JUNE 7, 1912] 
control of measures involving expenditure in 
the hands of non-faculty members of the uni- 
versity lies in the innate division of professors 
into two groups, those with dominant admin- 
istrative powers and secondary intellectual ac- 
complishment in their professed field of work, 
and those with dominant studious habits and 
without aggressive worldly mindedness such as 
characterizes the administrator busy with the 
affairs of his fellows. In the proposed plan 
it seems to me that the chances are that cer- 
tain groups of men would more than now 
develop onesidedness in the policies of a fac- 
ulty, and that academic polities would receive 
an additional impulse. But I may be mis- 
taken in this suspicion. The right of the 
individual professor to vote for representa- 
tives should safeguard him in this matter and 
on the face of it the plan seems to give fair 
play. 
Naturally I do not wholly agree with the 
proposed plan. I think it is fair to say, how- 
ever, that I am wholly in sympathy with the 
spirit of the plan and should agree that our 
present autocratic government may profitably 
be modified in the directions which you men- 
tion. J suspect that many modifications of 
the plan would be suggested in connection 
with any attempt to put it in operation. As I 
understand your proposition, the chief prob- 
lem is one of the réle of the president, and in 
this I should heartily agree with you that 
scholarship and research, at least, are likely 
to be far safer and much more advantageously 
promoted under the type of administration 
which exists in European universities than 
under our own. A wise autocrat may do much 
to foster the life of a university, but ideal 
men for such positions are so rare that it 
seems little less than absurd for our American 
institutions to continue their present form of 
administration. JI most heartily approve of 
division organization. With certain slight 
modifications we might have at Harvard a 
very efficient organization of this sort, but of 
course at present all such division units are 
subordinate in a great variety of ways to the 
president. One of the most urgent needs in 
SCIENCE 
901 
our institutions, it seems to me, is a good 
method of choosing professors. This, J think, 
is wisely provided for in your plan. On the 
whole, I should favor experiments in the direc- 
tions which you have indicated and should 
confidently expect that our university govern- 
ment might be very markedly improved. I 
feel that we need to take account both of 
American conditions and of the forms of goy- 
ernment which have been thoroughly tested, 
especially in England and in Germany. 
I am in sympathy with much you state in 
this article and fully in accord with many of 
your views. The question is complex, espe- 
cially as between state universities and “ pri- 
vate” universities. 
I believe it would be impossible to foretell 
what would be the outcome of such a scheme 
for university organization as you propose, if 
applied to our American universities. The 
present situation needs a remedy and your 
scheme has so many good points that I would 
favor a conservative trial of it. I am sure 
that the last sentence on flexibility and an- 
archy is what we should all strive for. 
I agree with most of your suggestions. In 
my opinion it is practically impossible for the 
president of a university intelligently to pre- 
side over all the different faculties of the uni- 
versity. 
The plan of university control outlined in 
your enclosure appeals to me as admirable in 
striving to develop a more equable division 
of effective powers between faculty and presi- 
dent than obtains in most universities at pres- 
ent. 
I am entirely in sympathy with your effort 
toward the administrative improvement of 
our universities. Professors ought not to be 
employees but members of the firm. 
I sympathize heartily with the views in re- 
gard to university control which you propose, 
but do not feel competent to discuss the en- 
tire subject, especially paragraphs (1) and (2). 
I may say, however, that I have always felt 
that a small self-perpetuating corporation, 
