July 19, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



113 



of business men. The head of the Division of 

 Forestry, for example, with $187,520 at his 

 disposal, receives a salary of $2,500. If a thor- 

 oughly competent man has been secured for 

 this important position at this ridiculously low 

 figure the Government is, indeed, to be con- 

 gratulated. As soon, however, as he shall 

 have established a reputation he will very 

 probably be ' lifted ' by some more generous 

 Government. This actually happened last year 

 in the case of an officer of the Department of 

 Agriculture who received $1,800 a year. He 

 now holds a like position in Japan at a salary 

 of $7,000. 



If in spite of this Congressional niggardliness 

 many very capable men be now eugaged in 

 governmental scientific work, this result has 

 been brought about more by good luck than by 

 good management, and the broad truth is not 

 thereby affected that in every business, whether 

 private or public, the higher salary appeals to 

 the higher order of talent, with its consequence 

 of greater efficiency in the work done. At the 

 late session of Congress an unsuccessful effort 

 was made to rectify this mistaken policy. It is 

 to be hoped that another session of Congress 

 will not pass without a further and a successful 

 effiDrt to readjust the salaries of all government 

 scientists, and to fix them at figures which will 

 at least bear a comparison with those paid for 

 similar work by many private firms and coi'po- 

 rations. — Philadelphia Record. 



Two important government positions at 

 Washington are going begging because there 

 are no applicants for them. The reason is 

 simple : they can be filled only by men of 

 technical skill and scientific training, and the 

 salaries attached to them are $1,200 and $1,400 a 

 year, respectively. The politicians who fixed 

 these low salaries for high-class work knew that 

 the incumbents would be worthless for political 

 manoeuvering, and hence did not care to 

 ' waste ' much money on them. It is a rule 

 that holds good all through the scientific side of 

 government work. — Philadelphia Ledger. 



THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY PROJECT. 



The action taken at Detroit by the National 

 Educational Association on the subject of the 



projected national university leaves that mat- 

 ter in a peculiar but not a necessarily dis- 

 appointing status. A committee of the Associ- 

 ation had investigated the general project of 

 utilizing, for higher university education, the 

 facilities afforded by the governmental estab- 

 lishment and appurtenances at this capital. It 

 reported in favor of the plan recently proposed 

 by the George Washington Memorial Associa- 

 tion and the Washington Academy of Sciences 

 for the creation of an establishment to be known 

 as the Washington Memorial Institution, to 

 direct the energies of students desiring to avail 

 themselves of the educational facilities here, 

 without endowing a specific educational or- 

 ganization. The association declined to adopt 

 this view and passed resolutions declaring its 

 unwillingness to abandon its favorite project of 

 establishing a distinct national university in 

 this city. 



Thus it appears that the issue at Detroit is' 

 between two plans to accomplish the same pur- 

 pose. There is no division on the score of the 

 desirability of utilizing the exceptional educa- 

 tional advantages of the capital city. All the 

 educators agree that here lie chances for higher 

 education which are not to be found elsewhere 

 and which could not be duplicated with any 

 expenditure. The majority of the delegates 

 to the convention believe, as have many leaders 

 of pedagogic thought in the past, and as did 

 George Washington in the beginning, that the 

 best way to make use of this plant is by direct 

 means to create a university which shall stand 

 for the national progress and prestige. Others 

 contend that this is impracticable, and that the 

 most promising method is to respect the exist- 

 ing educational establishments as sufficient in 

 themselves and to create a supplement for the 

 special use of those who desire a post-graduate 

 course afforded only by the governmental facili- 

 ties here. 



The capital desires nothing more than that the 

 fullest possible use be made of its exceptional 

 opportunities for education. It hopes to see 

 George Washington's ideal realized in some form 

 as early as possible. It will aid to the extent of 

 its ability any promising project to this end. It 

 will safeguard the interests of any educational 

 creation here, whatever its form or name. It 



