AuQtJST 9, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



183 



think the plan proposed or slight modifica- 

 tion of it is both good and practicable. 



In general, the proposed scheme for uni- 

 versity control appeals to me as excellent. I 

 particularly approve of the statement to the 

 effect that the fundamental difficulty in the 

 situation lies in the fact that the president is 

 responsible only to the trustees, while the pro- 

 fessor is responsible both to the trustees and 

 to the president. We are having a little ex- 

 perience in connection with note 6, having 

 two practically independent institutions for 

 research, closely affiliated with the university, 

 and so far it has been a very satisfactory ar- 

 rangement, at least from the side of the inde- 

 pendent institution. What the university 

 thinks of it, I can not say. 



Your tentative proposal regarding the or- 

 ganization of our larger universities seems to 

 me to be a lead in the right direction in that 

 it aims to curtail the autocratic power of the 

 president and to place the whole organization 

 on a more democratic basis. I am not so sure, 

 however, that the proposed changes would 

 work out in practise, for even in some of our 

 most democratic institutions there exists a 

 tendency towards centralization of control. 

 As an example of a university controlled by 

 a corporation composed of professors, alumni 

 and interested members of the community, 

 one might cite the Marine Biological Labora- 

 tory at Woods Hole, where the actual admin- 

 istration is largely in the hands of the di- 

 rector. Ordinary members of the corporation 

 have little or no voice in directing the policies 

 or business of the institution. Although an 

 annual meeting of the corporation might seem 

 to furnish an opportunity for the ordinary 

 member to exercise his franchise, this is really 

 not the case, as all matters, including election 

 of ofScers, are settled before the meeting. 

 Thus may our most democratic bodies revert 

 to oligarchy. It must be admitted, however, 

 that we have in the Marine Biological Lab- 

 oratory a close approximation to the ideal 

 university conditions. In my opinion one of 

 the most serious objections to the present 



autocratic type of university president lies in 

 the fact that he may be, and sometimes is, a 

 man of little force, readily influenced by cer- 

 tain of the more dominant members of the 

 faculty, who are able to mould his policies 

 often to their own personal ends. Thus arises 

 favoritism, financial and otherwise, toward 

 departments, which happen to have at their 

 head men often of low scholastic attainments 

 but highly endowed with the qualities of po- 

 litical leadership or merely with a pleasing 

 and persuasive personality. The department 

 headed by a man or men of scholarly tenden- 

 cies and little or no time or inclination to 

 curry favor, may, and often does, fail to re- 

 ceive a fair amount of encouragement or 

 support. 



There is no question of the need of some 

 reorganization. The fact of the establishment 

 of research institutes independent of the uni- 

 versities shows, I think, that the universities 

 have lost the confidence of those desiring to aid 

 research; and investigation is the sine qua 

 non of university existence. Tor this our 

 organization appears to me to be at fault, the 

 main trouble being that the universities are 

 actually not in the control of their faculties. 

 The plan you suggest would return that con- 

 trol and is, therefore, good. Tour general 

 plan strikes me as very similar, with some 

 additions, to that of the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory at Woods Hole. This has worked 

 extremely well in that institution. While 

 the criticism is sometimes made that scientific 

 men and scholars can not be trusted to man- 

 age funds, the Marine Laboratory entirely 

 disproves such a notion. No institution in 

 the country has made so little accomplish so 

 much as the Woods Hole laboratory. I am a 

 little uncertain what the duties of the presi- 

 dent would be under your plan. I am inclined 

 to think that the only men who are really 

 competent educators are the scholars, and I 

 fear you will have difficulty in finding any 

 scholar willing to assume the duties of a 

 president unless he have some additional 

 recompense either of salary or power or honor. 

 Certainly the president should be elected by 

 the faculty, or the trustees should elect from 



