Makch 11, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



373 



academic life are more responsible for this 

 situation than the "human natm'e" of the 

 professors; to the fifth, that it is rather 

 complimentary to the physique of the 

 teaching profession that more have not 

 qualified for the privilege of disability — 

 or are those vrho succumbed the unhonored 

 martyrs who are not even a burden to the 

 Carnegie Foundation?; to the sixth, that 

 foresight in not promising what can not be 

 fulfilled is demanded of every business-like 

 institution. 



But it is obvious that in reality too many 

 questions are involved in this issue to make 

 it possible, or in the present connection 

 desirable, to consider them in detail. It is 

 sufficient to call attention to the fact that 

 every system, however worthy or wise, is 

 open to abuse; but the abuse must be very 

 considerable and extended before it justifies 

 so drastic a cure. It must be remembered 

 that in every transition from one system 

 to another, there necessarily follows a 

 period of adjustment, and that the value 

 of the provision can be decided not by its 

 abuses but by its uses, and that only after 

 the academic career in this country has 

 become adjusted to the Carnegie provisions. 

 It would seem to be much fairer to wait 

 twenty years and see what men actually do 

 who withdraw under this provision, before 

 deciding that it is a mistake. In brief, the 

 question as to how far this provision of the 

 foundation is a mistake can not at this 

 stage be decided by the experience ob- 

 tained, but must be appraised according to 

 the value attached to this method of ad- 

 vancing the attractiveness of the academic 

 career. This is so wholly a matter of 

 opinion that there is little to be gained by 

 opposing one opinion to another; but it 

 should be pointed out that at least one 

 member of the board of trustees of the 

 foxmdation. President Jordan, has taken a 

 very opposite view, and tells the public 



that ' ' the retirement of men in good health 

 to pursue their studies unhampered may 

 be regarded as one of the most important 

 functions of the Carnegie Foundation." 

 If what is regarded on the one hand as a 

 mistake is regarded on the other as a most 

 important function, this conflict of view is 

 sufficient to make one pause before justi- 

 fying so radical a step by so questionable 

 a consideration. 



But at this point it becomes quite im- 

 possible to avoid the reflection that the 

 actual considerations are really the finan- 

 cial ones, and that the reasons given would 

 of themselves (without the financial diffi- 

 culty) have seemed quite inadequate to 

 many who participated in the decision. 

 This reflection is again a very serious one. 

 If the provision had to be abandoned for 

 financial considerations, that fact should 

 have been stated prominently, frankly and 

 without complication with other reasons.^ 

 All universities are so troubled by a lack 

 of funds that such a statement would at 

 once seem natural and in an academic com- 

 munity would command full sympathy. 

 And so again if this provision is not a mis- 

 take, but merely another instance in which 

 a high and far-reaching ideal has to be 

 given up for a more limited range of 

 service, that is likewise a very familiar 

 academic situation with which every one 

 ^ In regard to the financial side, it may be 

 recalled that in Mr. Carnegie's original letter 

 giving ten million dollars for the foundation, it 

 was said that " expert calculation shows that the 

 revenue will be ample for the purpose." If this 

 calculation, however expert, has proved to be a 

 mistake, it is that mistake which most needa 

 acknowledgment. At the same time it should be 

 understood that the load of the service allowance 

 is not wholly an additional burden upon the 

 foundation, since with the ordinary expectation 

 of life some of those who retire on the less 

 favorable basis but near to the age of sixty-five 

 will draw no more from the foundation than if 

 they retired upon the more favorable basis a few 

 years later. 



