86 SCIENCE 
From what has been said it would ap- 
pear that all teachers, and those who are 
selected to conduct research, should have 
at least three years of university training 
superimposed upon the college foundation. 
In saying this the writer recognizes that 
some of the best men in the country have 
not had this experience, but yet have won 
an enviable reputation in their respective 
lines, even in certain cases outstripping 
many who have enjoyed a more extensive 
fundamental training. It must, neverthe- 
less, be recognized that such men have suc- 
ceeded not in consequence of their handi- 
cap, but in spite of it! They were close 
observers, diligent students, and were pos- 
sessed of original and judicial minds. 
Admitting that the university training 
is a great desideratum in all eases, the prob- 
lem presents itself of lending sufficient en- 
couragement to young men so that they 
will be willing to devote three of the best 
years of their lives, and a large sum of 
money, to university study. 
At almost every session of the Associa- 
tion of American Agricultural Colleges 
and Experiment Stations some college or 
university president or station director has 
bemoaned the difficulty of finding ade- 
quately trained men to fill the higher posi- 
tions, especially in research. Indeed, the 
Secretary of Agriculture, the Hon. James 
Wilson, has repeatedly stated in public ad- 
dresses that the Department of Agriculture 
finds it impossible to secure in this country 
men adequately qualified for many of the 
positions in the federal service, on which 
account his department is forced to train 
its own men. This leads to the query: 
Why does not the same principle of supply 
and demand hold as in lines of industry? 
It is a fact, which I think will be disputed 
by none who are well informed, that this 
country furnishes exceptional opportuni- 
ties to-day for the young man just out of 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 890 
college. Perhaps, indeed, if some of them, 
like men known to the writer, were forced 
to begin, after completing a four-year col- 
lege course, at a salary of from $16 to $20 
per month, all of which was required for 
board and clothes, they might be willing 
to make greater sacrifices than at present 
in order to insure for themselves a future, 
by securing a university training at what- 
ever cost. To-day, however, the young 
graduate can readily command an initial 
salary of from $800 to $1,200, and many 
have been advanced within from two to 
three years to salaries as great as, or greater 
than, those paid in other reputable colleges 
to much older and more experienced men 
who have enjoyed a university training. 
When these young men look about them 
in the institutions with which they are con- 
nected they may even find others at the 
heads of departments who have never en- 
joyed graduate study. They may also find 
those who have made the sacrifice, strug- 
gling by all sorts of means to add enough 
to their insufficient incomes to enable them 
to support a small family, with few com- 
forts, no luxuries, and even with depriva- 
tion and need before them, in case of un- 
usual illness or misfortune. It is no 
wonder, under such circumstances, that he 
thinks ‘‘a bird in the hand is worth 
two in the bush’’ and prefers to go on ac- 
cumulating, rather than to spend three 
years’ time and the savings of other years 
in order to secure the mere intellectual ad- 
vantage of further study. As I have 
several times pointed out in public ad- 
dresses, there can be no permanent remedy 
for such a condition short of an assured 
pension for those who have given ten to fif- 
teen years of efficient, faithful service to 
such colleges and stations, or there must be 
occasional half-year intervals of freedom 
and a marked and progressive increase in 
compensation for the older and experi- 
