Education: Money for Truth

Last month General Motors’ Alfred P. Sloan Jr. established the $10,000,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to promote “a wider knowledge of basic economic truths generally accepted as such by authorities of recognized standing.” This week the foundation surprised cynics, who feared the money might be used as a propaganda fund for big business, by turning over the income on $1,000,000—between $35,000 and $40,000—to the University of Chicago. Not sure yet how it would use the gift, the university emphasized it had been given complete freedom to decide what truths to broadcast and how.