Apeil 24, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



673 



Foundation applies to all cases in accepted 

 institutions ? It reads : " Any person who has 

 been for ten years the wife of a professor in 

 actual service may receive during her widow- 

 hood one half of the allowance to which her 

 husband would have been entitled." This pro- 

 vision might mean that all widows of this class 

 would receive the retiring allowance on proper 

 application, or it might mean that the allow- 

 ance may, or may not, be granted after recom- 

 mendation of the president of the institution 

 concerned and consideration of the merits of 

 the professor and the needs of his widow. I 

 fear that the latter interpretation is correct, 

 but I trust not, as it would seriously interfere 

 with the position of the Carnegie Foundation 

 as an agency for promoting the dignity and 

 honor of the teaching profession. 



In your annual reports you have wisely 

 emphasized the fact that the Carnegie Foun- 

 dation is not a charity, but an educational 

 agency. You say : " No body of men is wise 

 enough to administer a system of pensions 

 upon considerations of individual merit only, 

 without a strong probability that the admin- 

 istration will in the end degenerate." Does 

 this not apply to pensions for widows, as well 

 as to annuities? It appears to me that most 

 healthy-minded men are more concerned with 

 provision for their families in case of disable- 

 ment or death than with ansiety as to their 

 own old age. I sympathize with those who 

 take out life insurance, not with those who 

 buy annuities, and it gives me no satisfaction 

 to be put by force of circumstance into the 

 latter class. I should like to exchange my 

 annuity for life insurance of equal value, and 

 I believe that this would be the nearly unani- 

 mous preference of my colleagues. 



The Carnegie Foundation adds substantially 

 to the incomes of accepted universities and 

 colleges, but it does not greatly assist the 

 individual professor. The provision for re- 

 tirement for age does not help at all in insti- 

 tutions that already had a pension system; 

 in other accepted institutions the salaries will 

 be adjusted with reference to the pension, and 

 the only individuals who benefit are some of 

 the older men in institutions without a pen- 

 sion system for whom the benefit is retroactive. 



Apart from this group, the benefit to the indi- 

 vidual — and only until readjustment of sal- 

 aries takes place — is confined to the length of 

 service provision, the wisdom of which is 

 doubtful, and the widow's pension, which only 

 applies at the age when it is least needed, and 

 if administered as a charity would in the long 

 run be, as you say, " sure to harm rather than 

 to help the teacher and the cause of educa- 

 tion." 



If the professor must be the VersuchsHer 

 of paternalism, is not the German system — 

 by which he receives his salary for life, being 

 relieved from service if disabled by illness or 

 old age, and his widow and each of his minor 

 children receive a pension — the best plan both 

 for the professor and for the university ? And, 

 if so, could not the Carnegie Foundation bring 

 about this system by ofl^ering endovrments to 

 those institutions that would adopt it? 



May I print in Science this letter and your 

 reply? Very truly yours, 



J. McK. Cattell 

 Office of the 

 President 



The Carnegie Foundation 



FOE THE Advancement of Teaching 



576 Fifth Avenue 



New York 



March 24, 1908 

 Dear Professor Cattell: 



Your letter of March 21 I can answer with 

 more definiteness after next Tuesday, when 

 the matter of widow's pensions is likely to be 

 put upon a completely definite basis. I will, 

 therefore, delay my answer until next week, 

 when I will endeavor to answer your questions 

 completely. Very sincerely yours, 



Henry S. Pbitchett 

 Professor J. McKeen Cattell, 

 Garrison-on-Hudson, 

 New York 



Office of the 

 President 



The Carnegie Foundation 



FOR THE Advancement of Teaching 



576 Fifth Avenue 



New York 



April 13, 1908 

 Dear Professor Cattell: 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your 



