3§6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



not a few instances, dominating even the financial affairs. The argu- 

 ments justifying this evolution are plausible. Experience shows that 

 in every organization, left to itself, some one man, through native 

 force, gains control. University trustees should not permit this matter 

 to adjust itself as the one, thus gaining control, might be swayed by 

 wrong motives or might be ill-balanced — in either case injury would 

 come. Far better for the trustees to select some man of all-around 

 fitness and to recognize him as the responsible head. Acting on this 

 principle, trustees appoint as responsible president one who from their 

 standpoint possesses the necessary qualifications and make him prac- 

 tically attorney in fact for the board, giving him free hand in all de- 

 partments of the work. 



Advantages of the American Plan 



That this procedure is good appears at once by comparison of con- 

 ditions prior to the civil war with those at this time. In the earlier 

 days, when the autocratic system existed only in germ, the resources 

 of colleges and universities were small and increased slowly. Build- 

 ings, for the most part, were uninviting and students were few. The 

 faculties, in most cases, were small but made up of strong men, faith- 

 ful teachers, fruitful investigators. Salaries were modest, but the 

 social conditions were equally modest, and the professor's position made 

 up in honor what it lacked in pecuniary reward. The equipment, 

 even in what are now great universities, was insignificant; a professor 

 desiring to make investigations in physics or chemistry, either pur- 

 chased or manufactured the necessary apparatus, while another, pur- 

 suing special studies in any branch of literature, spent his savings in 

 gathering material. Too often the college provided rooms for teach- 

 ing, the instructor provided the rest. Yet it must be conceded that 

 the colleges did admirable work. They imparted not a great deal of 

 knowledge, for the courses were very narrow, but there was a system 

 in the training which sharpened many a dull intellect and made the 

 already sharp intellect keener. The purpose confessedly was not to 

 impart knowledge, but to train the intellect, to fit the man for pro- 

 fessional study. 



All was changed after the civil war. The material needs of the 

 country demanded opportunity for a new type of training, adapted 

 to the needs of men with wholly different aims. This required chiefly 

 the imparting of knowledge with intellectual training as subordinate; 

 not cultural studies, but studies in applied knowledge. Technical or 

 semi-technical schools were established, and wealthy business men, 

 on their own initiative, gave vast sums for such schools. To retain 

 their place, the universities quickly developed along the same lines, 



