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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1005 



the law should be changed so that a policeman 

 might be dismissed without the right of appeal 

 to the courts. It is supposed to be a part of 

 the moral etiquette of the New York police to 

 commit perjury in defense of one another, and 

 it may or may not be that arbitrary power 

 would for a time be desirable. But an army 

 officer has no such control over his subordi- 

 nates, who can only be court-martialed after 

 definite charges and trial. One result of the 

 difference between the police system and the 

 academic situation is that no one can ques- 

 tion the personal courage of the police. 

 Whether it is better to lie like a policeman or 

 to run to cover like a rabbit need not be 

 argued, as it would doubtless be agreed that 

 conditions should be such that this is not the 

 necessary alternative. The slur about the 

 third sex in America is unwarranted, but it 

 would be better if there were not enough 

 smoke to give rise to the alarm of fire. 



Professors in the better institutions are not 

 often dismissed because they or their views 

 are not in favor with the administration, 

 though this happens much more frequently 

 than it becomes known, for the professor is 

 naturally disinclined to drag the " pageant 

 of his bleeding heart " across the continent 

 and have his name put on the employer's black 

 list. But it is this publicity which is his safe- 

 guard; and we have exercised by the body of 

 professors and the general public a real dem- 

 ocratic control, to which the president and 

 trustees must submit. Stanford University 

 has not recovered in thirteen years, and will 

 not recover in another generation, from the 

 loss of prestige due to the dismissal of Pro- 

 fessor Ross and its sequelae. Departments of 

 economics and sociology in leading universi- 

 ties would not recommend a successor to Pro- 

 fessor Fischer at Wesleyan, and public spir- 

 ited men would not accept the position. At 

 Lafayette, the resignation of the president has 

 followed promptly the publication of the re- 

 port of the American Philosophical and Psy- 

 chological Associations on the dismissal of 

 Professor Mecklin. On the other hand. Har- 

 vard maintained its high position by promptly 



offering lectureships to Professor Eoss and 

 Professor Fischer. 



But while professors are not often dismissed 

 because the president does not like their teach- 

 ing or their personality, the possibility is pres- 

 ent every day with a resulting demoralization 

 not easy to estimate. Even more serious is 

 the fact that the president may be responsible 

 for the appointment and promotion of instruc- 

 tors and professors, and for increases in sal- 

 ary — ^for salaries are sometimes increased, how- 

 ever remote this contingency may seem to most 

 professors. Semi-secret increases in salary by 

 favor of the president must be regarded as in- 

 tolerable. It tends to divide those who suffer 

 under it into three classes — courtiers, quietists 

 and rebels. The courtiers are those most likely 

 to flourish in the system to its ultimate col- 

 lapse. 



I have had the privilege of proposing and 

 seeing adopted by the trustees of Columbia 

 University a change in the statutes in the di- 

 rection of social democracy. We bad long 

 had, like some other institutions, provision 

 for a sabbatical leave of absence on half sal- 

 ary. But in practise it proved that the sab- 

 batical year was usually claimed only by those 

 professors who had independent means or no 

 family; it was thus a case of class privilege. 

 Five years ago the statutes were altered to 

 allow the alternative of a half-year leave of ab- 

 sence on full salary. This gives the professor 

 some eight months for travel and research 

 without loss of salary, and the institution sac- 

 rifices no more than on the half-salary basis, 

 except in so far as more professors benefit. 

 The plan deserves adoption in other institu- 

 tions, and may properly be mentioned in a 

 paper concerned with democracy in the uni- 

 versity. It also gives opportunity for the 

 frivolous remark that it might be an advantage 

 if the statutes of a university provided for 

 leave of absence of the president so often as 

 he liked on double salary. 



We do not know whether the progress of 

 civilization has in the main been due to great 

 men who have directed it, or whether these 

 are essentially by-products and epiphenomena 

 of social and economic forces. It is, therefore, 



