264 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY AND DEMOCRACY IN OUR 



HIGHER INSTITUTIONS 1 



By Professor EDWIN D. STARBUCK 



STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 



IT is somewhat embarrassing to appear on a program that I myself 

 have assisted in devising. It demands an explanation. It is, in 

 short, an instance of too highly centralized authority in this associa- 

 tion in the hands of our lively general secretary. It seemed eminently 

 desirable to the committee that this topic to which I am to address 

 myself should have consideration. When the first draft of the program 

 came into the hands of the secretary, with a blank left after this topic, 

 he rashly placed my name after it, rushed to print and scattered it 

 broadcast over the country. So I am here against my will but, I must 

 confess, not wholly reluctantly. The topic is of immense importance. 

 It was a vain endeavor to find the proper person who should address 

 you on this theme. All presidents and all who aspire to such position 

 of power were condemned to silence from the start. That cut off the 

 flower of the genius of the nation at a single stroke. The presiding 

 officer of our department had an intimate way of knowing that presi- 

 dents, being under indictment, so to speak, could not be trusted with 

 the topic. There has been much written and spoken latterly on the 

 theme, but mostly by those whose ambition has been punctured, whose 

 pride has been stung or whose wings have been clipped. Were any of 

 these turned loose in this place, they might enact a bloody scene not 

 entirely consistent with the proper spirit of a religious association. 

 Our general secretary must have known that I had no ax to grind, no 

 grievance to right, no power except the power of righteousness to fear, 

 and that I should speak in a wholly guileless manner. It is a tempta- 

 tion to admit that this was another instance of his rare insight; for 

 however much my judgment may be at fault and wisdom limited, I 

 shall address myself to this most delicate topic entirely without animus. 

 I might follow the example, indeed, of one of our periodicals which 

 recently declared that, with a single exception, theirs was the only 

 sheet in the nation that is not subsidized. If I lay claim to being, with 

 but an exception or two, the only mind in the nation that is dispas- 

 sionate on this question, then every member in the audience will con- 

 gratulate himself that he is that other person and we shall all be think- 

 ing through the subject helpfully to one another. 



1 Read at the meeting of the Department of Universities and Colleges of the 

 Religious Education Association, Nashville, March 9, 1910. 



