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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1013 



fessors in our colleges and technical schools 

 shall be represented among the trustees of 

 those institutions, librarians and heads of 

 departments among those of libraries, sci- 

 entific men among those of institutions of 

 research, physicians among those of hos- 

 pitals, clergymen among those of religious 

 establishments, directors and curators 

 among those of museums, social workers 

 among those of foundations for popular 

 betterment. In the most general terms it 

 claims that any corporation should include 

 members embodying in their own persons 

 the special types of skill essential in carry- 

 ing on its work. This claim is based on the 

 conditions of permanent efficiency in col- 

 lective enterprises. Its recognition is 

 growing among us and will one day be gen- 

 eral. That day will be the day of the ex- 

 pert. 



Such a change in the make-up of corpo- 

 rations in this country may be said to 

 round out an organization which practical 

 sagacity has already partially developed 

 in foundations of private origin and public 

 aim among us. The men of general repute 

 which it has been our custom to choose for 

 positions of charitable trust have acquired 

 by the logic of events their special neces- 

 sary function in the fulfilment of these 

 trusts. This function is that of winning 

 support for the institutions they control. 

 In our own country more than in any 

 other, corporations not for profit are the 

 fruit of private initiative. The first requi- 

 site for their establishment and mainte- 

 nance is the selection of a board of trustees 

 whose names, with those of their succes- 

 sors, will be an earnest of coming gifts be- 

 cause a guarantee of their safe and con- 

 scientious handling. Before we can do 

 anything, we must have something to do 

 with. But although ample and assured 

 support is a condition necessary to the suc- 

 cess of an institution, it is not a condition 



sufficient to success. A function equally 

 necessary, and with support sufiicient, is 

 that of the accomplishment of purpose. 

 This is the second and no less exacting 

 half of the task; with us overshad- 

 owed by the first, because the accumu- 

 lation of our wealth has outrun our pro- 

 vision of knowledge and skill to utilize it. 

 The positive system of control repairs this 

 omission, now out of date. It supplements 

 our present provision of means by provid- 

 ing also for ends. It would impose the 

 total charge of an institution upon a body 

 fitted to bear both halves of it. Neither 

 the men of social and financial standing 

 who now compose the boards of our char- 

 itable institutions, nor the specialists now 

 active in their aid, but now commonly ex- 

 cluded from those boards, are equal to the 

 whole duty. Only men of affairs are com- 

 petent to the business management of their 

 trust. Only men in comparison withdrawn 

 from the public eye in the long exercise of 

 special aptitudes are competent to its pro- 

 fessional conduct. The men of means and 

 the men of ends must join forces in order 

 to the best achievement of their common 

 purpose. 



The practical application of the principle 

 of control by mixed boards presents vari- 

 ous questions. 



Is the demand that all the different forms 

 of professional skill utilized by a corpora- 

 tion shall be represented therein an ideal 

 realizable in the instance of large institu- 

 tions? Theoretically no; practically yes. 

 All the expert ability employed will in a 

 measure be represented by each profes- 

 sional member; and by rotation in office 

 among them, the recurrent grasp by the 

 board of the affairs of the foundation may 

 be extended to minutise in any degree. 



Again, is it wise to place experts in 

 charge of experts? The point may be de- 

 bated, but is irrelevant. The positive sys- 



