156 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. SLV. No. 1155 



their judgment, but have certain overlords 

 at the state capitol in the form of special 

 commissions appointed by the governor, 

 and represented mostly by clerks empow- 

 ered by law to ride rough shod over all 

 conditions. 



He finds — this scientist and would-be 

 public servant— that his requisition for 

 equipment must first of all be sent to the 

 board of prison industries in order that 

 anything made in the penitentiaries of the 

 state may be substituted for his specifica- 

 tions, and that too regardless of price, over 

 which neither he, nor the purchasing agent, 

 nor even the board of trustees, has the 

 slightest authority or even influence. 



And still his troubles are not finished. 

 Unkindest cut of all, he may not even select 

 the assistant upon whose skill and faithful- 

 ness the outcome will largely depend. This 

 assistant, secretary, clerk, or stenographer, 

 whatever he may happen to be, will be 

 selected upon examination by an outside 

 body miles away, consisting of men ap- 

 pointed under half the salary of the inves- 

 tigator — and glad to get it — men who were 

 never in his or any other man's laboratory, 

 yet who presume to say and do say who 

 shall be employed and who shall not be 

 employed. 



Not only are assistants appointed from 

 without, but that form of administration 

 which consists of reviewing projects or other 

 supervision is performed by men appointed 

 after the same manner. In this way it 

 often happens that a mediocre neophyte 

 "supervises" the investigations of his own 

 teacher who was indiscreet enough and 

 tender-hearted enough a few years ago to 

 give him a passing mark against his own 

 better judgment. 



As a final blow to his personal pride and 

 enthusiasm, this investigator learns that he 

 wUl be unable to report his results in the 

 form he most desires because the state 



printer or the prison shop is unwilling, or 

 what is more likely unable, to do the work 

 ■as it should be done, neither will they "re- 

 lease" the job that it may be done as it 

 would appear in ordinary work from insti- 

 tutions not overriden by administration. 



He even learns that the very building in 

 which he works, and whose insufferable 

 ugliness and unnecessary cost have amazed 

 him, was planned by a state architect, over- 

 ruling the supervising architect of the uni- 

 versity; and that the building across the 

 way, of another form of ugliness and in- 

 efficiency, was executed by another state 

 architect of a succeeding "administration," 

 again overruling the institution, its school 

 of architecture, and its board of trustees, 

 even though the autocrat knew so little of 

 his business as to be unable to draw plans 

 and specifications upon which builders 

 would file a bid. So do administration and 

 law prevail over knowledge, needs and rea- 

 son, for this is an actual experience. 



This investigator, discouraged, disgusted, 

 if not disheartened at least with the keen 

 edge of inquiry long since dulled, says in 

 his heart : " I will arise and hie me to an- 

 other institution where the needs of the 

 work are held supreme over methods of 

 procedure and exploitation of positions and 

 funds. ' ' 



Vain hope ! He may find temporary re- 

 lief at certain points, but it is only tem- 

 porary, for the conditions described, while 

 not all as yet operative in any one place, 

 are every one in operation to-day some- 

 where among institutions given to agricul- 

 tural research and are rapidly extending to 

 all the publicly supported institutions. 



As a last example of the absurd extent to 

 which administration has been pushed, this 

 investigator — qualified by long years of 

 training and experience — will find, in not 

 one but many institutions, that should his 

 duties lead him outside the confines of his 



