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IiVD UST’RIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMIST’&Y
Are you less ambitious? Then look over the program and take what suits you, just as you choose from any table d’hote menu. There are the courses-many of them-the daily conferences, the contacts with those mho share your interests, the motion pictures, the evening lectures. Certainly a wide xariety! Perhaps you are not in the mood for anything bordering on work. In that case not only can you do as you pleaae, scientifically speaking, but you will find a t State College the real recreation which mountains, streams, highways, and sports afford, with the opportunity always a t hand to get just that degree of mental exercise you may desire, especially after a fern days of Simon-pure loafing have passed. And all this a t a cost which those who have seen the schedule of fees and living expenses agree is most reasonable! Announcements relative to speakers, lecturers, and teachers clearly indicate the desirability of being a t State College are urged to reach a defor a t least a part of July. POU cision and to obtain full details from the several issues of the Xews Edition or direct from A. JIT.Kenney, Institute of Chemistry of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,State College, Pa. This is an event of the SOCIETY so important to you as an individual that you cannot afford to disregard it in making your summer plans.
Department Chairmen IS inevitable that the growth of appreciation of science ItheTonranks the part of industrial organizations should decimate of college and university professors, not leaving untouched department heads and chairmen. Much has been said regarding this policy, believed by many t o be shortsighted, but while it should be clear that a shortage may soon develop in the supply of adequately trained scientific men if the machinery for their development becomes crippled, industry generally is inclined to let the future care for itself and to obtain for the direction of its own research men who have demonstrated leadership in the scientific field. We sometimes tliiiik the freedom from some typev of executive work is a part of the appeal which the industrial laboratory makes t o the academic man, though a department head doubtless looks upon it as a different sort of administrative job, the details of which are more attractive. Certainly the farsighted industries offer a freedom for scientific work quite as much unhampered as that which the academic laboratory affords. Our schools are, therefore, faced with a new competition in mhich changing conditions have lost to them some of their former advantages. Our colleges and universities should adopt a new policy if they are to attract and hold the professors necessary to train in America men satisfactory for the research laboratories of academic and industrial life. We see frequent examples of one major disadvantage in present policies. This is the promotion of a successful teacher or director of research t o an executive position for which he may not be temperamentally fit and which really does not attract him, so far as its duties and opportunities are concerned. Many a good scientist has been spoiled to make a poor executire. The obvious way out of this difficulty is to recognize a t once that there is a place in any great development for an executive head, call hini what you \Till, who does not necessarily have to be the greatest man in his specialty. Of course he must have a broad sympathy with the science and some actual experience in it, but if he is the right sort of man he will not liezitatc to secure for the department the best available teachers and directors of research, even if all of them rank far above him in scholastic standing and
Vol. 19, No. 6
perhaps in monetary reinuiieration a> well. Such an executive would work for the advancement of these men according to their results. He would not disturb them in the work of their choice, but would see that everything possible was done to make the productive men more productive and to eliminate quickly the non-producers. Such an executive would also relieve those successful in teaching research of multitudinous committee mectings, the details concerning purchases, and a host of other activities which now serve merely to divert them from their main purpose. Such an arrangement might appear as an addition to overhead, but it is the kind of overhead that becomes a good investment through releasing productive men from non-productive activities. Another factor worthy of serious consideration is the precedent that has become established of considering members of the faculty as appointed for life after they have been promoted to a given rank, without regard to their productivity or their effort t o remain abreast of the times. Promotion is slow but in most institutions it is certain, granted only good behavior and reasonable activity, and some men are passed along from grade to grade until they have a life position from which they cannot be budged except for grave misdemeanors. I n consequence, we find here and there a faculty so loaded down with deadwood that its progress can be measured only in terms of geologic time, and science suffers as a result. Several suggestions have been niade for the correction of this situation. One is the adoption of the foreign plan, whereby professors are paid a small salary by the institution, deriving the remainder of their income from fees paid by their students who are given considerable leeway in choosing their courses. It is said that this plan is satisfactory to the successful leader of students, and soon indicates to the unsuccessful and unpopular man the desirability of seeking another location. KOdoubt there are other ways out, but it is high time that some practical solution should be developed and put into operation. All that has been written and said concerning the need for the support of pure science research can be heartily cndorsed, but unless great care is taken we shall find ourselves without an adequate scientific staff when the research funds become available.
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Surprises in September
T HAS been a matter of general regret that recent expo-
sitions of the chemical industries, while quite complete as regards equipment, have not displayed the actual products of the chemical industry, and particularly of chemicals, to the extent which all would have desired. We are glad to note that chemical products are t o have a prominent place in the Eleventh Exposition, which opens September 26. The present list of exhibitors includes nearly fifty-a number are of foreign origin-which can be classified as chemical. The nature of these exhibits cannot be disclosed, but surprises are certain and it is hoped that many of them will be presented by the American chemical manufacturers. Almost a new generation has made its appearance in the chemical industry since chemicals and chemical compounds were featured a t the exposition. Manufacturers who have felt that all potential customers had been reached in former shows must now consider this new audience, which has come from the educational institutions and found its place in industry, as purchasers and users of equipment and materials. The coincidence of a large number of new exhibits with visits by many mho have but recently entered the chemical industry should make the Eleventh Exposition a long remembered event.
