Apbil 13, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



571 



added, and the enrollment which has been 

 increased. It is by urging these needs and 

 presenting these successes that funds are 

 secured. If such were really the standard 

 by which educational ends are to be ap- 

 praised, then the business methods might 

 well be adapted to university affairs. It 

 is against this false standard that the war- 

 fare must be actively directed. It would 

 undoubtedly be the most beneficial fate that 

 could happen to many of our universities 

 to-day, if for a considerable period they 

 built no new buildings, added no new de- 

 partments, found their enrollment gradu- 

 ally decreasing and centered all their en- 

 ergies upon the internal elevation of true 

 university ends, upon providing, for stu- 

 dent and professor alike, the intellectual 

 environment in which those interests thrive, 

 for which student and professor come to- 

 gether, by which the academic ideal is in- 

 spired. 



The same spirit is felt throughout every 

 detail of university life, from athletics up 

 or down as our standards may be. It 

 tempts the professor to spend his energies 

 in securing large classes; it sets depart- 

 ments to devising means to outrank in num- 

 bers the devotees of other departments; it 

 makes the student feel that he is conferring 

 a favor upon the university by coming, and 

 then upon the professor, by choosing his 

 classes ; it leads the administration to value 

 the professor's services by his talents in 

 these directions, to appraise executive 

 work, at least financially, far more highly 

 than professorial service ; and, woret of all, 

 it contaminates the academic atmosphere 

 so that all life and inspiration go out of it, 

 or would, if the professor's ideals did not 

 serve as a protecting aegis to resist, often 

 with much personal sacrifice, these unto- 

 ward influences. 



In bringing these considerations to a 

 close, I must first defend my position 

 against certain objections that are appar- 



ent, and then focus the discussion upon the 

 remedial aspect of the situation. I am con- 

 fident that I do not undervalue the services 

 that have been done for American educa- 

 tion by the very types of administration 

 against which I protest. A strong case may 

 be made out for the opinion that for the 

 work that had to be done and the conditions 

 that obtained, it was the only method avail- 

 able and a good one. My face is turned to 

 the future; and the recognition of past 

 achievement and fitness is no token of in- 

 creasing service under more developed 

 conditions. The general advantages of 

 the presidential form of government are 

 equally obvious. The cause and the 

 strength, I can not bring myself to say the 

 justification, of the conditions which with 

 so many others I deplore, are not far to 

 seek. Those who defend present academic 

 arrangements bring forward pertinent con- 

 siderations, to which any one approaching 

 the issues in a practical temper wiU give 

 due weight. The advantages of centralized 

 power will not lightly be set aside; nor is 

 there any reason for losing the most essen- 

 tial of them in such reconstruction as is 

 needed to rehabilitate the academic career. 

 We need not repeat the common educa- 

 tional mistake, so neatly pictured in the 

 German phrase, of tumbling out the child 

 with the bath. Wisdom as well as sanity 

 is the name for a certain perspective of 

 values. In company with those who share 

 the attitude of my protest, I am keenly sen- 

 sitive to the obligations that our educa- 

 tional welfare has incurred to the very of- 

 fices whose policy and activity I cite as but 

 slightly commendable. I am calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that these pearls of price 

 will have been too dearly bought, if they 

 lead to the deterioration of the academic 

 career through loss of dignity and attract- 

 iveness to those to whom they should make 

 the worthiest appeal. The very qualities 

 upon which emphasis is laid bring types of 



