In these circumstances it is not surprising that the University finds a difficulty in retaining many of its abler teachers. At the beginning of 1904 it was estimated that over two hundred professors and lecturers at other Universities (as distinct from University colleges) in the United Kingdom had been educated at Cambridge, and, though that is by no means a matter for regret, yet it is not too much to say that, in supplying this demand for teachers, the University has done a great national work for which she is poorly requited by her difficulty in retaining a sufficient staff for herself. Fortunately, when all other funds are exhausted, the fund of patriotism remains inexhaustible. It is not known how many fellows, possessed of some private means, and attached to the University through sheer love of their work, return their stipends to their colleges to be employed for the general good; such men are always anxious that their names should be concealed, but the present writers know of three in the restricted circle of their immediate personal friends. The special correspondent of the _Times_ writes, on the occasion of the royal visit in 1904:
‘I may be permitted to say, as the result of my personal inquiries, that the amount of work done either gratuitously or for very inadequate remuneration by professors, readers, lecturers, demonstrators, and other teachers in many departments of study and instruction, really constitutes a very substantial endowment, freely contributed by men who have no worldly goods to give, but who give lavishly of their time, their energy, their intellectual capacity, their acquired knowledge, and their disinterested devotion to the advancement of learning. If this asset were evaluated in pounds, shillings, and pence, the University balance-sheet would wear a very different aspect.’
On a consideration of the analysis just made, and of the additional facts that the Reserve Fund set aside by the University for building and equipment during the years of her development is now exhausted, and that her borrowing powers have been seriously reduced, it would appear that further progress is almost entirely dependent on an increase of endowment.
A few years ago certain of the University authorities, foreseeing the approach of a financial crisis, put away their pride, and, with the countenance of the chancellor, boldly begged for help. Their appeal resulted in the collection of about £100,000, which has been expended on the erection and equipment of various buildings devoted to science, such as the museum of geology and the botany school, the University itself contributing a large proportion of the expense incurred. In the list of contributors occur the names of no fewer than 500 Cambridge men, past and present, out of a total of 620 names. This number is a sufficient retort to the suggestion which has been made that Cambridge does not help herself. It must be remembered, too, that a sum of about £14,000 a year is contributed by members of the Senate to the funds of the University and of the colleges for the privilege of continued membership, and that these fees are often paid out of very slender incomes on grounds which are, as a rule, purely patriotic.