3 ZO.7. Vs / 5Q 6 Education in Political Science. AN ADDRESS By Hon. ANDREW D. WHITE, LL. D., President of Cornell University, Delivered in the Academy of. Music, Baltimore, on the Third Anniversary of THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, .February 22, 1879. Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library L161— 0-1096 Education in Political Science. AN ADDRESS By Hon. ANDREW D. WHITE, LL. D., President of Cornell University, Delivered in the Academy of Music, Baltimore, on the Third Anniversary of THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, February 22, 7879. BALTIMORE: Printed by John Murphy & Co. Publishers, Booksellers, Printers and Stationers, 182 Baltimore Street. 1 8 7 9 . Liuc as noticed by unprejudiced foreigners, is the great number of men of ability in every direction, and the power with which they are able to present their ideas to their fellow-citizens. But how is this power exercised? With few exceptions the presentation of political and social questions at public meetings is even less satisfactory than in our representative bodies. The speakers gen- erally have ability, but rarely have they studied the main questions involved. What they know has been mainly gathered here and there, at haphazard, — from this magazine and that news- paper. The result is natural : instead of real argument, too often invective ; instead of illus- tration, buffoonery ; instead of any adequate examination of the history involved, personal defamation ; instead of investigation of social questions, appeals to prejudice. It may be said that the cause of this lies in the natural tendency of democracy from the days of Cleon before the Athenian Assembly, to the gyrations of sundry politicians before certain American assemblies. This theory is easy and convenient, but any one much accustomed to pub- lic meetings in our country can see many reasons 15 for disbelieving it. An American assembly enjoys wit and humor keenly, but there is one thing that it enjoys more, and that is, the vigorous, thorough discussion of pressing political or social questions. The history of the past few years gives striking examples of this ; I have, myself, within the past year, seen two statesmen of very different views, but powerful and thoughtful, go before large public meetings, lamenting the fact that the questions discussed were questions of finance, — the very dryest in political science ; and yet those large audiences were held firmly from first to last by their interest in vigorous argu- ment. I am convinced that the difficulty is not in the want of popular appreciation of close argument, but rather the frequent want among political leaders of adequate training for discussion. The question now arises, what this training in political and social science should be. I answer first, that there should be close study of the Political and Social History of those nations which have had the most important experience, — and especially of our own country. Thus alone can the experience of the past be brought to bear upon the needs of the present; thus alone can we know the real defeats and triumphs of the past, so that we may avoid such defeats and secure such triumphs in the future. 16 In the next place, I would urge the teaching of Political Economy, in its largest sense; — not the mere dogmas of this or that school, hut rather the comparative study of the general principles of the science as laid down by leading thinkers of various schools; and to this end I would urge the historical study of the science, — in its develop- ment, — in its progressive adaptation to the circum- stances of various nations. Under this would come questions relating to national and State policy, industrial, commercial, financial, educa- tional, — to the relations of capital to labor, and producers to distributers, — to taxation and a mul- titude of similar subjects. Next, I would name the study of what is generally classed as Social Science, including what pertains to the causes, prevention, alleviation, and cure of pauperism, insanity and crime. Nor would I neglect the study of the most noted theories and plans for the amelioration of society — the argu- ments in their support, the causes of their failure — and I would also have careful investigation into the relations of various bodies and classes which now apparently threaten each other. I would, for example, have the student examine the reasons why the communistic solution of the labor ques- tion has failed, and why the cooperative solution has succeeded. 17 As another subject of great importance, I would name the general principles of Jurisprudence, and especially those principles which are more and more making their way in modern civilized nations. The advantage of this is evident. Apart from the practical uses of such a study, who does not feel in our general legislation too much of the attorney and too little of the Jurist? And in the study of general jurisprudence I would urge the comparative and historical method; no country in the world affords so fine a field for such a method as our own. In all our States political experiments are making ; in all our legislatures active-minded men are applying their solutions to the problems presented ; and study of the comparative legislation of our own States, if supplemented by the study of the general legis- lation of other countries, could not fail to be of vast use in the improvement of society. I would also have instruction given in the general principles of International Law. In the development of this science lies much of happiness for the future of the world. But there is an important practical interest. While the injunc- tion of the Father of his Country to avoid entangling alliances has sunk deep into the American mind, there can be no doubt that before this nation shall have attained a hundred millions of inhabitants our diplomatic relations 3 18 with many other countries will require much more serious thought than now. It is not too soon to have this in view. Happily on all these subjects, and especially within the present century, a vast mass of pre- cious experience and thought have been devel- oped ; many of the strongest men of the century have given their efforts to this. When Buckle says that Adam Smith, in his book, rendered to the wmrld the greatest services that any one man has ever thus rendered, whether we agree with him or not as to the claim of his hero, we can hardly disagree as to the importance of the subject. There is something inspiring in this succession of great thinkers in these departments, who have as their object the amelioration of society. Even to take the most recent of them, a line beginning with Adam Smith, and continu- ing in our day with such as Sismondi, Say, Stuart Mill, Roscher, Carey, Lieber and Woolsey, can hardly fail to afford worthy fields for study and thought. In the thinking of such men, in the practice of the world as influenced by them, there is much to be learned, and if our country is to move forward with any steadiness, or indeed, if it is to lead in any particular direction, its statesmen must be more and more grounded in this thinking and this practice. 19 The question now arises as to the possibility of establishing a better provision in our advanced instruction. I fully believe that circumstances are most propitious, and for the following reasons : First, the tendencies of large numbers of active- minded young men favor it. No observing pro- fessor in any college has failed to note the love of young Americans for the study and discussion of political questions. It constantly happens that students who will shirk ordinary scholastic duties will labor hard to prepare themselves for such a discussion. So strong is this tendency that col- lege authorities have often taken measures to check it. These measures have, to a certain ex- tent, succeeded, yet I cannot but think that it is far better to direct such discussions than to check them. They seem to be a healthy outgrowth of our political life. I had rather send forth one well-trained young man, sturdy in the town-meet- ing, — patriotic in the caucus, — earnest in the Legislature, than a hundred of the gorgeous and gifted young cynics who lounge about clubs, talk about “Art ” and “ Culture,” and wonder why the country persists in going to the bad. The second thing which augurs well for the proposed reform is the adaptability to it of our present university methods. Not many years since it would have been almost impossible to make any adequate provision for these studies. 20 Even in our foremost universities the old colle- giate system was dominant ; each college had its single simple course, embracing a little Latin, Greek and mathematics, with a smattering of what were known as the physical, intellectual and moral sciences. At present, the tendency is more and more toward university methods, — toward the presenta- tion of various courses, — toward giving the student more freedom of choice among these. When carefully carried out, this has been found to yield admirable results, and the fact is now established that large numbers of young men who, under the old system, confined rigidly to a single, stereo- typed course, would have wasted the greater part of their time, — would have injured the quality of their minds by droning over their books, and injured their morals by slighting their duties, have become, when allowed to take courses more fitted to their tastes and aims, energetic students. The same reasons which have caused the crea- tion of university courses, in which the principal studies are in the direction of philosophy, science and modern literature, are valid for the creation of a course in which the studies shall relate to that science and literature most directly bearing upon public life. And here I would call attention to the recent experience of cotemporary nations ; if there is 21 appeal to the “ wisdom of our ancestors” to hold us back, I will appeal to the wisdom of our cotem- poraries to urge us forward. What is now pro- posed is no longer a new thing. In Germany, for many years, extended courses of instruction in history, political and social science and general jurisprudence have been presented in various uni- versities and have had great influence for good ; it is undoubtedly true that the want of practical political instruction, — that instruction which comes by taking part directly in political affairs, has prevented complete and well-founded political development in Germany; but to the influence of these courses is due, in an immense degree, that excellence in German administration which is at last acknowledged and admired by the entire world. We may disbelieve in the general theories of government prevalent among the Ger- mans, but we cannot deny the excellence of their administration. Among these provisions for the instruction of men to take part in public affairs, probably the most interesting is that at the University of Tubingen — a university which has exercised an influence, probably second to no other, upon Ger- man thought in religion and politics. Several years ago, far-seeing statesmen estab- lished there a distinct course especially devoted to the training of men for the service of the State ; men entered it from the gymnasia with something less than the preparation with which they enter the second year of our best American colleges and universities. The result has been excellent. In conversation with leading men in southern Ger- many, I have not found one who did not ascribe to that and similar courses a very great part of the present efficiency in the German administration. That instruction is not the breeding of doctri- naires ; it is large and free ; the experience of the whole world is laid under contribution for the building up of its students. To learn how democ- racy is solving its problems, one of these uni- versities sends to our country, one of its most gifted professors — one from whom thoughtful men on this side the Atlantic have been glad to learn the history of their own country. The lec- tures of Yon Holst, as delivered here, and his writings upon our history, are sufficient to show that this instruction in the German universities is given in a large way, and is not made a means of fettering thought. The same thing is seen in France. Whatever may be said of the political mistakes that have been made in that country, many of which are directly traceable to the want of education in the mass of the people, it cannot be denied that the internal administration of the country is con- ducted with great ability, and its ordinary legis- 23 lation with great foresight. The financial errors, which in times gone by, have cost France so dear, and which since have been so ruinous to other nations, have been skillfully avoided during this century. The wretched mistakes of the past in the creation of charitable institutions inadequately studied, are rare indeed. It is common to ascribe the speedy recovery of France from various catas- trophes to the subdivision of land among her people. This is doubtless an important factor in her success, but it is by no means all. To the trained foresight of her statesmen is, in very great measure, due that stimulus to the produc- tion of wealth and that recuperative power after disaster which have astonished the world within the last ten years. To these results have contributed in no small degree the courses at the College of France. At that institution a knot of men have been giving the highest historical and political instruction. In the centre stands Laboulaye, who during many years, delivered lectures not only upon general political history, and especially the constitutional history of the United States, but upon compara- tive legislation. In various other French insti- tutions of learning thinking men have been treating of every stirring political and social question, presenting the best thoughts of the past and present. 24 Within the past few years another important institution has been created in France — the Free School of Political Science — at the head of which Monsieur Boutmy has gathered a body of men, thoughtful and energetic. In talking with the professors and students recently, I was struck with the earnestness of their purpose and the clearness of their vision. If, in the lecture-rooms of the College of France, at various visits during the last twenty-five years, I have admired the impulse given to general political thinking, I have admired not less in the Free School of Political Science, the directness with which the best thought is applied to cases immediately before the nation. More than this, the French Government has taken pains that political instruction shall be brought to bear upon men in training for the great industries of the country; rarely have I seen an audience more attentive than the students of the School of Arts and Trades at Paris in the lecture- room of Professor Levasseur. A similar progress is to be seen among the universities of Italy. In a second visit recently made to several of these institutions, and among others, those of Naples, Pisa, Padua and Bologna, I found a new scholastic atmosphere. When, over twenty years ago, I entered some of them for the first time, I was struck with the listlessness, the trifling, the dalliance with what may be called 25 the mere fringes of civilization, and, as a con- sequence, the stifling of vigorous thought; hut as I stood again last year in those lecture- rooms, — in the midst of a crowd of young men intently listening to lectures upon history and political economy, I could see that Rossi, Set- tembrini, Villari, and their compeers, had not labored in vain, — that the country was aroused to the necessity of training up a body of men fitted to continue the work of Cavour, D’Azeglio and Ratazzi. The same thing is evident in the English uni- versities. Perhaps in none is the change so striking. As a boy just out of college, I made my first visit to them twenty-five years since. The provision for instruction in political and social science, to say nothing of the natural sciences, was virtually nil. Now, although those institutions fall short of what they should be, the influence of such men as Thomas Arnold, Sir James Stephen, Groldwin Smith, Charles Kings- ley, Thorold Rogers, Jevons, Fawcett, Stubbs, Bryce and their associates, is telling for good on the generation which is beginning to take hold of public affairs. The wisdom of our cotemporaries, then, is in favor of an advance in the direction proposed. I come now to the methods of such reforma- tion. I would preface them by saying that, as 4 26 regards our system of instruction at large in the public schools, it seems to me that more instruction should be given in general history, especially through political biography, and in the history of our own country, as well as some training in the outlines of elements of political science. But on this I will not dwell ; we are chiefly concerned now with the methods of this reform in advanced instruction, — in the higher preparation of those who are to instruct and lead in political and social matters. Of these methods, I would name, first, a post- graduate course. In this there is one considera- ble advantage. Students would come to it at ripe age and with considerable preliminary in- struction. This advantage I do not underrate ; no better use of funds could be made for our universities or for the country than in endow- ing post-graduate lectureships and fellowships in the main subjects involved. I would urge this method upon every man of wealth who wishes to leave a fame which will not rot with his body. But, valuable as this plan is, it has one great disadvantage — it is insufficient. The number of those who could afford the time and expense for such a course after an extended school and college and university training, and before a course of professional study, is comparatively small ; besides this, we must take into account American impatience. 27 While, then, the plan of post-graduate courses would doubtless result in great good, it would fall far short of the work required. It would doubtless provide many valuable leaders in thought, but not enough to exercise the wide influence needed in such a nation as ours. The second method, then, which I propose is the establishment in each of our most important colleges and universities of a full under-graduate course, which, while including studies in science and literature for general culture and discipline, shall have as its main subjects, history, political and social science and general jurisprudence. A great advantage of this plan is the large num- ber of students who would certainly profit by it. I am convinced, by observation in four different colleges and universities with which I have been connected as student and professor, in our own country, and in several with which I have had more or less to do in foreign countries, that such a course in any institution, properly equipped, will attract large numbers of our most energetic young men, many of those who would not otherwise enter college at all ; and that it would give forth a large body of graduates whose influence would be felt for good in all our States and Territories. My proposal is that these studies, which are now mainly crowded into a few last months of the usual college course, be made the staple of an entire four 28 years’ course ; — that they be made a means of discipline, a means of culture, a means for the acquisition of profitable knowledge. Objections will of course be urged. There will probably be none from any quarter against the post-graduate course ; they will be entirely against the establishment of a full under-graduate course. The first objection will doubtless be an appeal to conservatism. This must be expected from a multitude of excellent men, who generally look backward instead of forward ; who think the past was on the whole good enough ; who dislike change ; who, when they have become accustomed to a system and fitted to it, instinctively dis- like a new system to which they may possibly find themselves not so well fitted. Their stand- ing argument will be that the men who have achieved high political knowledge in spite of the present system, have done so by means of it. A second and more precise objection will be on the score of “discipline.” Perhaps no word has been so unfortunate in American instruction as this. It has been made the fortress of every educational absurdity. In this particular case we may ask why are not studies of political and social questions fully equal to any others in giving discipline ? They call out our intellectual powers in discussing problems of the deepest human import; they bring into play our higher moral 29 powers in judging between plans of institutions and lines of conduct on the plane of right and duty. I claim for the studies in the course proposed an especial value in discipline. Any worthy discussion in political economy and social science gives valuable discipline for concentration and directness of mind ; any proper discussion in history gives a discipline for breadth of mind : and these two sorts of discipline are fully equal to any given in any other courses of in- struction. It may also be objected by men devoted to physical sciences, that the powers of observation should be trained. In answer to this, it is suf- ficient to point out many men who, in political studies, have gained as great quickness in obser- vation as can be found in any class of scientific men. It is hard to see why the observing powers of Montesquieu and John Stuart Mill and Francis Lieber, were not as highly trained as those of Cuvier and Huxley and Agassiz. The next objection will probably be on the score of culture. In this objection I see no force, be- cause it is perfectly possible to bring studies for culture into the course proposed; nay, it is indis- pensable to bring in studies of at least one or two languages of the great modern States, or their masterpieces in literature and art, while as 30 to that culture which comes from a knowledge of nature it will not be difficult to give good in- struction in scientific methods and results. Again, it may be urged that young men are not mature enough and not sufficiently instructed to take up such studies on entering college. I answer that it is not proposed to admit young men to these courses without reasonable prepara- tion, nor is it proposed, during the first year of such a course, to plunge the student into the most difficult parts of it. He will be brought to these gradually by preliminary studies, properly combined with the subjects having as their aim general discipline and culture. The same objection could be made with equal force against any scientific course, or any course in philosophy. But granting that the objection has some force, the question is not what is ideally the best course, it is simply what is the best course possible ; and experience shows that only under-graduate courses of the sort proposed will give any such great number of well-trained men as we require. Against these objections should be constantly kept in view the main advantage, which is the large number of students who would certainly take such a course. But objections will be made on more general grounds. 31 The first may be called the optimist objection, — that the people can be entrusted to enlighten themselves, — that they are directly interested, and that self-restraint is a most powerful stimulus, — that the world has improved steadily and will continue to do so. This is partly true. No one can deny that self-interest is a most powerful stimulus, but the point is to give more of that education which shall enable men to find out where their real self-interest is. As to the fact that the world has improved steadily, I do not deny it, but simply observe that this is a question of cost. For did you ever think what a fearful price has been paid hitherto for the simplest advances in political and social science when achieved by the gradual growth of the popular mind? Take a few examples out of many. Before England could learn what are to-day the simplest things in the proper adjustment of legislative and executive powers, the nation was dragged through a fearful civil war — through a long period of consequent demoralization — one king losing his head and another his crown. Before France, in the seventeenth century, could understand the simplest relations between her in- dustrial policy and that of neighboring States — before she could realize that workmen on one side of a frontier are not necessarily the enemies 32 of those on the other side, but rather helpers and co-workers — she was dragged through a series of wars which brought her to utter ruin. Before, in the eighteenth century, she could learn what are now the axioms of political science applied to taxation, she had to go through a period of revolution, a period of anarchy, two periods of bankruptcy, two periods of despot- ism, with endless shedding of blood upon scaffolds and battle-fields and street pavements. Before the world learned to accept the simplest modern axioms of toleration at the treaties of Passau and Westphalia, rivers of blood flowed through every great nation in Europe. Before the Prussian State could learn to allow political thinkers like Stein to study out and work out the problem of her adjustment to modern ideas she had to be crushed in battle, humbled in the dust by diplo- macy and to go through ten years of waste and war. Before the Austrian empire could learn the principal relations of education to public policy several generations had to be taught by military humiliations, and, among these, Austerlitz, Ma- genta and Sadowa. Before Italy could work out the problem of political unity there came three hundred years of internal suffering ; and possibly the future historian may point to a case hardly less striking on this side of the Atlantic. Is it at least not worth an heroic effort to substi- 33 tute a thorough education reaching many of those who are to lead in public affairs and so reach- ing the people themselves — an education in the observation of human experience and in rea- soning upon it — in the hope that we may hereafter make progress at something less than the fearful price which the world has hereto- fore paid? I confess that I am sanguine enough to hope that with more complete extension of political and social knowledge, with some training for bet- ter discussion of important political and social problems, the world may in the future begin to advance without paying the appalling cost for progress which she has paid and is still paying. But to bring this about there must be effort. Problems are arising at this moment before us as fearful as any that have disappeared behind us. The question between capital and labor, alone is enough to exercise our best thought ; it can easily give rise to scenes as fearful as any in history. The question is whether such problems shall be solved by observant, patient, well-trained men, looking over large fields of experience, applying to them the best thought, or whether they shall be dealt with by dec- lamation, passion, demagoguism, trickery, nay, by the torch, the rifle and the gallows. 5 34 Next comes the pessimist argument ; it will be said “ the greatest factor in Republican develop- ment is personal force, the people will elect men of will-power ; they will not elect your men of study and thought.” My answer is, first, that the effort in our pro- posed course is to lay hold on some of these men of personal force and will-power, to bring them into the harness of real statesmanship rather than to leave them tethered by crotchets and half-truths. But suppose all our men of study and thought are not elected, official positions are not the only means of influence ; pen and tongue are often most powerful outside of official positions. What we want is training for public service among men of various sorts of power, some in office, some in the press, some in the pulpit, some in the ordinary vocations of life. In all these, we need men so trained that when a new question comes up, not only law-makers, but citizens in general, may be put in the way of right reasoning upon it ; especially in times of excitement or doubt or distrust, do we need such men to lead the thinking of the community against political zealots, or social desperadoes. The time is surely coming, predicted in Macaulay’s letter to Gen. Randall — the time when disheartened populations will hear brilliant 35 preaching subversive of the whole system of social order. How shall this be met; think you that you can meet it by force? How by force where all is decided by majorities? Will you meet it by denunciation ? — hardly, two can play at that, and while you have the disadvantage of property to be destroyed, your opponents have the advant- age of torches to destroy it. Will you meet it by revolution? — as Danton said, the revolu- tion like Saturn destroys its own offspring. Will you meet it by Csesarism? — the first thing that Csesar always does is to distribute bread and pageants to the mob, and rob you to pay for them. All these methods, history shows to be futile ; the only safeguard is in thorough provision for the checking of popular unreason, and for the spreading of right reason; you must provide that when a brilliant lie starts forth it shall be struck quickly and mortally, and before its venom has reached the social heart and brain. To do this you want men trained to grapple with political questions in every part of society. Do you think that such gladiators in subver- sive thought as Proudhon, Carl lvlarx, Ferdi- nand Lasalle and Bradlaugh, can be met with platitudes ; — in the coming grapple with their apostles you will find need of your best trained 36 athletes. Do you trust to the subdivision of land in our country and the large number of small proprietors ; — so has it been in France for eighty years, and yet she has not escaped ; — so is it in that part of our country where the mut- terings of confiscation and overturn are most loudly heard at this moment. What ^e need is not talk, but discussion. Within the past few years we have seen the uses of such discussion. Many of us have seen political heresies, some wild, some contemptible put forth with force, with brilliancy, — even, at times with sincerity. In some quarters they have swept all before them ; but, wherever they have been met vigorously by men fully able to grapple with them, they have been throttled, and the tide running in their favor has generally been turned. If it be said that this has not constantly been the case, my reply is that under our present system you have no right to expect it. You cannot expect two or three men to breast the tide in a State containing millions of inhabit- ants, when such mistaken views are spreading like wildfire ; and yet what has been done in some of our States by two or three men of force and thought, shows that if a small percentage of our college graduates had been as thoroughly instructed as these two or three, these heresies 37 would have been met at the outset, and would never have attained dangerous proportions. It may be objected that such a system of instruction would give us doctrinaires. Those who make this objection misread history. Doc- trinaires are created where theoretical poli- tics are divorced from vigorous political life, where practical training and theoretical training are not at the same time present to modify each other. The French doctrinaires arose at a time when there was political discussion among a small knot of scholars, but no practical political life in the nation at large. The same thing was true until recently in Germany, and it has been true in Italy from the days of Machiavelli to the days of Cavour. It is true to-day in Russia, hence Nihilism, with all its miseries ; but we look in vain for any perceptible influence of doctrinairism in England ; there political theory has never run away with leaders ; it has been constantly modified by political practice. Edmund Burke was a close student of principles and theories, but who that has read his speech on American Conciliation does not see that he justly claimed to be a more practical statesman than any of his compeers, who trusted merely to instinct and what is called sound sense. Had Thomas Jefferson remained in France he would doubtless have been a doctrinaire ; as it 38 was we have in him a wonderful union of theo- retical and practical training — Rousseau modified by the Virginia House of Burgesses. The strength of the great men who gave this republic its political foundations, lay in the fact that no practical men ever studied theory and principles more thoroughly than they. Jefferson, Hamilton, John Adams, were close students of political principles and political history: Franklin and Washington, acute students of cotemporary political history. Besides this, the doctrinaires are by no means all on the theoretical side. There are not a few upon the practical side. The public speeches of some of our statesmen will give examples of the doctrinairism of practical men, quite as absurd as anything put forth by men of theory. Moreover, in the system of instruction pro- posed, I would take effective means of prevent- ing pedantry and doctrinairism by bringing in a constant circulation of healthful political thought from the outside. Much instruction should be given by lecturers holding their posi- tions for short terms. These lecturers should be chosen, so far as possible, from men who take part in public life practically while not giving up the study of principles. Such will doubtless be the main objections to the plan proposed. They have been made in opposition to the same system in other countries, but the result has refuted them. 39 The influence of a better system on this coun- try, we should doubtless see first in the press. For the past ten years there has been a strik- ing tendency among our most active young men towards the profession of journalism. The difference of feeling regarding such a career between the great body of students to-day and those of twenty years since is one of the curious things in the history of thought in America. The press would doubtless reveal the influence of this new education in quick, compact, thorough discussion of important subjects. It is not too much to hope that there would be much less declamation, defamation and sensation writing, and much more vigorous reasoning. Said a leading editor to me : “ Hundreds of young men seek place with us who can write poetry, stories, literary criticisms, for one who can take up living questions and write on them with knowledge, thoroughness, brevity and point.” It is not too much to hope that the education proposed would at least change this ratio. We should doubtless next see this influence in the lower strata of public life ; the young man who, on arriving from college and from his pro- fessional course, could supply really valuable in- formation, and make a straightforward argument upon living political and social questions, even 40 in a Board of Supervisors or Town Meeting, would take the first step in an honorable career. The character of our people is especially favorable to this ; no people in the world so quickly recognize a man who can stimulate valuable thought, no country so open to the influence of facts cogently presented. Even if such men arrive sometimes at wrong conclusions, as doubtless they would, the habit of discussing questions with more thorough knowledge and with closer reasoning, could not fail to be of vast use ; it would be found that political science, like other sciences, may be made to progress almost as much by mistaken reason- ing, if it only be real, as by correct reasoning. Quesnay, Turgot and the French physiocrats, by their errors as well as their truths, stimulated Adam Smith, Ricardo, John Stuart Mill and the English economists, and these in their turn, by their half truths as well as truths, stimulated List, Carey, Roscher, Wells and the Grerman and American economists ; the only thing that per- manently hinders the growth of any science is dogmatism, — the substitution of inherited opin- ions for real thought, of conventionalism for observation. Real thinking, however wrong some of its conclusions may have been tempora- rily, has always helped on mankind in the long run. 41 Next we should doubtless see the influence of such instruction upon our legislative bodies of all grades. Even your strong untutored men, who rise by virtue of rough, uncultured, native force and will-power, would feel strongly its influence even though they never came under it directly. Better observations, better modes of thinking, better ideas, would become common property, they would become an element in the political at- mosphere, and your rude statesman of the future could not but feel its influence ; thereby would he be stimulated to think more and to orate less. Nor should we forget the influence of such instruction upon the universities themselves. It would make them far greater powers in the for- mation of public opinion, therefore of far greater importance in public estimation. The present state of things is certainly not very encouraging to university officers. They know too well that their graduates have not taken that place in the conduct of public affairs which their education would seem to warrant. Young men who have received so much greater advantages than others should, one would think, exercise much greater influence than others. Unfortunately, statistics carefully collected, show that the relative number of college graduates in the executive and legislative positions of the coun- 6 42 try has been diminishing for many years. The main reason for this is, probably, that the ma- jority of college students, under the present sys- tem, while obtaining their education, have been separated from the current of practical politics, and have not secured, to compensate for this separation, any education in practical politics. During four years in college, as well as four or five years preparation for college, they have been studying matters, often useful for culture, often important for discipline ; but all this, so far as public influence is concerned, leaves them fre- quently at the first public meeting they attend, or the first public body in which they sit, infe- rior to many who have never enjoyed these advantages. We have heard much of our educated men keeping aloof from politics. I fully believe that were scholarly young men trained steadily in political questions from the outset, they would enter public life at such an advantage that this charge would be brought to naught. And here, if there be any young men present, as I trust there may be, ambitious to take part in public life, let me say a word to them. In nothing that I have said, do I mean to hint in the slightest degree that studies of theory will ever give any substitute for practical knowledge, they will only supplement it. 43 Read and study in political science and general jurisprudence as thoroughly as you can; lay as good a basis as possible in these sciences, but get practical knowledge by all means in your power. As early in your career as possible get yourself placed, if you can, on grand and petit juries. De Tocqueville was right when he pointed out jury duty as a great means of political edu- cation in this republic. Early, too, in your career, study men and things in town meetings, county boards and school boards. A man who proves himself good in these will soon prove himself fit for higher bodies. But at the same time that you thus keep in relations with ordinary think- ing, do something by reading and thought to keep yourself abreast with the highest thinking on political and social subjects. Even if you have not much time, you can catch an hour now and then to dip into John Stuart Mill, or Ros- cher, or Jevons, or Carey, or Lieber, or Woolsey, or at least to read good compact review articles from the best political thinkers — articles such as those now published in our North American and International Review and in the English Nine- teenth Century , and Contemporary and Fortnightly Reviews. The good results of such courses as I now pro- pose wdll be speedily seen then, not only in the nation at large, but in the universities adopting 44 them. Such institutions could hardly fail to increase their numbers. Many young men, who do not go to college now, but who, on leaving preparatory schools, enter at once upon profes- sional study, would think it worth their while to take a course embracing studies for which they have taste, and fitting them for duties for which they have ambition. From every point of view, then, — in the inter- est of individual students, many of whom would find scope for their powers which they do not find in the existing courses — in the interests of the universities themselves, which might attract to their halls numbers of energetic young men, who now stand aloof from them — and above all, in the interests of State and national legislation, I urge that such courses be established. In looking over the whole field of education in the light of our experience and that of other nations, I see no better object for the earnest efforts of those called upon to administer our greater institutions for advanced education. I am well aware that few, if any, have means enough, even for the present courses. It is thus a case for the exercise of American munificence. Here there is reason to hope for much. In the Old World, with its systems of primogeniture and its means of entailing fortunes, men of great wealth can found families and hand their prop- 45 erty down to remote generations. So it is not in our own land ; the great fortune of the first generation rarely lasts farther than the third. While, then, some reason exists there for hoard- ing enormous sums for heirs, here there is none, and to this fact are doubtless due many acts of munificence which have honored the American name, and blessed the country. Let us hope that it will not be the ambition of our wealthy men to become the fatty tumors of society, ab- normal growths, accumulating fortunes which are, at best, to be only reabsorbed into the ordinary business channels, but that they will see the duty and the honor lying before them ; that in mak- ing provision for the higher education of their fellow-citizens, and especially in those branches which insure better government and a higher type of citizenship, they will rear monuments more lasting than statues of bronze or obelisks of granite. On such imperishable monuments already stand the names of Harvard, Yale, Smithson, Pea- body, Cooper, Packer, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Sage, Vassar, Wells, McGraw, Sibley and their noble compeers. Let us hope that worthy suc- cessors of these may arise to provide upon the foundations already laid by our stronger univer- sities an instruction worthy of the nation, in History, Political and Social Science and General Jurisprudence. THIRD ANNIVERSARY EXERCISES. The third Anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University was celebrated in the Academy of Music, February 22, 1879. Upon the platform were seated the Trustees and Faculty, the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the city, and represen- tatives of the literary and scientific institutions in Maryland and the District of Columbia. After a prayer by the Bev. Dr. Hodges, the following statement was read by the Hon. George W. Dobbin, on behalf of the Board of Trustees: Statement. Three years ago in this place and on this holiday, the Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University announced their plans for the organization of an institution, founded without ecclesiastical or civil aid by the liberality of Johns Hopkins, a merchant of Bal- timore. Since then, they have brought together a faculty now including nineteen professors and associates; they have bestowed Fellowships on thirty-nine young men from seventeen different States, several of whom have become teachers in literary and scientific institutions; they have had the aid of 14 non-resident lecturers; 211 students, including the Fellows, have received instruction, 115 of whom had already graduated elsewhere, and 96, chiefly from Maryland, were collegiate or academic students ; two successive classes of teachers have received special instruction in physiology and zoology, with the use of the microscope; twenty- four medical students have attended a course of physiological 47 48 demonstrations ; 82 courses of lectures have been opened to the public gratuitously, the average attendance being 86 persons in each course. Buildings have been purchased, enlarged and fitted up with the requisite lecture rooms ; three laboratories, of Chemistry, Physics and Biology, have been opened and the needful apparatus bought; a library and reading-room have been provided, supplementary to our chief reliance, the Peabody Institute ; four numbers of the American Journal of Mathematics and two collections of papers from the Biological Laboratory have been printed, — and many contributions have been made to the special scientific journals at home and abroad. The University now offers collegiate instruction in the usual fundamental studies ; advanced instruction in mathematical, phys- ical, chemical and biological science, — in classical, oriental, and modern European languages, in philology, philosophy, history and political science. It gives the Bachelor’s degree to those who complete either one of the seven under-graduate courses ; and that of Doctor or Master to those who pass the higher examinations in special advanced studies. There are double examinations for both degrees, the papers for one being prepared by the teachers, for the other by special examiners who have not been teachers here. A salutatory address in Latin was then pronounced by Professor C. D. Morris. Salutatory Address. Magnopere profecto vereor, Praeses dignissime, ne verba, quae eloeuturus sum, parum nota videantur, parum auribus eorum fami- liaria, qui praesentes hodie natalicia nostrae Academiae benigno animo celebrare voluerunt. JSTam non me praeterit hosce viros doctos, qui in pueritia litteris humanioribus sunt imbuti, sonis vocum Latinarum prorsus aliis assuefactos esse, quam quos ego, virorum praeceptis recentioris aevi doctissimorum obtemperans, sum pronuntiaturus. Perdifficilis res est, fateor, nominibus Kike- ronis Kaesarisve notatos illos scriptores agnoscere, quibus Sise- 49 rOne vel Sesare nominatis quam familiariter iuvenes utebamini. At enim res mihi non est integra : neque, si viro cuidam, alio in genere praestantissimo dignissimoque cui in sna statuas fingendi arte credatur, mutatus hie litterarum sonus minirae placuit,* idcircO est nostro iudicio diffidendum, nedum auctoritas virorutn et de Germanis et de Anglis doctissimorum sit improbanda. Quare, cum fieri non possit, quin mea verba subobscura vestris auribus sonent, paulo attentius, quaeso, viri docti, audite quae dicam dum sollemni modo gratum huius Universitatis animum erga omnes vos praedicare conor. Res est admodum notabilis, quod Universitas nostra eundem natalem habet quem vir ille magnus, patriae verus pater, quern per totam hanc gentem hodie omnes homines grata memoria pro- sequuntur, quodque in lucem, ut ita dicam, eo fere tempore edita est, quo centesimum vitae annum ipsa respublica complevit: quas quidem res non alienum est nunc memorare, quod Tu ipse, Vir clarissime, qui huius civitatis principem locum pro singulari tuo merito obtines, illi Universitatis diei natali adfuisti, Tu, cujus avus intima necessitudine conjunctus est cum magno illo viro, qui acer- rimus.idemque iustissimus huius reipublicae propugnator exstitit, fausta ilia omina nascentis Academiae tuo favore, tua auctoritate, tua ipsa praesentia cumulavisti Jam ad vos, Curatores amplissimi, me converto. Vos sane de Universitate hac nostra optime meritos esse confitemur, qui maximo studio habeatis, ut omnia, quae usui sint ad bonas litteras sus- tentandas, ad fines scientiarum, quas vocant, naturalium propa- gandos, intra parietes nostros et praesto sint, et ita praesto ut ad usum prompta atque expedita constent, procul omnibus rebus arnotis quae cupienti in studium toto animo incumbere fastidium alferre possint. Hanc nostram Academiam, quasi officinam artium liberalium tanta apparatus copia, tarn largo bonarum doc- trinarum instrumento loeupletandam curavistis, ut plures disci- plinae, quas quidem adhuc vobis licuerit adornare, plane perfectum in modum instructae esse videantur. Ne multa de hac re dicam, quam omnes sciunt, unum tantum noininatim memorabo. Quid studiosis cuiuslibet generis magis necessarium, quam librorum optimorum delectus affluens? At vos non libros tantum nobis * Vid. Censurae Amer. Septent. partem cclxvi. 7 50 benigna manu praebuistis, verum etiam bibliothecam, in qua con- serventur et legantur. instruenclam curavistis, qua nulla in orbe terrarum amoenior, nulla tranquillior, nulla Musarum omnium domicilio aptior est aut accommodatior. Pergite, viri honestis- simi, ut coepistis : quas pecunias vobis commisit Fundator noster, eas et custodite diligenter, et summa cum cura et liberalitate, ut facitis, in Academiae huius nostrae salutem et amplificationem erogate. Yobis, nunc, Professores, vobis, Gives reipublicae nostrae stu- diosi, plurimam ego, operum vestrorum socius, salutem nuntio. Quid potius festo hoc nostro anniversario tertium iam recurrenti faciamus, quam et praeteritos labores, si quos feliciter suscepimus, pio gratoque animo recordemur, et optima spe consilium capiamus ut omnia posthac in meliora promoveantur. Non deest nobis curaforum auctoritas et favor, non civium huius urbis optimorum summa benevolentia, non omnium rerum, quibus studia foveantur, apparatus locuples. Quid si nobismet ipsi deerimus ? Quare pro virili parte laboremus ut hasce facultates ne socordia nostra sina- mus neglectas iacere, sed ad pristinos studiorum fructus doctrina in dies accedat uberior. Yobis quoque, Matronae spectatissimae Yirginesque venustis- simae, quae coetum hunc nostrum frequentia yestra ornare volu- istis, non possumus quin gratias ex animo agamus, quod statim ab initiis et quasi incunabulis Universitatis nostrae favorem nobis et benevolentiam assidue praestitistis. Namque non solum publicis, quae dicuntur, scholis adfuistis frequenter, cum poetas, cum scien- tial morales et historicas, cum res physicas viri docti praelegerent, verum etiam domus vestrae hospitibus nobis benigne patuerunt : ipsae nos fovistis laborantes : ipsae nonnunquam eadem studia colentes et exemplo et aemulatione vestrae laudis adiuvistis. Baud facile veniam aut a me aut ab reliquis Academiae civibus impetravero, si te, Praeses dignissime, tuumque hospitem praecla- rum salvere non jussero. Quae de te tuisque pro hac Universitate assiduis laboribus omnes scimus, eadem de Praesidis Academiae Cornellianae eximia virtute sine ulla dubitatione credimus. Utrique vestrum mira ilia fortuna contigit, ut novum disciplinarum domi- cilium, tanquam puerum recens natum, susciperetis: vos novae suae quisque Academiae regulas ordinastis, rationem et cursum studio- rum artificiose in ordinem redegistis ; quae ad doctrinam prove- 51 hendam, ad optimas artes excolendas, ad virtutes humaniorea informandas inservire viderentur, omnia aut vestra ipsorum indole excogitastis, aut ab aliis oblata miro favore accepistis et fovistis. Quapropter a Deo Optimo Maximo precamur uno animo, ut vobis et corporis valetiidinem prosperam et animi prudentem sol- lertiam pro sua benignitate concedat diuturnas. President White of Cornell University was then intro- duced to the assembly as one whose life had been given to university work, but who had repeatedly been called into civil life to render services to the State and country. Presi- dent White then delivered the foregoing address. At its conclusion, President Gilman of the Johns Hopkins University, claiming that his residence of three years in Bal- timore gave him the right to speak as if he were completely a Marylander and Baltimorean, pointed out in a few words what is still requisite to make of this place a University town. •The exercises were concluded with singing, by a choir of male voices, the following words — to the music composed in the 16th century by William Bird: Non nobis , Domine , sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam .