cal Review, to the Professorship of History announcement of courses in the history of American slavery and States rights, nullification, and secession have been made which in time will strengthen and increase the interest in Southern political and economic history.

From this review of the ideals and the work of students of Southern history, no definite conclusion can be drawn for movements incipient or in course of development are most difficult to judge. But it is evident that within the last few years there has been awakened a new and saner interest in what the Southern people have achieved, that from a small beginning at Baltimore this interest has reached other university cities, and like all truth, the more that is known, the more extensive is the revelation of knowledge yet to be gained. The fields are white unto harvest.

The College Professor in the Public Service

BY WILLIAM H. GLASSON, PH. D.

Professor Ladd, of Yale University, has attempted, in a recently published article, to show that the office of the college professor is undergoing a process of degradation-that influences are at work "which are bringing it down to a relatively low level of appreciation and reward."* He maintains that there has been a decline in the motives, character, culture, and influence of the average college teacher. The causes and evidences of this "process of degradation" are presented at some length. Especially significant and foreboding, says Professor Ladd, is "the lighthearted, serio-comic, or contemptuous way in which the press and the public esteem the proffer of services and treat the opinions of the professed experts in our higher institutions of learning."

The course of economic and political affairs in the United States during the past few years affords strong ground for a totally different view. Notwithstanding the occasional gibes of sensational journals and the sneers of professional politicians, there has been of late a growing recognition of the value of the services of college experts in the various departments of public work. This fact has been well illustrated in the methods of our national administration in dealing with the problems arising from the war with Spain.

At the very outbreak of the war, the State Department turned to Columbia University for aid. Professor John Bassett Moore was called to be Assistant Secretary of State in order that the government might profit by his authoritative grasp upon both theory and practice of the doctrines of international law. Not only was his knowledge in demand at Washington, but, in the fall of 1898, he was asked to accompany the Peace Commission to Paris as secretary and expert legal adviser. After rendering services of great value, he returned to his chair at Columbia. His successor in the Department of State was another college man, Dr. David J. Hill, President of the University of Rochester.

*See Professor Ladd's article on the "Degradation of the Professorial Office," Forum, May, 1902.

Peace came and we were left to solve new questions of race and government in an almost unknown group of islands in the China seas. President McKinley again sought the services of college professors and two out of the three civilian members of the first Philippine Commission came from their ranks. Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman, President of Cornell, became chairman of the Commission and Professor Dean C. Worcester of the University of Michigan, was associated with him. Professor Worcester had travelled in the Philippines and written a book about the islands and their people. The choice of these men by the President was not met in a contempuous way by press and public but, on the contrary, it commanded in a high degree the confidence of the country. Since Dr. Schurman's resumption of his duties at Cornell, his opinions on Philippine matters have been received with marked respect both in and out of Congress and have undoubtedly exercised great influence upon public opinion. In forming a second Philippine Commission, President McKinley was able to retain Professor Worcester and to enlist in this distant service another college professor, Bernard Moses, of the University of California, who is an authority in political science.

Nearer home there was work to be done in the formation and inauguration of a government for the island of Porto Rico. Dr. J. H. Hollander, of Johns Hopkins University, was induced to accept the office of Treasurer of the island. He found there an antiquated and unfair system of taxation which failed to reach the undoubted tay-paying ability of the landed proprietors and weighed with undue severity upon the poorer classes of the population. Despite considerable opposition, he secured at the first session of the Porto Rican legislature the passage of a law which gave the island a system of finance and taxation fully in accordance with the teachings and methods of modern science. This application of the expert knowledge of a college professor to a question of the most practical nature has met with brilliant success and the financial stability of the island government of Porto Rico seems assured. In this pioneer work, Dr. Hollander was ably seconded by Dr. T. S. Adams, now of the University of Wisconsin.

As Dr. Hollander was the pioneer in finance, so was Professor Martin G. Brumbaugh, of the University of Pennsylvania, in the

field of education. He instituted normal schools, trained teachers, built school houses and organized for the children of Porto Rico a better public school system than has been enjoyed by another Spanish speaking people. Upon returning to his professional duties, Dr. Brumbaugh was succeeded by a colleague at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Samuel McCune Lindsay. Another Pennsylvania man who served the government well in Porto Rico was Professor Leo S. Rowe, the head of the Commission which revised and codified the laws of the island.

Such events of the Spanish war as the acquisition of the Philippines and the stirring trip of the Oregon around South America, together with the desire of manufacturing and commercial interests for better access to the markets of China and the Far East, brought about a renewed public interest in the construction ofan Isthmian Canal. In 1899 an Isthmian Canal Commission was authorized by Congress to make, for the information of Congress and the President, a thorough investigation of the commercial advantages, cost of construction and maintenance, and engineering difficulties of each of the proposed routes. Three of the nine members of this body were chosen from the ranks of college professors. Professor Emory R. Johnson, of the University of Pennsylvania, was given special charge of the inquiry into the industrial, financial and commercial aspects of the canal problem. Engineering problems involved in the construction of this great artificial waterway were referred to Professor William H. Burr, of Columbia, and to Professor Lewis M. Haupt. The Commission recently submitted a voluminous and informing report and Congress now has under consideration measures providing for the construction of the canal. Although uncertainty with respect to the franchise and other rights of the French Panama Company has delayed a final decision, both Nicaragua and Panama routes have been pronounced entirely feasible.

Coming back to Professor Ladd's pessimistic views, we find the following: "Imagine a Congressional committee on the tariff, foreign relations, finance, etc., summoning for respectful consultation all those teachers whose researches have made their views best worth serious consideration, in the interests of the entire nation!" It does seem at first a thing possible only in the imagination. And yet, something very like this has happened.

A

The United States Industrial Commission has recently published the results of its great investigation of questions pertaining to immigration, to labor, to agriculture, and to business. Though not a Congressional committee, this body resembled one in organization and functions. It was by law commissioned to report to Congress on the above mentioned subjects and to suggest such legislation as it might deem best. The law of 1898, under which the Commission was instituted, provided that it should be composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the presiding officers of those bodies, and nine other persons appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Until his death, Senator Kyle was Chairman of the Commission. Senators and Representatives serving on the Commis. sion received only their salaries as Members of Congress. The other members of the Commission were paid $3,600 per annum. A study of the work of this body will show that, in the interest of the entire nation, it did summon "for respectful consultation" a large number of "those teachers whose researches" had "made their views best worth serious consideration." The active investigations of the Commission were carried on by a corps of experts from the colleges. Professor E. D. Durand, of Stanford University, the secretary of the Commission, shared with Mr. F. W. Phillips, its first vice-chairman, the chief work of direction. Admirable digests by Dr. Durand of the testimony received add much to the value of the report. He also prepared special reports on "General Statistics of Immigration and Foreign Born Population" and (with Mr. Charles E. Edgerton) on "Labor Organizations, Labor Disputes and Arbitration.”

At the outset, the Commission selected Professor J. W. Jenks, of Cornell University, to take charge of the investigation of trusts and industrial combinations. His services in planning the work and in selecting and cross examining of witnesses proved so valuable that he was retained during practically the whole term of the Commission. The results of his special work are found in the reports on "Trust and Corporation Laws" and "Industrial Combinations in Europe." Dr. Jenks has also prepared for the United States Department of Labor a report on "Trusts and Industrial Combinations" and is the author of a widely read popular work on "The Trust Problem."