects of patriotic artists, is not at all accurate. If such an experiment were really handled in that fashion the experimenter would, in all probability be promptly killed...
...Henry Smythe, executive secretary of the Benjamin Franklin memorial committee of the New York Sons of the American Revolution, has asked the President and Fellows to investigate Benjamin Franklin's contribution to the science of electricity. The famous experiment of the key and kite, resulting in the only shock of Franklin's life, is even doubted by incredulous scientists. Such belitttling of the school-boys favorite picture of Franklin "defying the lightning like Ajax Telamen", should certainly be investigated, even though a disastrous precedent...
...meeting of the I. C. A. A. A. A. held in New York last Saturday it was voted that the forty-ninth annual meet of that organization be held next May on Franklin Field in Philadelphia. At the same meeting an amendment to the constitution was made providing that no individual can participate in a meet for more than three years. Had this ruling gone into effect for Saturday's meet, as many urged, Georgetown's chances would have been seriously impaired, as several of her representatives have competed already for three years. A strong protest, however, by the University...
Said Mr. Beck: "He has trod the beaten path of Franklin, possibly the most useful citizen that America ever had. When Franklin, in the middle of his career, had made a financial competence, he gave the rest of his life to the public service, and when he, too, was 80 years of age, and was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention, he said...