The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-14


been invested A glance at any set OF
university accounts will explain the
difficulty. In the first place. by far the
greater portion of the funds in the hands
of the Harvard Corporation, and the
same holds true for most colleges, ~
set apart by the donors for specific
purposes and cannot be touched, 1t IS
trust money that can be applied only TO
the purposes OF the trust. For instance,
the income from the millions Of scholar
ship, beneficiary and prize money
merely passes through the treasurer
hands: the university cannot turn aside
q penny of il Only relatively small
proportion of its income, with the tuition
fees, is at the university's free disposal
and the demands on this are legion.
Then it must be remembered that the
rate of interest has steadily gone down
in a generation, while the cost Of living
and materials has gone up. When
President ELIOT entered on Office 7 per
cent or more could be obtained on safe
investments; now the university can
make only 4 per cent and varying
fraction year. The practical appli-
cation Of this is that whereas In 1870
an endowment of $4,000 supplied the
full salary of professor, now the uni
verslty must make up fully half the
salary from it's unrestricted income, and
the number of professorships 80 well
endowed as that is small
Next comes what may be called the en-
barrassment of riches There have been
many gifts of buildings, needfu but
unproductive OF revenue, in recent years.
All these have to be kept up. As Presi-
dent ELIOT put it last year;
Tie scale OF expenditure nor Light. heat. VENT e.
lAilou. cleaning and service in the Cambridge de-
nartrncnls Of the university has never been eS-
iravagant, though II has been raised significantly
during the last ten years. and 1t is not possible 10
reduce that expenditure much. In spite OF tho fact
that expenditures OF this nature constitute re-
gret,aby large proportion OF the total expenditures
OF the university The practices OF nf,y years ago
at Harvard College in respect to ventilation would
now he agains, the Law az vell As agalns, the In
tcrests OF She teachers and stutents.'
Very few donors have thought of pro-
vidng for the up-keep of the buildings
they give, and still fewer, if any, have
given enough TO maintain them fully.
II is again the unrestricted income that
must support this increasing burden,
and some recent buildings have proved
very costly in this respect
., b. Ito,
poratlon has managed to accumulate
respectable savings for times of emer-
gency, and the emergency has al ways
turned up to consume them. But Har
ward since President ELIOT has been in
charge. has always spent every cent it
could within the limits of safety In
his inaugural speech DR.. ELIOT declared;
"A school will support itself. a college
hardly: university never Under
him the university has lived UP 10 the
limit of its resources, and often little
beyond, and it is safe to say that if il
had not Harvard would now be much
moro like the college it WAS than the
university it is. Its object bias been to
turn out from year 10 year the largest
possible immediate product of well
trained young men for the largest possi-
BILE variety Of intellectual work.
President ELIOT suggests in his appeal
the endowment of professorshps, which
NJ the present rate Of interest would
require 10000 or SIPS 900 each. This
would relieve the situation in one direc-
ton and would leave a certain proportion
of the college instruction independent
even of tuition fees In making the
suggestion the president is guided prob
ably by his long experience with dona
tons and the hope that this means OF
perpetuating the donors name will
prove attractive. His further sugges-
ton that lower grades Of instructors
should also be endowed seems fanciful
and might in time prove mischievous,
perhaps leaving the college burdened
with the obligation TO teach extinct
curiosities of learning,
The real solution of the problem, the
form in which the college would be most
permanently benefited, if ii can be done,
would be the raising of a large endow-
ment fund or combination Of smaller
funds, to which donors names might be
attached. the income from which should
be at the disposal of the president and
fellows, unrestricted save for its applica
ton to the needs of the college. En-
dowed professorships, an endowed Ii
brary a library building, an endowed
graduate school-all these will help.
but freer endowment OF the university
in general will help most Of all. We wish
Harvard and it's friends success in the
undertaking