THE UNIVERSITY IN POLITICS 163 



nient. Many things are still in the experimental stage. It should be 

 stated, however, that most of the alleged experts who muddle the public 

 mind are partly or wholly pseudoscientific. A very small amount of 

 inquiry among the citizens of the real republic of science would demon- 

 strate this to any one. 



Thus, I think the members of any university faculty should be " in 

 politics " to the extent of being ready and anxious to help wherever they 

 can, to come forward and fight for what they believe to be true and wise. 

 They should also, it is almost superfluous to say, stand always for the 

 moral and decent thing. On the other hand, speaking for myself, I do 

 not see how any man with scientific training can be a strictly " regular " 

 member of any political party. In some particular controversy, he may 

 be wholly on one side, but in the long run, orthodox party service 

 deprives him of that freedom of judgment and action which he deems 

 so essential. Fortunately, everything indicates the breaking up of the 

 old rigid lines; not, I believe, so much to form new ones along fresh 

 directions of cleavage, as to allow greater freedom for the products of 

 honest thought. Thus the initiative and referendum, by compelling 

 people to form judgments on particular questions, will prove well worth 

 the expense and sometimes inconvenience they may occasion. 



What about the student body in politics? Its members are young 

 and relatively inexperienced, but they are, we hope, to be the politicians 

 of the future. They ought, at any rate, to be in training for public 

 service. Probably the greatest criticism that future generations will 

 make on our present educational system is this, that thought and deed 

 are too far apart ; so far, often, that the deed never follows. Every one 

 deplores the lack of earnest purpose shown by so many university stu- 

 dents, and many attribute it to an absolute deficiency in the individuals 

 concerned. Much of it, I fancy, is due to nothing more than lack of 

 opportunity to do things ; an opinion confirmed in part by the extraor- 

 dinary activity shown from time to time in foolish undertakings, and 

 in part by the excellent record in life of many men who were never 

 considered very able in college. It is in many ways a difficult situation, 

 yet I confess I should be willing to see our students more active in 

 public affairs, more like those men of the universities who have always 

 taken prominent parts in political crises in Germany. To some extent 

 the faults of immaturity are offset by the fresh and generous attitude of 

 one who goes to battle unwounded and unafraid. I remember how a 

 ■certain writer once rejoiced that he had, when a young man, written a 

 book. It was bold to the point of error, he would not, could not, write 

 so' now — but, after all, it had a precious quality he could never again 

 approach. 



The internal activities of the university afford scope for a good deal 

 of political talent, but unfortunately their purposes are often petty, and 



