490 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



When a private individual is confronted by some difficulty, 

 especially one which requires a knowledge of details which he 

 himself does not possess, he generally consults his friends on 

 such points. Here he recognises the wisdom of the first theorem 

 mentioned above ; but, be it clearly seen, he merely approaches 

 his friends for the purpose of obtaining information and rarely 

 allows them to decide finally upon his course of action — that 

 is, he reserves the executive power to himself. Now the second 

 proverb means that where a large number of people are asked, 

 not for information, but to decide upon a course of action, they 

 will engage in endless disputes as to the amount of salt and 

 pepper to be put into the dish — with the result that the poor 

 consumer may get indigestion. Here in short are the advan- 

 tages and the disadvantages of committees. A number of men 

 possess a wider field of information than any single individual 

 is likely to have ; but on the other hand a number of men 

 would seem to be executively less efficient than a single brain 

 may be. 



Those of us who have the misfortune to be forced to attend 

 many committees will easily understand the proposition. A 

 director or executive officer is frequently much helped by 

 information obtained by him at committees — so much so that 

 if he acts without such information, he may do the wrong 

 thing. On the other hand, the executive decision of a com- 

 mittee seldom assists him, and indeed often plunges him into 

 a state of frenzy or despair, or both. Suppose that he has 

 been considering some course of action for many months past 

 and has examined every detail of the principle or tactics in- 

 volved. He then places the matter before his committee with 

 a carefully written note on the subject. But when he comes 

 to the meeting he finds that few of the members have really 

 read his note. Many of them are busy men ; others are lazy 

 men ; others have preconceived notions for or against his idea ; 

 and many others want above all things to say or do something 

 new. He is now confronted with a task like that of a boy who 

 has to drive a herd of cows through a gate — the cows disperse 

 on all sides, one runs through, and while he is forcing the second 

 one through, the first one runs back, and so on ! Then again 

 the members often want to go home to have tea or to smoke. 

 The difficulty is usually ended by the Chief Talker of the com- 

 mittee, Mr. Tapper Tongue, who suddenly sees an opportunity 



