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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 919 



sess high educational and business standards. 

 Not all of the university's business is done 

 through the treasurer's office. In this modern 

 age why should not education and business go 

 hand in hand? Some universities have been 

 able to demonstrate that it can be done. If 

 there are peculiar and exacting qualifications 

 demanded of the executive, it is only fair that 

 there should be greater compensation. In 

 some universities a certain number of the 

 alumni are elected to the board of trustees by 

 their fellow alumni. Why should not the fac- 

 ulty elect a certain number of their members 

 to the board? Is there any other group in the 

 university which has a greater interest in its 

 success and weKare? A board of trustees 

 composed of certain members elected by the 

 trustees themselves, others elected by the fac- 

 ulty, and still others by the alumni, would be a 

 truly representative body. (If a state univer- 

 sity and the trustees are appointed by the 

 state, the election of trustees by the trustees 

 themselves would probably not occur.) 

 Alumni, faculty, trustees and president, all 

 would participate in the administration of the 

 university. In this way all of the constituent 

 parts would come into closer relation with 

 each other and if unity is strength in the re- 

 public it should be so in the university. Sec- 

 tions (3) and (4) of your circular seem to me 

 very desirable. 



I agree that the system of control current 

 in American universities calls loudly for re- 

 adjustment. The powers vested in the presi- 

 dency should be more narrowly limited than 

 at present, especially as regards appointment, 

 salaries and the departmental distribution of 

 funds. The authority of the officers of in- 

 struction should be augmented in matters di- 

 rectly or indirectly touching the conduct of 

 the several departments. The trustees should 

 be responsible to the whole university. (1) 

 The type of " corporation " proposed might 

 work; I am uncertain. I suspect that its 

 most difficult occupation would be the equit- 

 able distribution of income from university 

 properties. (2) It is absurd to declare that 

 the president's " salary should not be larger, his 



position more dignified or his powers greater 

 than those of the professor." The important 

 point is, surely, that the authority be properly 

 delegated, and the dignity and salary earned. 

 (3), (4) and (5). I find myself in substantial 

 agreement; though the prescriptions are, in 

 part, Utopian. 



The present system could no doubt be much 

 improved. The great trouble seems to be that 

 investigators do not give time or interest 

 enough to such matters. They will always be 

 too deeply buried in the laboratories and this 

 renders the situation difficult to improve. 



The plan you propose would certainly be 

 vastly superior to the present plan. As to its 

 details I am not competent to judge. 



The form of organization outlined by you 

 seems to me to be an ideal one and I would 

 be prepared to endorse every paragraph as you 

 present it. 



I have read your tentative plan of univer- 

 sity control to be reached as the result of grad- 

 ual evolution with much interest. It seems 

 to me perfectly feasible and I am certainly in 

 hearty accord with its main purpose, viz., to 

 do away with the despotism of the president 

 and of the heads of departments. The present 

 system of control in our universities is cer- 

 tainly not the best that could be devised and 

 is unworthy of a democratic country like ours. 

 Your plan has much in it that commends 

 itself to me from my experiences as a uni- 

 versity professor and I hope that you may 

 succeed in bringing about some reform of the 

 present system at least. Intelligent discus- 

 sion of the subject can certainly do no harm 

 and it may direct attention to the matter and 

 thus ultimately do some good. 



While I may not have very definite views 

 on the points you raise, still a few of them 

 have of course been considered by all academic 

 men. (1) The body of trustees should be 

 large enough to prevent perpetuation of 

 whims and irregularities that may creep in in 

 times of special pressure. Footnote 2 is a 



