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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1099 



tution by alumni, in their organizations and 

 elsewhere, and which may practically en- 

 force the necessity of exterior regulation. 

 The alumni loyalty is a fine spirit, much to 

 be desired ; but the first loyalty in the case 

 of public-maintained institutions is to the 

 state rather than to the college. The 

 alumni attitude of the older eastern en- 

 dowed colleges has been transferred bodily 

 to state colleges, without discrimination and 

 without realization of the fact that state 

 relationships are involved. Herein lies one 

 danger of alumni trustees in state institu- 

 tions, although the alumni ought to make 

 the best of advisers. 



If we could get hold of the alumni bodies 

 on the basis of good state policies rather 

 than on the basis of blind partisanship, we 

 should soon be able to solve most of our 

 institutional conflicts, at the same time that 

 we retain the needful support of the alumni 

 of each one of them. We should then be 

 free to make our institutions parts in a 

 well-understood state program, and to allow 

 each institution to work out most of its own 

 problems. Undoubtedly some small dupli- 

 cations or perhaps even infringements 

 would remain, but they would be devoid of 

 hostility and have little power for evil, 

 whereas the gains to come from free action 

 would far outweigh any lack of conformity 

 to an office or paper plan. It ought not to 

 be difficult to make adjustments by means 

 of conference if the underlying situation is 

 properly established. 



How to bring these alumni bodies to their 

 senses is indeed a difficult problem. As 

 these persons have been educated at state 

 expense, so does the state have a right to 

 ask service in return; and, if necessary, I 

 should go so far as to give the alumni or- 

 ganizations legal standing and more or less 

 state control. I feel, however, that the bet- 

 ter result can be secured by processes of 

 suasion. If a governor of a state, or the 



presidents of the institutions, or a few 

 leading spirits in the alumni associations 

 were to make an appeal along these lines, 

 the whole situation would probably right 

 itself in the course of a few years. It is 

 more important first to appeal to the alumni 

 than to the legislature. "We are in too great 

 haste to eliminate these difficulties. We 

 must remember that these situations are the 

 results of long-continued conditions; the 

 difficulties are chronic and ingrained; so 

 will it require time to work them out. We 

 are to undo the mischief by gradually re- 

 versing or at least revising the process, not 

 by a broadside of regulatory legislation. 



All these foregoing statements indicate 

 the drift of the time in the direction of 

 over-administration, coupled with more or 

 less hasty legislative enactments to meet 

 special troubles. The remedy does not lie 

 wholly, and perhaps not even chiefly, within 

 the establishments themselves ; in fact, rou- 

 tine tends to multiply, and to extol itself 

 as desirable on its own account. Eeforma- 

 tion is peculiarly the work of outsiders. 



The course of our legislation in the field 

 of education in agriculture shows a gradual 

 federalizing of it, beginning with practi- 

 cally entire freedom in the original Land- 

 Grant Act. In the new Smith-Lever Act 

 the remedy — if a remedy is needed — does 

 not lie within itself. Cooperation is not a 

 remedy: it is an adjustment, a method of 

 procedure, and it works only when all the 

 parties agree. If the Land- Grant Act had 

 been written and applied on the same prin- 

 ciple, we could not have had our existing 

 colleges of agriculture. 



ANOTHER KIND OF AGRICULTURAL WORK 



Well, then, where is the external influence 

 to be maintained? Where is it to arise? 

 Primarily in the suggestions of a free peo- 

 ple. But its continuous practise must come 

 from institutions. 



