Review of Reviews, 2013/06. 



Leading Articles, 



299 



AN AMERICAN ON THE GERMAN "PERIL." 



In the Engineering Magazine, Mr. Magee gives a 

 further contribution upqn the possible danger of 

 German competition ta America. This time he 

 deals chiefly with German educational methods, and 

 finds much to praise. 



THOROUGHNESS versus BRILLIANCY. 



He seeks to point out the difference in the 

 methods of the two countries. Germany's imposrng 

 advance is due principally to long training and hard 

 work, characteristics which came from a great past. 

 In business first comes the merchant and then the 

 engineer. The production of new articles of com- 

 merce depends more and more upon engineering 

 knowledge, and Germany is especially strong on the 

 engineermg side of business. American engineers 

 are bold, ingenious and practical, but great successes 

 with empirical methods still lead them into the 

 temptation of relying upon experience and being 

 merely practical. But the last decade has shown 

 that the persistence of scientific theoretical workers 

 can produce articles of commerce which can never 

 be evolved by the brightest workman. The Wels- 

 bach mantle is an instance of this. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION INDISPENSABLE. 



Scientific research has its financial rewards too. 

 One hundred and forty-three German chemical 

 companies — the total number in the Empire — with 

 a working capital of ;^33,ooo,ooo, returned an ave- 

 rage profit last year of 9.37 per cent. Educational 

 training is, from a purely commercial standpoint, 

 more essential than ever. America must depend 

 upon it even more than either England or Ger- 

 many, because of the ignorant coloured and immi- 

 grant population to be dealt with. So good are 

 the German University methods, that many of the 

 best men in the German industries to-day had no 

 technical school training at all, but came directly 

 from the University. There are ten technical Uni- 

 versities in the Empire, with over 17,000 students. 

 These are in close touch with, and a great help to. 

 the industries. Many cities are establishing techni- 

 cal middle-schools, and numerous private technical 

 institutes flourish everywhere. Germans are no 

 longer satisfied with a few hundreds of famous 

 scholars, a few thousand professional men — and then 

 a drop almost down to the " three R's." They are 

 wisely grading off their material. They try, too, 

 for 99 per cent, efficiency in all subjects. Even 

 housemaids, butlers and chimney sweeps may re- 

 ceive in special schools all the correct fundamental 

 preparation for their humble careers. 



DISCIPLINE. 



Mr. Magee thinks that the explanation of the 

 efficiency of the German system is due largely to 

 thoroughness of training in the rudiments and to 

 the great discipline enforced in the schools. In fact, 

 Germany depends upon the strength of the machine, 



America upon the initiative of the individual. How 

 far it would be well to imitate Germany in tighten- 

 ing the reins a little, and introducing into American 

 businesses some of its precision, is, however, a deli- 

 cate question. 



THE CHURCH AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 



The Edinburgh Review publishes an interesting 

 article on Religion under the French Revolution, 

 which brings out the fact that, despite terrible 

 provocation, the early revolutionaries were most 

 moderate and reasonable in dealing with the 

 Church. Here are two horrible iliustrations of the 

 kind of abomination against which the Revolution 

 was a protest : — 



At Bicetre, women were chained in dark subterranean 

 dungeons, whither rats came in hordes and gnawed their 

 feet. In tlie quiet of the night inhabitants of the district 

 were awaked from peaceful slumbers by a sound of wail- 

 ing which was audible for more than a mile. For years 

 thosie who heard it paid no more attention to it than men 

 do nowadays to the noise of a passing train. They alluded 

 to it as the " plainte de Thopital," though it was a device 

 by which hundreds of human beings, howling in unison, 

 hoped to draw attention to the piteousness of their con- 

 dition. 



Twenty-three years before the fall of the Bastille, a 

 crucifix hanging on the bridge at Abbeville was found one 

 morning mutilated. The Bishop of Amiens and his clergy 

 came down to inquire into the matter, and since no one 

 knew who was responsible for the outrage, two young men, 

 reported to hold advanced opinions and to sing ribald songs 

 — the Ciie\alier de la Barre and M. d'Etalonde — were chosen 

 to expiate the crime. The judges declared that they were 

 " v6hementement soupconnes d'avoir mutilc le crucifix," 

 and as ;junishment condemned them to lose their right 

 wrists, and to have their tongues torn out, their heads cut 

 off, and their bodies burnt. Into the pile were to be thrown 

 the " Dictionnaire philosophique " and other new works. 

 D'Etalonde fled, and on Voltaire's letter of introduction 

 took service with the King of Prussia. De la Barre, in- 

 flexibly brave and only eighteen, suffered the penalties 

 enumerated. 



Fenelon, Bossuet and the greatest French pre- 

 late were as relentless as any of the others. Yet, 

 savs the reviewer, 



though the early revolutionaries suffered blame from the 

 philosophers for their timidity, and from the clerics for 

 their boldness, no one praises them for the moderation 

 with which they approached questions of religious reform. 

 The abolition of tithes was a measure forced on them by 

 the people; out of the debate on this measure grew the 

 scheme for disendowment; and since the property of the 

 Church was to be administered by the State, out of dis- 

 endowment grew the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and 

 the subsidiary question of the suppression of the religions 

 orders. Disendowment, in the first instance, was not in- 

 tended to be the " criminal spoliation " which clerical 

 writers have called it; rather was it the only avenue of 

 administrative reform open to the Assembly. 



In the Quiver is an interview by Raymond Blath- 

 wayt with Mr. Erne.st Normand on " Religion in 

 Art," fully illustrated by reproductions of the artist's 

 works. Another paper deals with various institu- 

 tions for the reforming of truant and other more or 

 less incorrigible boys, in which Mr. Hugh Philpott 

 describes the Highbury Truant School, an indus- 

 trial school near Drurv' Lane, and the farm school 

 at Redhill. The papers on the Religions of Rulers 

 are continued. 



