784 



SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XXII. No. 572. 



fore the influence of the incumbent. This 

 is not a local or sectional difference in 

 American universities. Some of the newer 

 endowed institutions in the east have a 

 president who is not a member of the gov- 

 erning board, while some of the state uni- 

 versities of the west have made the presi- 

 dent invariably a full member of the board 

 of regents. As the American institutions 

 have grown, the function of the president 

 has become more and more important to 

 their prosperity and progress. In early 

 times the president was the principal 

 teacher. Down to the early part of the 

 nineteenth century he was almost invariably 

 a minister. In most of the larger institu- 

 tions the president no longer teaches, and 

 in many he is a layman. Common experi- 

 ence during the last fifty years teaches with 

 certainty that the efficiency of any corpora- 

 tion — financial, manufacturing or commer- 

 cial — depends on its having one responsible 

 head who has knowledge of all its concerns, 

 and gives guidance and inspiration in all 

 its principal activities. A university cor- 

 poration can not be an exception to this 

 rule for securing efficiency. Again, the ex- 

 perience of the last fifty years teaches 

 clearly that in all fields of human activity 

 it is the trained expert who must invent 

 and give direction. The president of a 

 university must be either an expert himself 

 in educational administration, or he must 

 be a man who thoroughly understands how 

 to utilize expert service. And thirdly, ex- 

 perience proves that long service gives ac- 

 cumulating value to well-selected officials ; 

 so that universities which give their presi- 

 dents an honorable tenure, and get from 

 them long service, will be likely to win great 

 advantages over those who do not. 



The American universities are obviously 

 divisible into two groups, the endowed and 

 the state supported, although the endowed 

 may sometimes receive aid from govern- 



ment, and the state supported may possess 

 some endowments. This difference in re- 

 spect to the sources of their income, how- 

 ever, affects the policies and tendencies of 

 the two groups much less than might be 

 imagined. At present the leading en- 

 dowed institutions are richer, and have 

 larger annual budgets, than the leading 

 state supported institutions ; but, of course, 

 this comparative condition may any year 

 be reversed. It would be hard to prove 

 that any important difference in discipline, 

 educational policy, or scholarly ambition 

 and aim, corresponds with or accompanies 

 this division by sources of income. On the 

 wiiole, the policies and aims of the two 

 groups are extraordinarily similar. The 

 division is not a strict geographical one. 

 Most of the strong state universities are 

 west of the AUeghenies, but in that vast 

 region strong endowed institutions have 

 also arisen, while in the south both groups 

 exist side by side. California supports the 

 state university of largest annual budget, 

 and is also the seat of one of the richest of 

 American endowed .universities. The state 

 universities are all young — Michigan not 

 yet 70 years old, Wisconsin not yet 60, and 

 Illinois, Minnesota and California not yet 

 40. Their future is very bright ; but not 

 brighter than that of the leading endowed 

 institutions. The two sorts of university 

 will both serve the country greatly, main- 

 taining a fine rivalry in scholarship and in 

 serviceableness, making common cause in 

 promoting national intelligence, righteous- 

 ness and efficiency, and illustrating the best 

 results of the American passion for educa- 

 tion. If, then, the American colleges and 

 universities are strikingly similar, in spite 

 of local and unessential differences, it is 

 because they express and illustrate the 

 fundamental convictions, beliefs and as- 

 pirations of the American people. 



Charles W. Eliot. 



