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work done。（1*）
Intimately bound up with this bureaucratic officialism and
accountancy； and working consistently to a similar outcome； is
the predilection for 〃practical efficiency〃 that is to say； for
pecuniary success prevalent in the American community。（2*）
This predilection is a matter of settled habit； due； no doubt； to
the fact that preoccupation with business interests characterizes
this community in an exceptional degree； and that pecuniary
habits of thought consequently rule popular thinking in a
peculiarly uncritical and prescriptive fashion。 This pecuniary
animus falls in with and reinforces the movement for academic
accountancy； and combines with it to further a so…called
〃practical〃 bias in all the work of the schools。
It appears； then； that the intrusion of business principles
in the universities goes to weaken and retard the pursuit of
learning； and therefore to defeat the ends for which a university
is maintained。 This result follows； primarily； from the
substitution of impersonal； mechanical relations； standards and
tests； in the place of personal conference； guidance and
association between teachers and students； as also from the
imposition of a mechanically standardized routine upon the
members of the staff； whereby any disinterested preoccupation
with scholarly or scientific inquiry is thrown into the
background and falls into abeyance。 Few if any who are competent
to speak in these premises will question that such has been the
outcome。 To offset against this work of mutilation and
retardation there are certain gains in expedition； and in the
volume of traffic that can be carried by any given equipment and
corps of employees。 Particularly will there be a gain in the
statistical showing； both as regards the volume of instruction
offered； and probably also as regards the enrolment； since
accountancy creates statistics and its absence does not。
Such increased enrolment as may be due to businesslike
management and methods is an increase of undergraduate enrolment。
The net effect as regards the graduate enrolment apart from
any vocational instruction that may euphemistically be scheduled
as 〃graduate〃 is in all probability rather a decrease than an
increase。 Through indoctrination with utilitarian （pecuniary）
ideals of earning and spending； as well as by engendering
spendthrift and sportsmanlike habits； such a businesslike
management diverts the undergraduate students from going in for
the disinterested pursuit of knowledge； and so from entering on
what is properly university work； as witness the relatively
slight proportion of graduate students outside of the
professional schools who come up from the excessively large
undergraduate departments of the more expansive universities； as
contrasted with the number of those who come into university work
from the smaller and less businesslike colleges。
The ulterior consequences that follow from such businesslike
standardization and bureaucratic efficiency are evident in the
current state of the public schools； especially as seen in the
larger towns； where the principles of business management have
had time and scope to work out in a fair degree of consistency。
The resulting abomination of desolation is sufficiently
notorious。 And there appears to be no reason why a similarly
stale routine of futility should not overtake the universities；
and give similarly foolish results； as fast as the system of
standardization； accountancy and piece…work goes consistently
into effect； except only for the continued enforced employment
of a modicum of impracticable scholars and scientists on the
academic staff； whose unbusinesslike scholarly proclivities and
inability to keep the miner's…inch of scholastic credit always in
mind； must in some measure always defeat the perfect working of
standardization and accountancy。
As might be expected； this r間ime of graduated sterility has
already made fair headway in the undergraduate work； especially
in the larger undergraduate schools； and this in spite of any
efforts On the part of the administration to hedge against such
an outcome by recourse to an intricate system of electives and a
wide diversification of the standard units of erudition so
offered。
In the graduate work the like effect is only less visible；
because the measures leading to it have come into bearing more
recently； and hitherto less unreservedly。 But the like results
should follow here also； just so fast and so far as the same
range of business principles come to be worked into the texture
of the university organization in the same efficacious manner as
they have already taken effect in the public schools。 And； pushed
on as it is by the progressive substitution of men imbued with
the tastes and habits of practical affairs； in the place of
unpractical scholarly ideals； the movement toward a perfunctory
routine of mediocrity should logically be expected to go forward
at a progressively accelerated rate。 The visible drift of things
in this respect in the academic pursuit of the social sciences；
so…called； is an argument as to what may be hoped for in the
domain of academic science at large。 It is only that the
executive is actuated by a sharper solicitude to keep the
academic establishment blameless of anything like innovation or
iconoclasm at this point； which reinforces the drift toward a
mechanistic routine and a curtailment of inquiry in this field；
it is not that these sciences that deal with the phenomena of
human life lend themselves more readily to mechanical description
and enumeration than the material sciences do； nor is their
subject matter intrinsically more inert or less provocative of
questions。
II
Throughout the above summary review； as also through the
foregoing inquiry； the argument continually returns to or turns
about two main interests； notoriety and the academic
executive。 These two might be called the two foci about which
swings the orbit of the university world。 These conjugate foci
lie on a reasonably short axis； indeed； they tend to coincide； so
that the orbit comes near the perfection of a circle； having
virtually but a single centre； which may perhaps indifferently be
spoken of as the university's president or as its renown；
according as one may incline to conceive these matters in terms
of tangible fact or of intangible。
The system of standardization and accountancy has this renown
or prestige as its chief ulterior purpose；