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Vis-a-Vis
The Plight
of ttProsperity "
  My good friend and Academy
colleague L.G. Sorden made one
of his welcomed v i s i t s to the
WASAL office recently. Hot choc-
olate in hand, and comfortably
ensconced in the easy chair which
he had contributed to the furnish-
ing of the building, L.G. leaned
forward and, in a conspiratorial
manner, inquired, "I have that
little blue booklet you mailed to
members (On Behalf of the Acad-
emy), and I was just wondering,
does the Academy really need
more money?"
  I rather believe that, with that
question, L.G. spoke for many.
Does the Academy really need
more money? If so, why? Aren't
you the people to whom Dr. Harry
Steenbock bequeathed a substan-
tial endowment?
  In the hackneyed words of a
former forensics teacher of mine,
the time has come to "talk cold
turkey." Yes, emphatically yes,
the Academy does need additional
income.
  And yes, upon Dr. Steenbock's
death in 1967 it became evident
that he had remembered the Wis-
consin Academy in an exception-
ally generous fashion. All told,
the bequest came to something on
the order of one million dollars.
With that single act, Harry Steen-
By James R. Batt, Executive Dir
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,
bock did more than any other
individual or agency to assure the
Academy of a financial foundation
on which to build.
   Interest and dividends from the
Steenbock Endowment account for
just over one-third of the revenue
required for Academy operations.
Dues income, individual gifts, oc-
casional federal and foundation
grants for special programs, pub-
lication sales, and conference fees
all add up to a little more than
another one-third of the income
needed.
  And the balance? Until the stock
market took ill, the Academy could
count on a certain amount of capi-
tal gains for operating purposes-
and could still return a good por-
tion for reinvestment. That has
changed. Stock m ark e t values
have declined materially; the
Academy has no capital gains to
fall back on and is hard pressed
to protect an endowment principal
already diminished significantly
by the economic conditions of the
day.
  To steadily eat into the corpus
of the endowment is to imperil our
future, particularly at a period
when the market value of our
securities is well below book value.
What then are the alternatives?
For one thing, you tighten the
belt-an exercise many of us have
had to practice on a personal
basis. The Academy Council met
twice this past autumn before
finally approving a budget below
the amount allocated in the pre-
Arts and Letters
vious year. Coming, as it does,
in the face of inflation, this was
no small accomplishment.
   But that won't be enough. We
are going to need a considerable
amount of income on an annual
basis, unless the market takes a
dramatic upturn. And even if that
were to happen, we have reached
the point where we must secure
funds from other sources if we are
to continue to progress.
   For one thing, we must become
more conscious of the economies
of scale and how this concept
relates to membership growth. We
can, for example, serve a member-
ship twice as big as that we now
have, and we can do it at a cost
of far less than twice our current
operating budget. There are hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands, of
persons in Wisconsin who are
potential members. It may also
be necessary to increase dues so
that they contribute a fairer share
to Academy costs. The Academy
might also seek to explore the
possibility of direct support from
the state, an action for which there
is historical precedence.
  Still, there is no escaping the
fact that we must turn to members
and friends for assistance. In so
doing, we must confront our plight
of "prosperity." The image, you
see, is not the reality. We do not
have one million dollars to spend.
The Academy really does need
your help. And it needs it now.
  L.G., I'm glad you asked that
question.
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