108 EXPERIMENT STATION KEC'ORD. 



resignations of other old employees were called for. No station could 

 escape the effects of such a course. Its work is materially set back, 

 and the station is given an undesirable roi)utation among men avail- 

 able for filling such positions. 



In another case a conscientious and successful director Avas forced 

 to resign by the attitude of his superiors, and because this was gen- 

 erally resented by the staff as being an injustice and a blow at faith- 

 ful service, other dismissals followed. Such a course will inevitably 

 cripple the station for years to come, and will interrupt lines of in- 

 vestigation which have been in progress for some time. The morale 

 of the whole institution is affected, as w^ell as its standing among sci- 

 entific institutions. 



Quite recently the director of a station has been forced to resign 

 under conditions which are especially disconcerting. He was ob- 

 viously a man of the type needed in station management to-day, with 

 good scientific training, considerable experience in station work, 

 business ability, active and energetic, and sympathetic toward agri- 

 culture and its needs in the State. In the short time he had been 

 director he had brought about decided improvement in the organiza- 

 tion, business, and work of the station, and in its relations to the 

 agricultural interests of the State. For the first time the station had 

 had an existence as an entity, with a solidaritj- and a spirit among 

 its staff which were already counting for much. To the outsider the 

 station seemed to be well administered and on the road to a far greater 

 usefulness than ever before. The president strongly indorsed the 

 management of the station and recommended the director for his zeal 

 and ability. The board had reelected him at its annual meeting some 

 months previous. 



In view of all these facts, the summary dismissal of this man in the 

 middle of the year came as a great surprise to those familiar with the 

 general conditions, and this surprise was not dispelled by the char- 

 acter of the charges formulated. No important definite criticism of 

 his management of the station was brought forward, but it became 

 evident that the real difficulty lay in his personal relations with indi- 

 vidual members of the board who had attempted to take the station 

 management into their own hands. The surprising thing is that the 

 personal equation should have so far overshadowed the generally good 

 condition of the station with the board as a whole, as to permit of his 

 dismissal against the recommendation of the president and other 

 advisers. 



It is this which gives the case its broader interest, for no station 

 can exist unto itself, and confidence in the stability of station posi- 

 tions based on competent service was rudely shaken. That so im- 

 portant a position as that of director should be subject to personal 

 prejudice, regardless of the general condition and welfare of the sta- 



