72 EDITORIAL 
sities and surveys. That it would be little less than fatal to the 
official surveys, in the long run, is scarcely to be questioned, as they 
and their results would fall into disrepute unless constantly fed by new 
science, new methods, and new men broadly and thoroughly equipped. 
That it would be unwholesome for the universities to be dissevered 
from industrial work for the common good and to be out of sympathy 
with official surveys is scarcely less obvious. The higher interests of 
the surveys and the universities alike will be conserved by a harmoni- 
ous co-operation in which both shall strive to reach at once scientific 
and economic results. Differences in the relative stresses and pro- 
portions of immediate effort, in the one direction or the other, are 
obviously appropriate and laudable; but no university can wisely 
neglect the useful side of the science it cultivates, nor can any official 
organization, without jeopardy, ignore the profounder scientific 
aspects of the field it cultivates. 
But, above all, intellectual economics should not escape recogni- 
tion. The intellectual wealth of the nation is its greatest wealth. 
The contribution which intellectuality has made to the present mate- 
rial prosperity, even if we weigh nothing higher, is perhaps its greatest 
contribution. Large as are our native resources, they would yield 
a relatively small return to our people, were it not for that acute 
mental activity, that signal intellectual power, and that abounding 
sagacity which so distinctly characterize the present industrial evolu- 
tion. This intellectuality lies not so much in the mere possession 
of technical knowledge as of insight, constructive genius, and aggres- 
sive mental energy; and these are fostered more effectually perhaps 
by the influence of independent original research, by the modes of 
thought and the spirit of investigation, than by any other single 
agency. 
By as much as these intellectual possessions are our greatest 
assets, by so much would a failure to promote them in the most 
effective manner be the greatest of economic shortcomings, whether 
on the part of an official organization or of a university. 
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