480 
ilies. There should be somewhere some 
provision for such eases. But it is clear 
that the just remedy for such exceptional 
misfortune does not lie in a disregard, on 
the part of those administering the present 
pension system, of the rules established for 
the welfare of all. Some, at least, of these 
cases should be met by the colleges. 
The presence of the altruistic spirit 
among college teachers is strong, but per- 
haps no stronger than among other classes 
of educated men. As in every calling, a 
large number of those in the profession of 
the teacher are drawn to it by bread and 
butter reasons. The offering of a pension 
can not fail in some cases to minister to 
the selfish side of human nature. There 
will always be some who, when they find 
themselves in possession of a given advan- 
tage, whether that take the form of a bene- 
fit in the hand or one to be acquired in the 
future, will trade upon the possession or 
the prospect of that benefit. Under the 
present rules there will be a certain num- 
ber of teachers who will count the years 
and the days until the coming of the mini- 
mum age which enables them to resign the 
duties that they now perform in a perfune- 
tory and machine-like way. There are still 
other men facing responsibilities and diffi- 
culties in administrative places or in teach- 
ing who would gladly use the method of the 
pension to escape from the perplexities and 
responsibilities of their positions. Presi- 
dents are prepared to prove to the founda- 
tion, even when they are turned out of 
office by the trustees for alleged incom- 
petence, that they are entitled to a pension 
on the ground of extraordinarily meritori- 
ous service. Too many teachers, too, think 
that they are entitled to consideration of a 
special sort by reason of their particular 
and unusual service. All this arises out of 
the qualities of human nature, and out of 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Von. XXXV. No. 900 
the qualities of some of the men who to-day 
make up the faculties of our colleges. On 
the whole, the number of those whose self- 
ishness is directly touched by such an op- 
portunity is small, as small perhaps as one 
ought to expect, and in the long run much 
of this spirit will disappear as the teachers 
themselves become accustomed to a system 
of pensions. In time teachers will realize 
that it is for their own interest and in the 
direction of their own happiness to con- 
tinue to work as long as they are really fit 
and able to serve. The late William TT. 
Harris always insisted that a college pro- 
fessor was at his best between the ages of 
sixty-five and seventy, and he strongly 
urged the trustees of the Carnegie Founda- 
tion at the inception of the trust not to 
make the minimum retiring age lower than 
seventy. Mr. Harris’s argument was a 
partial one, but it had some truth in it. 
There are many teachers who are at their 
ripest and at their best between sixty-five 
and seventy-five, and such men ought, of 
course, to remain in their profession. In 
the long run it will be found that they will 
do so, although for a few years the idea of 
the pension will induce some men to sur- 
render work at an earlier age than they 
ought. It is impossible to offer to men an 
advantage such as that which flows from a 
pension system of any sort without arous- 
ing in some minds the question, How ean 
I get the most out of it? The number of 
such individuals among college teachers, 
however, is small, and will, unquestionably, 
become smaller as the standards of college 
life rise. 
Nor can one shut one’s eyes to the fact 
that the colleges themselves may, by reason 
of the pensions of the foundation, neglect 
their own duty in taking care of their old 
teachers. This also, in my judgment, is a 
temporary and passing phase of the situa- 
tion. The officers of the foundation have 
