June 9, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



89a 



compensation of labor to operating expenses 

 might be quoted, but that does not necessarily 

 say anything against the educational efficiency 

 of those schools. The teaching staff may in- 

 deed be highly efficient. It simply indicates 

 that too much is being paid for non-essentials 

 as over against teaching, which latter we must 

 consider the main business of the college. 



Again it must be borne in mind that in 

 every college in the land there is included in 

 the operating expense a considerable per cent, 

 of money which goes to fellowships, scholar- 

 ships and other " charitable " purposes, as, for 

 example: subsidizing boarding-clubs, college 

 papers, etc. If this money were not thus de- 

 voted to " charity " it might be spent for addi- 

 tional productive labor.^ 



Thus the seven institutions quoted show a 

 ratio of 66.5+ per cent, compensation of labor 

 to operating expense while the railroads show 

 a ratio of only 62.06 per cent. 



Throop Polytechnic 

 Institute 



Princeton Univer- 

 sity 



Baker University.... 



University of Kan- 

 sas 



University of Okla. 



Howard University 

 ( federal institu- 

 tion) 



Marietta College 



Year Ending Pnid to Operating 

 Labor Expenses 



July 31. 1910 

 July IS, 1910 



June 30, 1910 

 May 31, 1910 



290,788.55 

 93,599.81 



701,679.25 

 64,637.61 



Average 66.5 + 



Moreover, less of the labor paid out of col- 

 lege funds is non-productive than in the case 

 of the railroads. 



And, finally, operating expense in the case 

 of colleges includes a considerable per cent, of 

 moneys which are devoted to " charity " by 

 which the public profits. 



C. H. Handschin 



THE DIRECTOR VERSUS NEWTON 



In this ease the following conversation re- 

 ported by Professor Maclaurin in Science, 



^In the University of Chicago 7.6 per cent, of 

 operatuig expenses goes to fellowships and scholar- 

 ships alone. A majority of the larger institutions 

 will show a similar per cent. 



XXXIII., 103, January, 1911, has just come 

 to my notice : 



Supt. Your theory of gravitation is hanging 

 fire unduly. The director insists on a finished 

 report, filed in his office by 9 a.m. Monday next; 

 summarized on one page; type-written, and the 

 main points underlined. Also a careful estimate 

 of the cost of the research per student-hour. 



Newton. But there is one diiEculty that has. 

 been puzzling me for fourteen years, and I am 

 not quite . . . 



Supt. (with snap and vigor). Guess you had 

 better overcome that difficulty by Monday morn- 

 ing or quit. 



I have heard since that the conversation: 

 was continued as follows, and I wonder if the 

 director was not right : 



Newton. I shall continue to use my own judg- 

 ment about the disposal of my time. 



Supt. Yes, but no scientific man should go- 

 fourteen years, or even seven, without publishing- 

 results. Fourteen years ago you ranked among 

 the leading thousand scientific men, but seven 

 years ago your name was dropped, and this year- 

 it was not restored. A city that is set on a hill 

 can not be hid. 



Newton. Still I think I am right. 



Supt. But the director thinks that, as long as. 

 you are accepting pay as a leading scientific man, • 

 you should publish enough results to keep up your- 

 reputation. 



Charles Eobertson 

 Caklinville, III., 

 May 1, 1911 



AN ENGLISH COURSE FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS 



To THE Editor op Science : I am not writing- 

 at present to discuss that much-discussed 

 topic, the teaching of practical composition to 

 engineering students, but to explain the first, 

 semester work in a course for freshman engi- 

 neers given at Jhe University of Minnesota, a 

 two-hour course in English which goes hand 

 in hand with a two-hour course in the mora 

 practical composition. Two authors are 

 studied, Arnold and Huxley, the former in 

 Gates's " Selections from Matthew Arnold," 

 and the latter in Snell's " Autobiography and 

 Selected Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley " 

 in the Riverside Literature Series. 



