384 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 793 



DISCVSSIOfJ AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE LENGTH OF SERVICE PENSIONS OF THE 

 CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 



Either as cause and effect or as a matter 

 of mere time sequence, the writer has antici- 

 pated in this journal the most important ac- 

 tions taken by the trustees of the Carnegie 

 Foundation at their two last annual meetings. 

 There was printed in Science for April 24, 

 1908, correspondence with the president of the 

 foundation urging that the pensions of widows 

 of professors entitled to retiring allowances 

 should be made a matter of right rather than 

 a matter of optional favor, and at the meeting 

 of the trustees in November this was done. 

 It seems that this subject is not treated clearly 

 by the president in his last annual report. 

 Referring to the first adoption of the rules of 

 the foundation he says: 



The underlying principles which seemed to be 

 clear were these ... (5) The retiring allowance 

 system should embrace in its provisions the wid- 

 ows of teachers who under the rules had become 

 eligible to retiring allowances. ... A third rule 

 provided for the pension for the widow of any 

 teacher who, either on the ground of age or 

 service, was entitled to a retiring allowance. 

 These rules have now been in operation four years. 



In the first annual report, however, it was 

 explicitly pointed out that " In all cases, the 

 granting of pensions to widows of professors 

 stands upon a different basis than that of the 

 awarding of retiring allowances to professors," 

 and in the third annual report it is noted that 

 " heretofore the pensions to widows have been 

 only permissory." 



I venture to note my service to my col- 

 leagues in this direction, as some of them 

 think that I have performed a disservice in 

 pointing out what seemed to me the dangers 

 of the length of service pensions. In Science 

 for April 2, 1909, I wrote : 



The reasons leading to the adoption of retire- 

 ment after twenty-five years of service are obscure 

 to me unless it is intended to relieve institutions 

 of men whom they do not want to keep. ... In 

 oTder to reward a professor after long years of 

 service, he should be relieved not of half of his 

 salary and the privilege of teaching, but of so 



much routine instruction and administration as 

 interfere with his research. ... It may on the 

 whole be regarded as fortunate that the Carnegie 

 Foundation has not the means to continue these 

 annuities for length of service. They will, I fear, 

 tend to demoralize both the " humble and ill- 

 compensated " professor and the " conspicuous " 

 and much-tempted president. 



My anticipations were soon justified by the 

 troubles at the George "Washington University, 

 which retired on the foundation two of its 

 professors against their will in order to save 

 their salaries and because they did not agree 

 with the policies of the administration, and 

 which then was dropped from the list of insti- 

 tutions accepted by the foundation. I was, 

 however, not less surprised than my colleagues 

 to learn that the trustees of the Carnegie 

 Foundation on November 17 had not only 

 abolished the retiring allowance for length of 

 service, but had made their action apply to 

 those to whom the pensions had been promised. 



This action would be absolutely incompre- 

 hensible if it were based on the grounds alleged 

 by the president in his annual report, which 

 has just now been printed. He does not even 

 remotely refer to the financial inability of the 

 foundation to carry out the obligations it had 

 assumed, but bases his recommendation on the 

 fact that he has unexpectedly discovered that 

 presidents and professors take advantage of 

 the rule, and that its effect is not " good " 

 owing to " the opportunity which is thus 

 opened to bring pressure to bear on the 

 teacher, or by the tendency of the teacher 

 assured of a retiring allowance to become 

 iiltra-eritical toward the administration." 

 This last clause throws a curious light on the 

 administrative attitude — it would be danger- 

 ous to let the professor criticize the adminis- 

 tration if thereby he risked losing only half 

 of his salary and not all of it. 



President Pritchett says : " The expectation 

 that this rule would be taken advantage of 

 almost wholly on the ground of disabilities 

 has proved to be ill founded." But what 

 warrant had the trustees for this expectation? 

 The act of incorporation states that the object 

 of the foundation is to provide retiring pen- 

 sions for teachers who " by reason of long and 



