844 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI, No. 938 



input every conceivable kind of expenditure 

 and in the output every conceivable kind 

 of achievement, it will apply to every ac- 

 tivity of man. The efficiency, while it can 

 not be stated in figures, as a percentage, is 

 measured by the value of the output in re- 

 lation to the input or expenditure. Thus 

 a business man may spend every one of the 

 items listed under the head of input, and 

 measured by a money standard the result 

 may show a high efficiency, but measured 

 by a broader standard, in which the result 

 as to health is a negative quantity, it is 

 most inefficient. Then if he takes to golf 

 playing he may spend time, money and 

 physical labor, and gain health; the effi- 

 ciency by the money standard is zero, but 

 by the broader standard, including health, 

 recreation and satisfaction, he may con- 

 sider that the efficiency of the operation is 

 100 per cent. 



A college spends all the items listed 

 under "input," its efficiency is zero from 

 the money standard, for its business is not 

 to make money, and may be high or low 

 measured in the other items listed under 

 output. By Mr. Emerson's definition, the 

 relation of an equitable standard to the 

 actual achievement, or the relation be- 

 tween what is and what could be, we com- 

 pare the actual output in health, recreation, 

 education and satisfaction, with what 

 might be realized under the best possible 

 conditions of system and management. 

 Are the results what they ought to be in 

 kind, in quality or in c^uantity, and if they 

 are not, what are the defects and how can 

 they be remedied? 



In the big factory of which the story has 

 been told, the product included 14,000 

 items, many of which shoiild have been 

 abandoned, and much of the inefficiency 

 was due to the factory's making products 

 that should not have been made. When an 

 efficiency expert begins his operations in a 



factory his first questions are what kind of 

 product is made? Why is it made. Why 

 not abandon it if it is not profitable? The 

 same questions might be asked of a college. 

 The next set of questions covers the qual- 

 ity. Is the quality too highly refined and 

 too costly, so that its market is limited? 

 Is it too common and cheap, so that it has 

 to be brought into competition with the 

 poorest goods on the market? Is it out of 

 date and unfashionable? Is the quality 

 what it ought to be, and if not what are 

 the reasons, and how can it be improved? 

 Surely these questions may be asked of a 

 college, and it is the general belief that the 

 answers would not be complimentary to the 

 college. There are serious defects in the 

 quality of the college product. 



Next come questions as to quantity. 

 Is the factory turning out too much of one 

 kind of goods, so that the market is glutted 

 and the price too low? Is it turning out 

 too little, so that it is not doing as much 

 business as it might do? Is it turning out 

 too much of one kind and not enough of 

 another; and if so, what changes should be 

 made so as to establish a proper balance? 

 Is the college overcrowding the profes- 

 sions with men who are not needed in 

 them? Is it failing to supply the demand 

 for the kind of men who are needed ? The 

 common opinion is that both of these ques- 

 tions must be answered in the affirmative. 

 The last report of the Carnegie Foundation 

 for the Advancement of Teaching says: 



In almost every state of the union there are 

 more colleges in name than the country needs or 

 can afford. They have been started without much 

 regard to the ultimate educational demands — weak 

 and often superfluous colleges. In many cases 

 their existence makes impossible that of good high 

 schools which would far better serve the educa- 

 tional interests of the community. 



After these questions of kind, quality 

 and quantity of product are considered, 

 then comes the question of cost per unit of 



