EDITORIAL. 109 



tion, makes it clear that we have much to gain in the recognition of 

 principles of good government as applied to these institutions. It 

 is an indication of an attitude which is dangerous, and which unless 

 curbed by public sentiment or by changes in the kind of men ap- 

 pointed on such boards is sure to make trouble for any director. 



The director must be able to get on with the board as a whole, and 

 must satisfy it of his ability to administer the station atfairs in a 

 competent and sympathetic manner. He must be judged by the 

 general results, in a broad way. To subject him to the dictation of 

 individual members of the board between meetings places him, or any 

 member of the staff, in an impossible position. The station work can 

 not be efficiently administered on such a basis, 



Xo two men would ever run a station in the same way, and there is 

 alwa3'^s abundant material for criticism in detail. Criticism may be 

 helpful if sympathetic, and suggestions of lines of work or of features 

 of investigation should be welcomed and given respectful considera- 

 tion at all times. But an attempt to force the station into an under- 

 taking which is not properly within its field, in order to serve the 

 purposes of individual members of the board, suggests the need of 

 reform in the attitude of the board, rather than a change in the type 

 of man for director. 



Membership on the board is a position of trust, and implies a duty, 

 not merely an honor. It is a compliment in the sense that it expresses 

 the confidence of the people. The honor will depend on the attitude 

 of the board as a whole, and upon the manner in which the duties 

 properly belonging to it are discharged. Such a position is an op- 

 portunity to serve the people in one of the highest capacities, for the 

 wise development of its educational and research institutions is one 

 of the highest services which can be rendered. It is not to be taken 

 lightly. 



The discharge of this trust calls for breadth of view, an open 

 mind, and freedom from personal or political bias or narrow con- 

 siderations of personal advantage. It calls for the exercise of a 

 proper perspective in dealing with matters, and a just sense of pro- 

 portion. Mistakes and errors of judgment are made at all institu- 

 tions, but the relative importance of these when considered in their 

 broad relations to the activities of the institution as a whole deter- 

 mines their seriousness. A man like an institution is not to be judged 

 by his mistakes alone, but by what he accomplishes. 



We have many excellent men on the governing boards of the agri- 

 cultural colleges and experiment stations, men who are actuated by 

 the highest motives of patriotic and conscientious service, and who 

 imderstand well the directions in which their services will be most 

 useful. The time is also passing happily when politics often inter- 

 rupt the continuity of the board, or seriously influence its action 



