668 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 621. 



committee expressed a willingness to discrim- 

 inate in regard to the compensation to be paid 

 to the several professors, and suggested that 

 the only proper basis of discrimination was to 

 be found in the amount of service rendered 

 by each. The committee admitted the diffi- 

 culty, and perhaps the impracticability, of 

 running an even line of justice in making 

 such discriminations, but were prepared to 

 accept usage as throwing some light upon the 

 discriminations which might wisely be au- 

 thorized. 



It is interesting to observe that then as 

 now the professors were confronted by prob- 

 lems due to the greatly increased cost of 

 living. In the belief, apparently, that this 

 increased cost was the result of the civil war 

 and would not continue, the committee recom- 

 mended that all salaries be increased by 

 twenty-five per cent, for each of two years. 

 The effect of these recommendations was to 

 fix the salaries of the chief chairs in the col- 

 lege at $4,000, and to make an additional 

 grant of $1,000 each to the incumbents of 

 such chairs for each of two years. Subse- 

 quently, on several occasions, the trustees 

 made a temporary augmentation in the salary 

 of the professors, with the result that at one 

 time the incumbents of the leading chairs 

 were in receipt of a compensation of $6,000. 



This was the situation when, on December 

 6, 1875, the trustees received a communica- 

 tion signed by each of the eight professors 

 then in active service in the college, from 

 which the following quotation may be made: 



In the year 1857 the trustees of the college es- 

 tablished a rate of compensation for the pro- 

 fessors, which they deemed just and no more than 

 adequate. 



In consequence of the greatly increased cost of 

 living produced by the war of the rebellion and 

 other causes, the trustees increased the compensa- 

 tion of their professors — ^but the experience of 

 our body has made us feel keenly that the in- 

 crease in the cost of living has been greater than 

 that of the compensation. The professors were 

 in better condition seventeen years ago than they 

 are now, when the college has so much ampler 

 means. 



Not only do we find it impossible to save any- 

 thing from our salaries for future needs or for 



our families, but we are unable to meet our 

 necessary expenditures without drawing upon 

 other resources or seeking uncongenial and inap- 

 propriate employment. We believe that the true 

 interests of our college require that the com- 

 pensation of its professors should be such as to 

 free them from the necessity of extraneous work 

 merely for pay. Feeling severely the annually 

 increasing pressure of narrowed means, and the 

 distracting influence of the ever-recurring diffi- 

 culty of providing for our household necessities, 

 we respectfully present this statement to your 

 honorable board, and request that you will give 

 it a generous consideration. 



The communication was referred to a spe- 

 cial committee of five members of the board, 

 consisting of Mr. Rutherfurd, Mr. Nash, Mr. 

 Schermerhorn, Mr. Harper and Mr. Beekman. 



On February 7, 1876, this committee pre- 

 sented a careful report in which it was stated 

 that the committee's recommendations were 

 governed by the following considerations: 



1. That the chairs of our principal academic 

 professors should be looked upon as dignified and 

 most desirable positions, capable of commanding 

 the services and satisfying the reasonable ambi- 

 tion of the highest grade of talent and most ex- 

 tensive acquirement, and that to this end these 

 professors should be placed upon a social and 

 pecuniary equality with at least the average of 

 successful professional men and freed from the 

 grinding cares incident to a struggle to reconcile 

 the demands of a conspicuous and responsible 

 position with the necessities of insufficent means. 



2. Your committee are satisfied that in the city 

 of New York, with its high rents, high prices, and 

 countless social demands, a yearly salary of 

 $6,000 is inadequate to place the professors in the 

 position it is desirable they should occupy. 



3. Y^'our committee think that it would be un- 

 wise to remove the statutory restrictions which 

 now prevent an academic professor from engaging 

 in any professional or other pursuit. They are 

 also of opinion that it is a wise discrimination 

 which has not applied any such restriction to the 

 professors of the Schools of Mines and of Law. 

 No such restrictions exist, so far as your com- 

 mittee have been able to learn, in the academic 

 department of any other American college, in most 

 of which the professors engage in outside work 

 and in many cases hold professorships in other 

 institutions; but this undesirable condition is 



