THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT.

The annual reports of the President and the Treasurer of the University have just been issued. The volume contains, as usual, the report of President Eliot to the Board of Overseers, the statements of the deans of the departments to the president, reports of the chemical, physical and psychological laboratories, of the observatory, of the Dean of Radcliffe and the curators of the five museums, and the Treasurer's yearly statement.

The report of the President shows that the percentage of students who enter Harvard from public schools is steadily increasing. "Considering that the number of persons who entered the four classes of Harvard College in 1900 is three times as large as it was in 1871, the persistence of the percentage from public schools is highly satisfactory. The largest proportional increase occurs in the number of persons admitted from other colleges and other Harvard departments; but the tendency of persons coming from other colleges to enter the Graduate School direct is reducing the number of persons of this class who are admitted to Harvard College."

"The average age has diminished slightly of late years; but chiefly because there has been a decrease in the number of abnormally old persons admitted. Of late years the number of persons entering at 17 to 18, at 18 to 19, and at 19 to 20 has been almost stationary; but the proportion of persons entering at 20 to 21, 21 to 22, and 22 to 23 has distinctly declined. What is desirable, is, that the proportion of person entering between 17 and 19 should largely increase. Three-eighths of the Freshmen admitted in 1900 were 19 years of age, or more. There is no good reason why nine-tenths of all the boys who mean to go to Harvard College should not be fully prepared for admission at eighteen years of age."

"The students of to-day exhibit a strong tendency to elect instruction in history and government, economics, philosophy including sociology, and education; and this tendency correspond with the views of their elders concerning the importance of these subjects. It is not the University which suggests these subjects to the students, it is the needs and aspirations of modern society which suggest them. Much the same may be said concerning the subjects of landscape architecture, and of mining and metallurgy. Modern society needs men highly trained in these subjects, and is prepared to re ward adequately men who excel in them. It is to be observed, however, that this increase in the body of instruction offered would probably not have been made, if the Corporation had realized in the spring of 1900 the financial condition of the departments administered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They did not then know that a large deficit was to occur for a second time in those departments."

Of special significance are the remarks of the Dean on 'soft' courses and 'snap-hunting'; for these words express the commone objections to the elective system. The statistical tables relate to the following points in the working of an elective system: what percentage of each class choose little or nothing but elementary work throughout their College course; what percentage drop the Classics immediately on entering College, or at the beginning of the Sophomore year; what percentage drop mathematics immediately on entering College; what percentage begin to specialize not later than the Sophomore year--that is, take at least half their work in one department; what percentage begin to specialize in the Junior year, but specialize moderately; what percentage do considerable amounts of rationally connected work without specializing in any strict sense of the work. The Dean adds a table to show what percentage of the students who graduated with distinction each category contains, and this table will be found to be one of the most interesting of the series. It proves conclusively that many of the strongest students of the College abandon the Classics and mathematics for studies which seem to them more likely to be serviceable in the actual activities of modern society. These tables, as the Dean points out, do not furnish material for an exhaustive study of the elective system in Harvard College; but they support the belief that as a body the students use the system with reasonable intelligence. They confirm the results of previous inquiries in several important respects;--thus, they prove that under a wide elective system there will be no extreme specialization, and there will be fair amount of judicious choice of correlated subjects. The general conclusion is that a boy of eighteen who has had a good training up to that age will ordinarily use the elective system wisely, and that the boy who has had an imperfect or poor training up to eighteen years is more likely to accomplish something worth while under an elective system than under any other."

"The serious questions about the Law School arise from its prosperity and success. It has more than four times the number of students it had fifteen years ago; and its Library is growing, and threatens to continue to grow, at the rate of more than 6,000 volumes a year. An immediate enlargement of the building is imperatively demanded; and in planning that enlargement it seems to be necessary to took forward to a Law Library of more than 100,000 volumes within ten years. Financially, the School is able to provide both the building and the books; but it would be really for midable to imagine the future size and costliness of this department of the University, if it were reasonable to suppose that its recent rate of increase would be maintained."

"The American colleges seem to be gradually learning how to conduct amateur sports in a reputable manner. Harvard University has had its full share of difficulties during the past thirty years; but it has at last found its way to a satisfactory constitution for a committee to regulate athletic sports. This committee has been imitated in other institutions; and its work has gradually found acceptance among both the undergraduates and the graduates of Harvard University, and among the students and graduates of other institutions. Thus the rules governing eligibility which were worked out by the Harvard committee have proved acceptable in other institutions. The Conference on intercollegiate athletics which opened two and a half years ago at Providence, published a report in the early summer of 1900 in which rules were formulated and recommended for adoption by all universities and colleges. These rules are substantially the same as the Harvard rules."

"Track athletics and rowing are far the best of the highly competitive sports; but popular interest is greatest in football and baseball. The amount of rowing has steadily increased of late years, since the students began to take a lively interest in the Weld and the Newell Clubs. The University is greatly indebted to Mr. George W. Weld for his successful establishment in Cambridge of the club system."

The president also notices the following interesting facts:

"The neglect of the subject of physics by the students of the College and of the Graduate School still continues, and is one of the most curious phenomena in the University of to-day."

"The Graduate School is now as large as Harvard College was forty-five years ago, when the present President of the University was first a member of the College Faculty."

"The Dean of the Scientific School calls attention to the fact that candidates by their own choice or that of their teachers at school, are presenting Latin and Greek for admission rather than subjects in natural science. This is an inevitable tendency; for many schools find it easier to provide instruction in the languages than in the sciences."

The report of the Librarian shows the pressing and imperative need of a new library building on account of the present lack of room. The chemical laboratories in Boylston Hall are also so full that further growth is impossible.

The Treasurer's report shows that the "University, College, Lawrence Scientific School and Library accounts, taken together, show a deficit of $36,669,31. The total amount of gifts for capital account is $359,806.31: for immediate use the gifts amount to $475,295,32. The figures for all departments show receipts amounting to $2,071,306,66, and $1,584,123.24 expenses."