POLITICIANS AND PEDAGOGUES

The bill of Massachusetts State Senator Nicholson of Wareham to regulate the employment of state officials shows the antagouism now existing in governmental circles between politicians and political professors. Mr. Nicholson's proposal, if passed, will compel all officials receiving more than $3000 a year to devote their entire time to the state business. In the hearings of the legislative committee, Senator Nicholson has reference specifically to Professor Francis B. Sayre, of the Harvard Law School. Professor Sayre has recently been appointed state commissioner of correction. He has continued his university work and therefore falls into the category of men who Senator Nicholson claims do not earn the high salaries which the State pays them.

In his arguments for the bill, Senator Nicholson has pointed out that this measure would tend to distribute state employment more widely. In this he is of course artfully neglecting to remember that there are many administrative positions in government which are best managed by men who are students and whose abilities for officacious service to the community consequently surpass by far those of short-haul politicians. It is unfortunate that the political life of an informed and able man is entirely in the hands of politicians who concentrate only on their present term of office with especial reference to its effect on the possibilities of reelection. Under the conditions which Senator Nicholson advocates, it is hard for one to visualize any definite upturn in the calibre of governmental officialdom.

The need for the injection of at least a modicum of academic blood into the political system has been generally recognized, and seems to be, for the nonce, on the way to attention from those who hold the power of appointment. Such a measure as Senator Nicholson's represents a tawdry appeal to mass prejudice and will probably be defeated; if it is not, the movement toward an enlightened bureaucracy in Massachusetts will be set back many years.