Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-01-11
SATURDAY,, JANUARY II, 1913.
THE EFFICIENCY NOsTRUM.

THE EFFICIENCY NOsTRUM.
n. Y. Post: There has been a great
deal OF cropping in the dark over the
problem of raising the qualities of II
universities and colleges. But light
has appeared at last. There will no
longer be any futile casting about for
improvements here and changes
there, no more mere scratching Of the
surface. Somebody at Harvard has
gone straight to the heart Of the mat
ter. Indeed, he has solved the whole
problem in point of principle, though
of course the details of the benetlcent
revolution he has started remain to
be worked out. What has been need
ed all along has been some simple
and yet profound guiding principle,
and this is what the new move at
Harvard supplies. See that you get
your moneys worth out of each pro-
fessor-this is the philosophers
stone, which, firmly and steadily APP
piled, is going to transmute into gold
all the 'ibaser metal of our university
Faculties.
Seldom has a great reform been
ushered in so noiselessly. Harvard
professors and Instructors SO goes a
newspaper account, "are thoughtfully
clubbing troubled brows today while
they ponder over an intricate net
work of blanks and spaces whereon
Assistant Controller Taylor has re-
quested them to record the exact dis
position which they make Of all time
spent in the interests Of the universe
ty." The Assistant Controller states
that he desires these data for the
purpose of using them ''as a basis for
%pro-rating salaries to the various
classified functions" but, after sup
plying a formidable array of blanks
to be filled with this end in view, he
winds UP with a request for informa-
ton concerning "Contributory Activ-
ities," the giving of which is optional.
These include the NUMBER Of hours
spent on research work carried on
personally by the instructor and
certain other things which, like this,
fare of a quasi-private nature" The
Assistant Controller recognizes that
the variations in such data due to the
personal equation would make i'm
practicable the direct use of these fig
ures for the purpose of distributing
salaries" but nevertheless he is ap-
parently of the opinion that they
would be a comfortable thing to have,
and SO he asks for them. And quite
right, too; for the optional of today
may be the compulsory of tomorrow,
and it is we'll to get a line on these
professor people, even if you can't pin
them down to exact facts and figures.
In sober truth, this news from Har-
ward is a very serious matter. 1t
touches the very vitals of the pro-
fessor's calling. 1t ought to bring out
rom the Harvard Faculty, and espe-
,ially from the men of light and lead
ing in that FACULTY, an impressive
protest; and the most impressive
ior:n the protest could take would be
hat of a dignified but firm refusal to
with the demand made upon
Them. For what is at stake at Har-
ward is nothing less than the whole
character and status Of the American
professorate. To be a university pro-
lessor has hitherto meant, in this
country, as in all the world, to give
10 the university yuorself-your per-
sonality, your talent, your capacity to
interest, to instruct, to inspire. Many
have, to be sure, fallen
woefully short Of fulfilling this ideal;
many have been deficient in ability,
many in character. But the n great
hing that has made the calling at
to the best who are in it has
been that this was the plane on which
L was understood to rest. 1t offers
none Of the glittering material re-
Of other vocations; It seldom
nolds forth the allurement Of fame.
this country, its dignity has been
lar below that which belongs to 1t
n Europe, thanks to an ex.adminis-
Of the idea Of management