The Problem at M. A. C.

The Agricultural College is a State institution, and ought to be one, for agricultural education is one of the highest concerns of the State. But the question may well be raised whether the State does not go too far in assuming through the State Department of Education the chief responsibility for the administration of the institution, and by assuming, through the supervision of appropriations, that even the details of the college budget are to be regulated by the Legislature. The proper ground in this matter is the middle ground. The Agricultural College should have its own budget, and its president should be responsible for its administration. President Butterfield is to be commended for telling the alumni of the institution, in his report to the committee on college administration, that either the authority for running the college should be returned to the trustees and the president, or else the trusteeship and the presidency should be abolished. The president is practically helpless under the present system of administration, his situation being in some degree analogous to that of the master of a public high school whose functions are entirely usurped by a city government or board of selectmen. A school cannot be taught by a town meeting nor an agricultural college effectively run by a State government. --Boston Evening Transcript.