In the closing weeks of 1918, when the great structure which was the German Empire was tottering to its fall moved by inner revolution and outer defeat, the world wondered what could take its place. Obviously the imperial regime of William II could not be restored in the face of the Allies and the majority of the German people. A new form of government was needed: the Republic was the answer.

The sudden transition from the most autocratic of monarchies founded on the military absolutism of 1870, to the most liberal republicanism seems at first sight strange and inexplicable. Yet upon a little reflection the reasons for the change become more clear.

It has been the fashion from time to time for historians to fulminate against the theory that extremes generate their opposites. Yet from a pragmatic standpoint at least, this pendulum-like motion of events seems surely to hold true. It seems therefore hardly improbable that in its broadest aspects the German Republic was the direct result of the German Monarchy, moving as much toward radicalism as the empire held to the standard of conservatism.

Whether the republic will finally give way violently to dictatorship as has happened in so many other European countries; whether it will gradually slip back under the guidance of conservative Presidents, or become consolidated in its present form it is impossible to predict.

The question is, however, not only an interesting but an important one, and Professor Monro's lecture on the German Republic and its Future to be given this morning at 9 o'clock in the New Lecture Hall, presents many attractions to a student vagabond.

Other lectures of interest are:

9 O'CLOCK

"The Free Trade Movement in England, and Continental Tariff History before 1860", Professor Gay, Harvard 1, Economics 2.

"The School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools: The Planning of an Educational Program for a Public School System", Professor Holmes, Lawrence 3, Education A.

10 O'CLOCK

"Michelangelo", Professor Edgell, Robinson Hall, Fine Arts 5h.

"Cooper the Novelist", Professor Murdock, Harvard 2, English 33.

12 O'CLOCK

"Seculiar Architecture in the Middle Ages", Professor Edgell, Robinson Hall, Fine Arts 4a.