624. 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sort to violence or measures of intimi- 

 dation to carry their points. So long 

 as strikes are peaceable, they are legiti- 

 mate means of advancing the interests 

 of labor ; to what extent they are wise, 

 means, time, and experience, will de- 

 monstrate. Yet we do not believe that 

 it is by assuming and fostering enmities 

 and widening the gulf between these two 

 great classes, that the interests of the 

 more numerous party are to be perma- 

 nently subserved. It is not by meas- 

 ures of coercion or by the fiat of law 

 that there is to be brought about a 

 more equitable distribution of the prod- 

 ucts of capital and labor than now 

 exists. Only as the laboring-classes 

 become better informed in regard to 

 the conditions of the question they 

 have undertaken to settle the princi- 

 ples it involves and the laws which 

 govern a healthy social advancement 

 will they be enabled to cope with cap- 

 italists and secure a fairer division of 

 the profits of industry. They must, 

 first of all, accept the spirit of civiliza- 

 tion, which is pacific, constructive, con- 

 trolled by reason, and slowly amelio- 

 rating and progressive. Coercive and 

 violent measures, which aim at great 

 and sudden advantages, are sure to 

 prove illusory. 



The industrial classes must learn to 

 organize more perfectly, to rely upon 

 moral considerations, to demand only 

 justice, and to wait patiently until 

 by these means their ends can be 

 accomplished. For these ends the re- 

 sources of education must be invoked. 

 There is a stir throughout all civiliza- 

 tion for increased technical education, 

 by which labor shall be made more in- 

 telligent and efficient. This is certain- 

 ly important, but it is not enough. 

 The elements of political economy and 

 of social science ought to be introduced 

 into general education, and until this 

 is effectually done we cannot hope to 

 be exempt from the consequences of 

 the present ignorance upon these sub- 

 jects. 



THE PLACE OF SCIENCE IN TEE 

 EIGHEB EDUCATION. 



Wo return to this subject because 

 of its extreme importance, and because 

 it is an essential part of our legitimate 

 work. It is not only inevitable that a 

 periodical devoted to the popular in- 

 terests of science must treat the ques- 

 tion of its place in education and the 

 causes which hinder its admission to 

 that place, but this duty is made the 

 more imperative by the fact that the 

 newspaper press is predominantly in 

 the interest of existing usages, and gives 

 wide dissemination to crude and erro- 

 neous views upon the question. 



The Christian Union takes ground 

 upon this subject which we cannot 

 think well considered, and which is 

 certainly out of harmony with its char- 

 acter as an able expositor of the prin- 

 ciples of sound reform. It says : 



By a singular confusion of ideas, the 

 popular demand for "practical " educa- 

 tion in colleges often specifies scientific 

 studies as having peculiarly that char- 

 acter. In reality, while the natural sci- 

 ences supply to certain classes of work- 

 ers their main intellectual capital, to 

 professional and business men they have 

 no more of a " practical " value than 

 Latin and Greek. We do not impugn 

 their usefulness as part of a general ed- 

 ucation, but it does not lie in this direc- 

 tion. On the other hand, there is a class 

 of studies of the highest practical utility 

 to every American citizen, which have 

 been greatly neglected in our higher 

 education those, namely, which relate 

 to political and social science. We no- 

 tice with great satisfaction the steps 

 just taken in this direction at Yale. 

 That university has appointed to lec- 

 tureships on these branches Mr. E. L. 

 Godkin of the Nation, and Mr. David 

 A. Wells both of them eminent exam- 

 ples of the application of thorough in- 

 tellectual training to practical politics. 

 A new professorship of political and 

 social science has been filled by the ap- 

 pointment of the Eev. W. G. Sumner, 

 one of the ablest among the younger 

 graduates of the college. We trust 

 that these gentlemen will have a space 

 in the curriculum assigned to their de- 



