POTTINGER ADVOCATES MORE MONEY TO PRINT SCHOLASTIC RESEARCH

"The crying need in academical circles today," stated D. T. Pottinger '06, one of the managers of the University Press, yesterday "is not so much the need of money for research purposes, as much as it is a need for funds to publish the discoveries of trained scholars which are being made all the time. In all fields of research, whether in applied sciences or in the arts, this particular side of the problem is not realized except by those who are directly connected with it. There exists a no more tragic spectacle, to my mind, than that of the striving student who is working in his field of interest, and is ever aware of the fact that at any time someone, somewhere, may finish the same piece of work he is doing, and publish it just before he does. More unfortunate, it seems, is the greater possibility that the scholar may not be able to get his work before the world, because of lack of publishing means. Of course it is generally said that the scholar should have sufficient interest in his work not to care about seeing it in print, but, especially in these times, the scholar is not independent of the circumstances which are affecting the rest of the world.

Decline in Printing

"The University Press is doing considerably less work this year than they have for the last few years," continued Pottinger. "Usually, at least 80 books are published annually; this year it has fallen behind in the number of books so far off the press. In the last three weeks, which have, in other years, been prolific ones, we have had little to do.

"The so-called 'merchant publishers' cannot afford to publish manuscripts which they have reason to believe will not sell in quantities, and such organizations as the 'American Council of Learned Societies' are obviously unable to finance any material number of articles. This leaves the brunt of responsibility for this important work on the universities. And here, as everywhere else, conditions are not ideal. It is difficult to get university presses successfully started. More consideration should be given to them, as they are at present poorly endowed.

"Popular books on academic subjects, written specifically for the layman, are about as well worth while as are any books. However, such books as these have little place in the rightful consideration of the press of a large university. It is remarkable and praiseworthy that Will Durant has been able to interest and instruct so many tens of thousands in his "Story of Philosophy." No one will deny that he has done something worth while on a great scale. But what he, and many other writers to be placed in his general category, has done is something quite outside the field with which the University Press is concerned. Our subjects are specifically narrowed down to a field of intellectual and academical interest which does not often appeal to the general reader."