Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1900: Vol. 56, November, 1899 to April, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, February 1900: Vol. 56, November, 1899 to April, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
For the administration of large interests, involving the control of men
and the building-up of great institutions, men of science have over
and over again demonstrated their fitness. In the scientific societies
of the world they have shown their capacity for organization, and in
the management of schools and colleges their ability has often been
proved. Among the presidents of universities and technical schools
who have been drawn from the ranks of science I may mention Eliot,
of Harvard; Gilman, of the Johns Hopkins; Drown, of Lehigh; Jordan,
of the Leland Stanford; Chamberlin, of Wisconsin; Morton, of the
Stevens Institute; and Mendenhall, of the Worcester Polytechnic. The
Institute of Technology in Boston has been directed successively by
Rogers, Runkle, Walker, and Crafts; the Columbia School of Mines was
built up by a group of scientific workers, aided by President Barnard;
and the list might be lengthened almost indefinitely. Have these men
fallen below the average of their fellows? Have they not shown at
least as high administrative ability as has been found elsewhere? The
mere statement of their names is a sufficient answer, and renders
argument unnecessary. With them the scientific training has not been
a disqualification, nor even a handicap; it has rather been to their
advantage, for to it they owe much of the insight, the power to grasp
great problems intelligently, the ability to interpret evidence, and
the tendency to prompt and decisive action, without which successful
administration is impossible.
Again, consider the scientific institutions of the world, the museums
and observatories, and the various governmental organizations in which
science is recognized. In our own country, the Smithsonian Institution
and National Museum were built up by Henry and Baird, in spite of
great and varied difficulties; the Coast Survey was created by Hassler
and Bache; and the Geological Survey was developed by a group of men
among whom Hayden, King, and Powell were pioneers. The last-named
organization has been controlled from the beginning by men of science,
and the Coast Survey has been weak only when under nonscientific
management. The Commission of Fish and Fisheries owes its existence
and a great part of its effectiveness to its creator, Baird; the Army
Medical Museum and Library represents the executive genius of Billings;
and in none of these institutions has partisan politics ever exerted
an appreciable influence. No bureaus of the Government have been more
wisely or more efficiently handled than those which men of science have
controlled; in none have there been fewer errors or scandals; there is
not one in which the essential purpose of its existence has been better
fulfilled.
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