JANUABY 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



149 



of public opinion. In this country nothing 

 stands against it. But to act, it must exist. 

 To act wisely, it must be intelligently 

 formed. To be intelligently formed, it must 

 be the result of deliberate inquiry and dis- 

 cussion. It can not be developed in corners 

 here and there; it can not be the voice of 

 a few, however wise. It must be formed 

 democratically; that is, cooperatively. All 

 interests, however humble, must be heard; 

 inquiry and conference must glean all the 

 experiences available; decision must be 

 based upon mutual consultation. 



The need of a voluntary organization is 

 the greater because of certain facts in the 

 history of the American university. The 

 rapid growth already referred to has 

 occurred under a machinery designed for 

 very different conditions. We are doing 

 our educational work under methods of 

 control developed decades ago, before any- 

 thing like the existing type of university 

 was thought of. Our official methods of 

 fixing fundamental educational polity as 

 well as of recruiting, appointing, pro- 

 moting and dismissing teachers, are an in- 

 heritance from bygone conditions. Their 

 lack of adaptation to the present situation 

 is due not to sinister intent, but to the fact 

 that they are a heritage from colonial days 

 and provincial habits. The wonder is not 

 that there is so much restlessness and fric- 

 tion, but that there is not more. A system 

 inherently absurd in the present situation 

 has been made workable because of the 

 reasonableness and good will of the gov- 

 ernors on one side and, even more, of the 

 governed on the other. 



All the more need, then, of ascertaining, 

 precipitating in discussions and crystalliz- 

 ing in conclusions the educational experi- 

 ences and aspirations of the scholars of the 

 country. I confess myself unable to under- 

 stand the temper of mind which anticipates 

 the danger of what some term trades-union- 



ism or of interference with constituted ad- 

 ministrative authorities as a result of the 

 formation of this organization. As to the 

 latter: I know of few teachers who wish 

 additional administrative work : most would 

 be glad of relief from duties that do not 

 seem exactly significant and that are time- 

 consuming. But it is not expedient, in 

 view of the trust committed to us, to main- 

 tain a state of affairs which makes difficult 

 or impossible among college teachers the 

 formation and expression of a public opin- 

 ion based on ascertained facts. I can not 

 imagine that existing authorities will not 

 welcome the results of inquiries and dis- 

 cussion carried on by a truly representa- 

 tive body of teachers. To think otherwise 

 is to dishonor both ourselves and them. 

 The only thing which is undignified and 

 intolerable is that teachers, individually or 

 collectively, should indulge in carping 

 criticism of boards of trustees when they 

 have not thought it worth while to cultivate 

 an enlightened educational polity among 

 themselves nor found the means for making 

 themselves heard. If we do not like the 

 present situation we have nobody but our- 

 selves to blame. 



Let me add that I can think of nothing 

 so well calculated to lift discussions of edu- 

 cational defects and possibilities from the 

 plane of emotion to that of intelligence as 

 the existence of a truly representative body 

 of professors. The best way to put educa- 

 tional principles where they belong — in the 

 atmosphere of scientific discussion — is to 

 disentangle them from the local circum- 

 stances with which they so easily get bound 

 Tip in a given institution. So to free them 

 is already to have taken a step in their 

 generalization. The very moment we free 

 our perplexities from their local setting 

 they perforce fall into a truer perspective. 

 Passion, prejudice, partisanship, cowardice 

 and tniculence alike tend to be eliminated, 



