688 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. ( 



courtesy. The establishment of a retiring 

 allowance system upon definite rules under 

 which a professor receives his retired 

 pay through his college in due course 

 can not fail to strengthen the teacher's 

 profession enormously. The administra- 

 tion of this fund as a charity would in the 

 long run be equally sure to harm rather 

 than help the teacher and the cause of 

 education. 



For the demoralizing effect of a pension 

 system supposedly administered on the 

 ground of personal merit one has only to 

 look at the history of government pensions 

 in this country. These pensions were orig- 

 inally instituted to dignify and assist men 

 who had served the country honorably and 

 unselfishly. Their administration has be- 

 come the greatest single source of political 

 corruption of which our national govern- 

 ment has been guilty, a contagion which 

 has touched presidents, member^ of con- 

 gress and, most of all, the class intended 

 to be benefited. Human nature in teachers 

 is not materially different from human na- 

 ture in congressmen and soldiers. No body 

 of men is wise enough to administer a sys- 

 tem of pensions upon considerations of in- 

 dividual merit only, without a strong prob- 

 ability that the administration will in the 

 end degenerate. 



The preconceived ideas in the minds of 

 the public and in the minds of many teach- 

 ers concerning the work of this board con- 

 templated a very simple task. On the face 

 of it the allotment of pensions to worn-out 

 but deserving teachers who might apply 

 directly or through their friends did not 

 seem to involve any very difficult problems. 

 Such a picture of benevolence appeals to 

 much that is best in our human nature. 

 But such an administration of the funds of 

 this trust would be comparable in its ethical 

 results to that which might be had by 

 standing on a street comer and giving a 



gold piece to any aged passerby who seemed 

 on the whole to merit it and to need it. 



There are many deserving men who have 

 grown old in teaching who assumed that the 

 funds of this board would be distributed in 

 some such way and who have felt disap- 

 pointed that they have not been so distrib- 

 uted. A considerable proportion of these 

 teachers have done their work in schools 

 below the college, many are in denomina- 

 tional institutions and are thereby ex- 

 cluded, and very few of the remainder have 

 rendered to education such a service as 

 would justify an exception in their cases. 

 The very making of exceptions is itself to 

 be regretted. At the beginning of its work 

 the board of trustees of the foundation de- 

 cided that it was desirable, as far as pos- 

 sible, to confer retiring allowances through 

 the institutions themselves, but that it was 

 just and fair to extend the benefits of the 

 retiring allowance system to a number of 

 individual teachers, particularly to men 

 who had done pioneer work in education 

 or who had rendered extraordinary and 

 unusual service in its cause. This policy 

 has thus far been continued, and I believe 

 without unfavorable results, although ex- 

 perience shows that the number of teachers 

 who are believed by their friends and ac- 

 quaintances to have rendered extraordinary 

 and unusual service is practically without 

 limit. In fact, every region and almost 

 every institution has its representative who 

 in the opinion of those near him is de- 

 serving of special consideration. To pro- 

 vide pensions for certain of these deserving 

 teachers and to refuse them to others will 

 not work for the betterment of the teach- 

 er's calling, the improvement of colleges, 

 or the progress of education. In a word, 

 the awarding of the retiring allowance in 

 any other way than through institutions 

 and in compliance with fixed rules under 

 which the retiring pay comes as a right, 



