19101 EDITORIAL. 5 



the basis of genuine research ability indicates that there is still 

 something lacking. 



The rewards in the more advanced research positions have hardly 

 kept pare with the requirements of the positions, especially when the 

 rapid advance in all living expenses is considered. In many cases 

 the salaries have not kept abreast of those in extension work, for ex- 

 ample, where the qualifications usually call for less rigid training and 

 no greater skill, although of different kind. Neither are the salaries 

 as attractive as in administrative positions. The impression is often 

 acquired by workers after a few years that salary advancement be- 

 yond a certain point can only he looked for in the administrative 

 field, as head of a large department or a division of the agricultural 

 work, or as dean. The realization of I his situation is felt to limit 

 the opportunity and may deter men from entering the field, or else 

 it diverts them from their research after a few years by leading 

 them to strive for the administrative positions. If they attain these 

 their opportunity as investigators is almost inevitably restricted if 

 not eliminated. 



Furthermore, positions of authority are not only a step to salary 

 but to standing in the organization. The matter of rank is one of 

 importance to a mature specialist, as it carries the suggestion of suc- 

 cess and advancement. In some instances, however, existing college 

 organizations subordinate the station specialist in relationship and 

 authority to a degree which is out of harmony with the grade and 

 high requirements of his duties and indirectly reflects upon his stand- 

 ing. There seems often to be no provision in the scheme of college 

 departments and divisions for recognizing the advanced character of 

 his work or the position it entitles him to. 



The more comprehensive the organization the more likely this is 

 unless the station has a quite definite organization of its own with 

 positions of recognized grade. It may happen, for example, that a 

 station specialist is not only subordinate to the head of the depart- 

 ment in which his work lies, as horticulture, but is also under a divi- 

 sion head of that department, e. g., pomology, thus grouping him in 

 that respect along with assistants and instructors. This is not at- 

 tractive to the type of trained investigators the stations need, and 

 even a generous salary does not overcome the disadvantage. 



Another factor in the situation is the standard or grade of require- 

 ments maintained by some of the stations as indicated by their ap- 

 pointments. Through various considerations they are led to appoint 

 men to positions of rank because of practical ability or some other 

 qualifications than advanced training and success in investigation. 

 Such persons, while they may be useful to the institution as a whole, 

 are capable of doing only an ordinary grade of experimental work 

 and are not suited to advance beyond a certain point because of their 



