Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/89

Rh officer with a fixed salary, of which he neither fears the diminution nor expects the increase, without any apprehension, so long as he exhibits no gross negligence or misconduct, of losing his situation, and equally without the hope of higher advancement, will, if an honest man, perform punctually his prescribed routine of duties; but he will seldom be willing to sacrifice allowable gratifications, to devote to labour his hours of permitted leisure, to task, in fine, all his faculties to the utmost, with no other reward in view than the welfare of those by whom he may be employed, or of the institution to which he may be attached. In great seminaries, where so much depends upon the talents and energy of the teachers, the lukewarmness resulting from this want of strong personal interest, may be seriously felt in the languor of their operations, and the consequent disrepute into which, if not strongly supported by local attachments, or the force of opinion, they will be apt to fall. With regard to the school of Philadelphia, it may, indeed, be said, that the regulation alluded to, had been introduced at its origin, and had been maintained during its greatest prosperity. But at that early period, there was comparatively little competition to encounter; novelty itself afforded no moderate stimulus to exertion; and in the instability and immaturity of the infant establishment, there was, in fact, a strong inducement held out to the professors to spare no efforts which might tend to fix it on a more elevated and firmer basis, and thus render their own situation more honourable and secure. That afterwards, when age had given it stability, and its continued existence was secured by its own internal strength, the system of compensation by fixed salaries became highly injurious to its interests, cannot be reasonably doubted. The fact, indeed, was so obvious, that it at length attracted the notice and interference of the trustees, who in the spring of 1800, came to a resolution, that the professors, in addition to