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UNIVERSITY COURIER.
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SCOTT HOPKINS, '81,
R. W. E. TWITCHELL, '81
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An anonymous paper in the April North American Review, upon "German Socialism in America," furnishes much food for thought. As the question of socialism is one which is likely to engage the attention of scholars at no distant day, it will hardly be thought out of place if we consider at some length the progress and tendency of this organization which threatens our institutions. After tracing the rise of socialistic ideas, the writer considers its introduction in its modern form into Germany, "the classic land of modern socialism." It was first proclaimed about twenty-five years ago by Ferdinand Lassalle, whom the writer describes as "a leader at once endowed with the fanaticism of Robespierre, the philosophic mind of Kant, and the personal magnetism of O'Connell." So powerful were his teachings upon the ignorant, and even upon the intelligent class, that all Europe has trembled at the result, and within a few months has witnessed four desperate attempts upon the lives of three of her most popular and enlightened sovereigns. His teachings were received by the intellectual class of Germans, and in this respect the writer draws a striking contrast between the socialism of Germany and the commune of France, which permeated only the lowest orders of society and was unable to take root and flourish in French soil. On the other side of Germany, socialism reaches the opposite phase, and instead of its advocates being among the ignorant they are the most intelligent in Russia. "It is not from the working classess that the ranks of nihilism are recruited in the great empire of the Czars. The Russian moujik is content with the poverty and obscurity that fall to his lot.
In Russia, socialism, as the recent and alarming students' riots attest, is confined almost wholly to the intellectual classes, which struggle in sympathy with the movement in Germany." Thus we find one vast socialistic wave transversing Europe from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, having in its trough the peasants of France, and bearing on its crest the most intelligent of Russians, while in Germany it pervades all classes alike, the intelligent and the unlettered. The writer cites the apprehension with which the growth of the order is viewed by the German Chancellor, who is secretly fostering and encouraging their emigration to the American shores. In the last twenty-five years the growth of the order has been marvelous, there being sixty thousand socialists in Berlin alone. The writer states that by Bismarck's famous bill which passed the Reichstag, nearly two million Germans were deprived of their constitutional rights, and of these two millions many will seek homes in the United States. Having attributed the possibility of the existence of socialistic ideas in
our midst to causes growing out of the civil war, the writer proceeds to consider the extent to which this virus has penetrated the veins of our republic. "It will be surprising, if not alarming, to learn that there are, in the leading and most populous States of the Union, thousands upon thousands of enrolled members of the regular socialist organization, and that in numbers they largely exceed the organization which first elicited attention in Germany." They have large and increasing organizations in all our large cities, notably in Chicago and St. Louis, and in Illinois succeeded in electing some of their number to the Legislature, while in some towns they were strong enough to elect their own municipal officers. The writer closes his article by saying that although they may succeed in trying their theories in some of the older countries of Europe, in this country, on account of our vast unimproved resources, he thinks there is no immediate cause for apprehension.
An enterprise has recently been undertaken at Harvard University, or, more correctly, in the city of Cambridge, which will attract the attention of all those who are interested in the cause of universal education. It consists in the formation of a class of young women, within the very shadow of the walls of Harvard, having for their object the pursuit and completion of the same course of study, and in the same time, as their brothers, who, on account of the discrimination of sex, are permitted to enter the halls of Harvard proper. The course of study will consist of four years, and will be parallel with the Harvard course. They will receive special instruction from the Harvard professors, and will have equal advantages with the young men, but will receive no degrees. Instead, they will, upon the completion of any course, be granted a certificate, and upon the completion of a four years course will be given a certificate signed by all the members of the Faculty. It is proposed to use the laboratory apparatus of Harvard, and also the excellent library which is now open to the public. It is thought the expenses of each student will not exceed four hundred dollars, and may be reduced to two hundred and fifty. The board of management will be composed of seven prominent ladies of Cambridge, who are enthusiastic for the success of the enterprise. A somewhat similar undertaking was that known as the Harvard Examination for Women, but nothing has heretofore been proposed on so broad a platform as this. The enterprise is, as yet, but an experiment, but it is not difficult to predict the outcome. If given a fair trial it can but result in the admission of women to Harvard and other colleges on the same footing with men, whose equals in intellectual capacity they have proven themselves.
We take pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the First Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for 1877-8. The book is printed by Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago, and is a model of the typographic art. The work opens with a handsome sectional map of the State, followed by an elaborate and exhaustive treatment of the various industries by counties, with a fine colored map of each, and closing with a large amount of valuable and reliable statistical information, carefully compiled up to date. By this work, Hon. Alfred Gray, Secretary of the Board, more firmly establishes the reputation Kansas has already gained of issuing the handsomest and most complete Agricultural Reports of any State in the Union.