Universities, Research and Brain Waste 15 



for the most part, pupils of the pioneers in research of whom we have 

 just been speaking. 



The research men on the staffs of American universities have done 

 all that is humanly possible for them to do to give efficient instruction 

 in science and to improve research conditions in their institutions. It 

 is up to the university administrators to do their share. Salaries must 

 be increased especially in the junior grades and research men must not 

 be overloaded with teaching. I could mention one of the largest uni- 

 versities on the continent whose policy it has been to pay its professors 

 the minimum for which it could get them. A few years ago the head of 

 a department in this university told me that the professors' salaries 

 there ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 a year. The President was housed 

 palatially. I could point you to another famous institution, known by 

 name to every one in this audience, which has on its list professors who 

 are in receipt of a yearly salary of $2,500 or $3,000. Before the war this 

 institution paid its instructors the princely sum of $900 a year. A few 

 weeks ago I learned that it was now anxious to pay $1,800 for a newly 

 fledged B.A. as instructor in mathematics where it formerly expected 

 to secure a man of Ph.D. grade for half that sum. This is one of the 

 effects of the war. I could name a well-known university where they 

 paid instructors $1,000 a year before the war. Promotion is none too 

 rapid at this institution. Some years ago, so I was told, the head of 

 one of the departments requested the President to increase the salary 

 of one of his instructors to $1,500. The instructor in question was the 

 strongest research man in his department. The President refused the 

 request on the ground that he was not impressive looking. Fortunately, 

 the man in question did not have to wait long for a call elsewhere. He 

 is now professor in another university, where he receives a salary better 

 proportioned to his attainments. An eminent scientist, who was 

 formerly head of a department in an important state university, told 

 me that his two assistant professors, who happened to be married men, 

 were so poorly paid that they had themselves to do their family washing. 

 That the university administration in America does not always 

 appreciate the efforts of the research man is illustrated in the case of a 

 certain state university which had several men on its staff who were 

 interested in research. These men had published a number of papers 

 in foreign scientific journals. This came to the ears of the Board of 

 Regents. As it happened the Governor of the State was a member of 

 the Board and he lost no time in communicating with the offending pro- 

 fessors and informing them that they were hired to teach and not to 

 write. This story I have from a former professor of the university in 

 question. 



