TEE UNIVERSITY IN POLITICS 161 



equally valid : the purpose of the university is to cultivate judgment. 

 The untrained individual will carelessly neglect, wantonly throw away, 

 the most precious things because he is deficient in this quality. With- 

 out judgment it is impossible to conserve and add to useful truth, from 

 sheer inability to distinguish what is useful. What is the criterion of 

 utility ? Simply the common sense one, a useful truth is one which will 

 serve some purpose, one which has pragmatic ability. We may go 

 deeper than that, however. What purpose can truth serve? Obviously 

 to join with other truth in a system of ideas. There is, as it were, a 

 sociology of thought, a cooperative commonwealth of the mind, not un- 

 like that exhibited by human society, and strictly parallel with it in 

 development. Now in society, where all may share in the fruits of the 

 intellect of the few, numbers and variety are necessary ; so is it also with 

 the mind, and thus judgment is not an esoteric ability conferred at 

 random on pensive souls, but is dependent for its very livelihood on 

 sufficient and diverse knowledge. 



According to the description we have given of university functions, 

 it must be apparent that the relation between foci of learning and 

 public affairs is fundamental. Knowledge and judgment are the very 

 qualities which necessarily determine the success of a politician in any 

 broad and lasting sense. A successful public man is one who efficiently 

 serves public ends ; no other definition is possible, although, according to 

 it, some current motions of success may be reversed. Many there are who 

 unquestionably are successful, and likewise are public men; so there 

 are great fools who are also men, but we do not call them great men. I 

 think we may say without contradiction that the things the university 

 stands for are precisely those most valuable in genuine politics, as 

 distinguished from the mere struggle between predatory interests. 



Here it will occur to many that academic bodies are somewhat arro- 

 gant, in the face of the fact that so much good knowledge and admirable 

 judgment has resided and does reside in persons who have never been 

 subjected to college influences. Such criticism is justly directed against 

 claims occasionally made, but broadly speaking it has no foundation. 

 The university is an intellectual focus, just as the church is a religious 

 one, and from each the light spreads in all directions. It is not possible 

 to say just where either begins or ceases. Legally, it is true, the univer- 

 sity is a definite corporation, with particular precisely indicated mem- 

 bers. Spiritually, intellectualh', it is nothing more than the nucleus of 

 an intellectual nebula; which nebula, in fact, is world wide, with as 

 many nuclei as there are centers of learning, whether represented by 

 buildings and charters or not. Thus to be a citizen of the university is 

 ipso facto to be a citizen of the world, and the custom prevalent in some 

 European countries of addressing all co-workers in one's subject as 

 " dear colleague " is abundantly justified. So the university need not 



