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The Commoner.
10
Frederic Harrison In America.
It is probably truo that tho visit of
no Englishman, sinco Matthew Arnold
carao to this country eighteen or twon
ty years ago, has excited greater inter
est among the intellectual people of
the United States than tho recent one
of Mr. Frederic Harrison. He did not
come hero to be lionized, to gain mon
ey, or to investigate us for the purpose
of writing a volumo of impressions.
Ho had two or threo specific objects,
and these were duly accomplished be
fore his return. He had boen invited
by tho Union League club of Chicago
to address the club, February 22, on
tho character and place of George
Washington in history. Ho also had
as a particular mission the arousing
of interest, especially in our leading
universities, in tho approaching mil
lennial celebration of that greajt foun
der of English laws and letters, King
Alfred.
He arrived on February 14, and af
ter a day or two in New York, pro
ceeded to Chicago, where his address
on George Washington was received
with very high praise. It Is to be pub
lished by tho Union League. Mr. Har
rison's name was associated by one of
tho speakers, on that occasion, with
those of Queen Victoria and John
Bright, as one of tho throe people in
England who had been most influen
tial, In the time of our civil war, in
preventing conflict between England
and tho United States, and in uphold
ing the cause of tho north.
Mr. Harrison took occasion while in
Chicago to lecture beforo tho Univer
sity of Chicago, and also addressed the
Positivist Society. He was especially
interested in Hull House as a stand
point from which to" study tho indus
trial and social conditions of the peo
ple of the most typical of great Am
erican cities.
From Chicago, ho went directly to
BoBton, and lectured beforo Harvard
university on the writings of King Al
fred. This very attractive address, has
now been published in pamphlet form
by the Macmillan company. "I call to
mind," said Mr. Harrison, "that this
year is tho millenary, or thousandth
anniversary, of the death, in 901, of
Alfred the West Saxon king, who is
undoubtedly the founder of a regular
prose literature, as of so many other
English institutions and ways. . . .
He and his people wore just as much
your ancestors as they were mine; for
all wo can say is that tho 130,000,000
who spoak our Anglo-Saxon tongue
have all a fairly equal claim to look
on him as the heroic leader of our re
mote forefathers."
From Boston, Mr. Harrison made
haste to visit Washington in tlmo to
be present at the second inauguration
of President McKinJey, and he was the
sguest in Washington of Senator Elk
ins. He was on the platform in the
senate chamber on occasion of the In
augural ceremonies, and was enter
tained constantly during his Wash
ington visit by senators and high of
ficials, and met nearly all tho impor
tant public men at the capital. He
was particularly interested in coming
to know well Vice President Roose
velt. Mr. Harrison is the authqr of a
very valuable monograph on the char
acter and career of Oliver Cromwell,
and naturally had read Mr. Roosevelt's
more recent study of the great protec
tor. After leaving Washington, Mr. Har
rison was the guest of tho Johns Hop
kins univorslty, where he delivered an
historical lecture on Alfred the Great
to a general Baltimore audience, and
spoke particularly upon tho works of
Alfred to the university students of
English literature. Thereafter he spoke
in succession at Princeton, Yalo and
Columbia universities, and made an
address boforo the Nineteenth Century
club in New York on tho men and tho
characteristics of the last half of tho
nineteenth century. He made a sec
ond brief visit to Boston just before
sailing, and took passage to England
on April 3, .
Mr. Harrison . deservedly holds a
groat place among the real students
and men of letters of Great Britain.
Yet he has not confined himself to tho
pursuits of learning and literature
alone, but has all his lifo been earnest
and active in tho practical promotion
of his political; social and ethical opin
ions, with a view to the advancement
of his generation.
He was born in London on October
18, 1831, and is therefore in his sev
entieth year. Ho was educatod at
King's collego, London, and Wadham
college, Oxford, where he took his M.
A. degree and became a fellow and
tutor. Subsequently he became a bar
rister of Lincoln's Inn, In 1858.
His interest in labor problems was
early shown, and he was a member of
tho royal commission on trades unions
that began its investigations in 1867
and reported two years later. He was
secretary of tho royal commission for
digesting tho laws during the follow
ing two years, and for twelve years,
from 1877 to 1889, he was professor of
jurisprudence and international law to
the Inns of Court.
When tho London county council
wa3 created for the government of the
great metropolis, Mr. Harrison was
honored by being made one of the first
aldermen; and from 1889 to 1892 he
rendered conspicuous services in that
important body.
For twenty-ono years he has been
president of the London positivist
committee. Those who would like to
know what Mr. Harrison's religious
views are, and what he means by
"positivism," should be referred to his
valuable artlclo entitled "Positivism:
Its Position, Aims and Ideals," in the
March number of the North American
Review, a summary of which we pub
lished in the April number of the Re
view of Reviews.
As the troubles between England
and the Boer republics were coming to
a crisis, Mr. Harrison, with. Mr. John
Morley arfd several otners, was one of
tho most outspoken and convincing
antagonists of the policy of Mr. Cham
berlain and the present conservative
government. It is hardly necessary to
say that ho has always been an ad
vanced liberal in his political affilia
tions. His contributions to general litera
ture, to history, to philosophy, to po
litical and economic science, and to
the methods of education and culture,
have been so numerous that we will
not try to present any bibliographical
aata. ueview of Reviews.
The Country Coll ;ges.
Dr. D. K. Pearsons, the octogenar
ian benefactor of small colleges, has
been signally honored by the legisla
ture of this state in the adoption of a
complimentary sot of tqzA .ions.
Tho legislators, recognizing that Dr.
Pearsons' wealth was accur-.ulated in
this state and that here his greatest
benefactions have been made, took
occasion, on Dr. Pearsons' personal
visit to tho legislature, to record with
a rising vote their appreciation of his
splendid work in furthering tho cause
of education.
Tho keynote of Dr. Pearsons' ben
efactions to the colleges is contained
in the following saying by himself:
"Not a penny to the rich or well-endowed
institutions. I am helping the
poor, struggling colleges because they
are helping the poor boys and poor
girls to obtain an education."
If, as Dr. Pearsons and a great many
others believe, the best American
types of the future are to corao from
the west and middle west this liberal
giver to tho cause of education la
shrewd and far-seeing in confining his
gifts to the small colleges scattered
over the middle and western states.
Dr. Pearsons sharply defines the work
of tho smaller colleges as distinct from
the great, richly endowed institutions
of learning. In the latter tho ten
dency is over to concentrate, consoli
date and absorb. In tho small col
leges the opposite tendency is para
mount, and hence' th'ey must ever re
main "close to the soil,'' whence the
best types of young America are re
cruited every year.
The great universities are constant
ly absorbing more wealth. They are
also absorbing smaller and weaker
institutions at an unparalleled pace.
Dr. Pearsons believes, and a great
many will agree with him, that this
tendency Is not representative of true
democracy in learning. Nothing can
ever supplant the beneficent work of
the smaller- colleges. It is in them
that the moral fiber of students fresh
from tho country or mountain home
is developed as it cannot bo in the
glamour of a great centralized uni
versity. Probably tho tendency of tho future
will be that the immensely endowed
universities, with their magnificent
equipment and facilities for special in
vestigations, will devote themselves
more and more to postgraduate work.
The training of tho raw material in
the ordinary academic and college
years will be left to the smaller insti
tutions near the homes of tho stu
dents. This tendency is even necessary if
we are to retain the principle" of dem
ocracy in the field of learning. The
attempt to consolidate and affiliate
scores and even hundreds of small
colleges into olio centralized institu
tion is an artificial policy that may ul
timately fall of its own weight.
Long may tho small college prosper
and such prophets as Dr. Pearsons
multiply. Chicago Chronicle.
Flag and Constitution Divorced.
The decision of the supreme court
declaring that congress has certain
powers no one has heretofore dreamed
of its possessing, and that the consti
tution is weak and ineffective where it
was believed to be strong, clears the
way for entering on the main question,
which, after all, resolves itself into the
power and duty of establishing a per
manent colonial system as to our for
eign acquisitions. The removal of the
constitutional objection does not make
it incumbent on the United States to
acquire, establish and maintain col
onies in distant parts of tho globe,
nor under tho guarantees of the na
tional constitution, which hold good
In the states, but subject to such leg
islation inside and outside the consti
tution as congress may impose. With
out this power it has been held the ad
ministration and its party would
speedily drop the Philippines. If we
can govern them outside the constitu
tion and in disregard of its rights and
guarantees, we want them. If they
were to come under tho constitution,
let them go. We want none of them.
In this particular case the court was
divided five to four in dissent, and the
dissenting judges were the chief jus
tice and Justices Harlan, Brewer and
Peckham. Judge Harlan, a veteran re
publican, tho oldest member of the
court, appointed in 1877, declared the
principles announced by the majority
would "result in a radical and mis
chievous change in our system of gov
ernment," and that wo "will pass from
tho era of constitutional liberty, guard
ed and protected by a written constitu
tion, into an era of legislative absolut
ism in respect to many rights that are
dear to all peoples who love freedom."
This is strong language, but it is true.
A great danger has been introduced in
our system of government. We may
weather the coming storms, but on the
other hand they may bo disastrous and
perilous. Pittsburg Post.
The Little Country Paper.
It's just a little paper it isn't up to
date; ,
It hasn't any supplement or colored
fashion plate. .
It comes out every Friday, unless tho
forms are pied;
The outside is home-printed; with
boiler-plate inside.
It hasn't any cable direct from old
Bombay,
But it says that "Colonel Braggins is
in our midst today."
It doesn't seem to worry about affairs
of state,
But it tells that "Joseph Hawkins has
painted his front gate."
It never mentions Kruger or Joseph
Chamberlain,
But says that "Thompson's grocery
has a new window pane."
And that "tho Mission Workers will
give a festival,
"And there'll be a temperance lecture
in William Hoopor's hall."
It tells about the measles that Jimmy
Hankins had
And says that Israel Johnson "ha3 bo
come a happy dad."
It says that "cider making is shortly
to commence."
And cites the fact that Ira Todd is
building a new fence.
It mentions Dewey's coming in one
brief paragraph,
And says "that Charlie Trimble lias
sold a yearling calf."
And everything that happens within
that little town
The man who runs the paper has
plainly jotted down.
Some people make fun of it, but, hon
estly, I like
To learn that "work is booming upon
theJimtown piko."
It's just a little paper it hasn't much
to say '
But as long as it is printed I hope it
comes my wav.
Josh. Wink, in Baltimore American.
Just So.
Little Elmer (who has an inquiring
mind) "Papa, what Is conscience?"
Professor Broadhead "Conscience,
my son, is the name usually given to
the fear we feel that other people will
find us out." Harper's Bazar.
PUTS THE "GINGER" IN.
Tho Kind of Tood Caed by Athletes.
A former college athlete, one of tho
long distance runners, began to lose
his power of endurance. His exper
ience with a change in food is inter
esting. "While I was In training on tho
track athletic team, my daily 'jogs'
became a task, until after I was put on
Grape-Nuts Food for two meals a day.
After using the Food for two weeks I
felt like a new man. My digestion was
perfect, nerves steady and I was full
of energy.
"I trained for the mile and the half
mile runs (those events which require
so much endurance) and then the long
daily 'jogs,' which before had been
such a task, were clipped off with ease.
I won both events.
"The Grape-Nuts Food put me in
perfect condition and gave me my
'ginger.' Not only was my physical
condition made perfect, and my weight
increased, but my mind was made
clear and vigorous so that I could
get out my studies in about half the
time formerly required. Now most
all of the University men use Grape
Nuts for they have learned its value,
but I think my testimony will not bo
amiss and may perhaps help somo
one to learn how the best results' 6an
bo obtained. Please do not publish
my namo."
There is a reason for the effect of
Grape-Nuts Food on the human body
and brain. The certain elements in
wheat and barley aro selected with
special reference to their power for,
rebuilding the brain and nervo centers.
The product is then carefully and
scientifically prepared so as to make it
easy of digestion. Tho physical and
mental results are so apparent after
two or three weeks' use as to produce
a profound impression. The Food can
be secured at any first-class grocery,
store.
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