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To propose that education be made more materialistic and more political seems in itself a harmless enough suggestion. The decisive test of the advisability of adopting such a principle, however, must be pragmatic in nature; we must seek to discover how it works out when put into practice. For the justification of this or of any other system of education, then, we must look to the product that it brings forth.

Mr. Lazarus and I apparently agreed that the present product of the American schools and colleges is unsatisfactory; in what respects and to what extent this is so, we seem to differ. Let us examine the nature of the evil. What "kind of men have we among those who play an important part in public affairs? We have business men who find it necessary, in order to call forth the most efficient exercise of their capabilities in service,-note that word,-to their country, to work under the added stimulus of profits so abnormal as to be the cause of public indignation. Dean Gay admitted this failing when he recently advocated unrestricted profiteering. We have business men who persistently oppose schemes for national saving on a large scale,-such as discontinuance of the purchase of non-essentials,-because it would injure their particular business. We have employers who refuse to give their workmen enough wages to maintain a decent standard of living. We have various over-rich persons in the community ignoring completely our government's plea for conservation. We have lawyers, politicians, and other men holding positions of public trust that are susceptible to advances by unscrupulous individuals. We have ministers who have become impregnated with the subtle influence of Mammon-worship which should be their deadliest foe. Last of all, we have a whole nation, our own United States of America, willing to go ahead pursuing industrial "progress" at the unmistakable expense of the welfare and happiness of its people.

Such actions are obviously wrong. But actions arise from motives, and motives are formed by inherited traits and acquired training. The former are beyond our power to change; the latter demands our immediate attention. In all the instances I have given above, the motive of the action was openly selfish and materialistic: private gain or personal comfort was the end desired. This materialistic motive pervades all human society at the present time; it lies at the heart of the social problem. Unfortunately, the evil is a difficult one to remedy; an easier and more effective method is to prevent it. Does Mr. Lazarus think this can be done by recognizing and encouraging in our system of education "a frank striving for money?" I do not. Does Mr. Lazarus think that military and economic warfare can be averted in the future by the development of the instinct of self-assertion and self-advancement in the individual or in the group? I do not. It is not gushy sentimentalism or flat self-abnegation that I advocate; backsliding of the individual or unwarranted self-humiliation have no part in my theme. What I should like to see in our schools and colleges is less concentration on the purely materialistic aspects of human knowledge and understanding, more regard for the complete self-development and self-ennoblement of the individual, which can never be accomplished by slighting or ignoring those sources of inspiration that have guided men in the past.

If we desire the improvement and advancement of our nation, "the progress of the group as a group," not imposing itself or its ideas on any smaller or weaker nations, the duty of unselfish service is incumbent upon us; we cannot avoid it, try how we will. Dematerializing men and men's motives seems to me the only way of insuring for America the efficient and progressive democracy which she neds so badly. I fail to see how our present system of education or that proposed by Mr. Lazarus are going to accomplish this. C. S. JOSLYN '20.