第51章 CHAPTER III(2)

Of course， the standards， ideals， principles and procedure of business traffic enter into the scheme of university policy in other relations also， as has already appeared and as will be shown more at large presently； but after all due qualification is had， it remains true that this business of publicity necessarily， or at least commonly， accounts for a disproportionately large share of the business to be taken care of in conducting a university， as contrasted with such an enterprise， e.g.， as a bank， a steel works， or a railway company， on a capital of about the same volume. This follows from the nature of the case. The common run of business concerns are occupied with industrial enterprise of some kind， and with transactions in credit， -- with a running sequence of bargains from which the gains of the concern are to accrue， -- and it is upon these gains that attention and effort centers， and to which the management of the concern constantly looks. Such concerns have to meet their competitors in buying， selling， and effecting contracts of all kinds， from which their gains are to come. A university， on the other hand， can look to no such gains in the work which is its sole ostensible interest and occupation； and the pecuniary transactions and arrangements which it enters into on the basis of its accumulated prestige are a relatively very trivial matter.

There is， in short， no appreciable pecuniary gain to be looked for from any traffic resting on the acquired prestige， and therefore there is no relation of equivalence or discrepancy between any outlay incurred in this behalf and the volume of gainful business to be transacted on the strength of it； with the result that the academic directorate applies itself to this pursuit without arri鑢e pens閑. So far as the acquired prestige is designed to serve a pecuniary end it can only be useful in the way of impressing potential donors， a highly speculative line of enterprise， offering a suggestive parallel to the drawings of a lottery.

Outlay for the purpose of publicity is not confined to the employment of field-agents and the circulation of creditable gossip and reassuring printed matter. The greater share of it comes in as incidental to the installation of plant and equipment and the routine of academic life and ceremony. As regards the material equipment， the demands of a creditable appearance are pervading and rigorous； and their consequences in the way of elaborate and premeditated incidentals are， perhaps， here seen at their best. To the laity a "university" has come to mean， in the first place and indispensably， an aggregation of buildings and other improved real-estate. This material equipment strikes the lay attention directly and convincingly； while the pursuit of learning is a relatively obscure matter， the motions of which can not well be followed by the unlettered， even with the help of the newspapers and the circular literature that issues from the university's publicity bureau. The academic work is， after all， unseen， and it stays in the background. Current expenditure for the prosecution of this work， therefore， offers the enterprise in advertisement a less advantageous field for the convincing use of funds than the material equipment， especially the larger items， -- laboratory and library buildings， assembly halls， curious museum exhibits， grounds for athletic contests， and the like.

There is consequently a steady drift of provocation towards expenditure on conspicuous extensions of the "plant，" and a correlative constant temptation to parsimony in the more obscure matter of necessary supplies and service， and similar running-expenses without which the plant can not effectually be turned to account for its ostensible use； with the result， not infrequently， that the usefulness of an imposing plant is seriously impaired for want of what may be called "working capital."(1*)Indeed， instances might be cited where funds that were much needed to help out in meeting running expenses have been turned to use for conspicuous extensions of the plant in the way of buildings， in excess not only of what was needed for their alleged purpose but in excess of what could conveniently be made use of. More particularly is there a marked proclivity to extend the plant and the school organization into new fields of scholastic enterprise， often irrelevant or quite foreign to the province of the university as a seminary of learning； and to push these alien ramifications， to the neglect of the urgent needs of the academic work already in hand， in the way of equipment， maintenance， supplies， service and instruction.