The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-17
rx-Attachs in New york Tribune.

Tx-Attachs in New York Tribune.
l. must seem as strange 70 Americans
as L does TO the English people that Unl-
versitt students should play 50 conspseu-
Gus a part in al the insurrect.onary and
u EtIcal movements on the continent or
Europe. During the last week alone tnere
have been riots OF sufficient gravity 70
warrant military interference at BARGE
Iona. Madrid and a Prague, while al CON
stantnople the Sofas. or theo.oglcal STU
dents have been the authors OF the san
culinary Disturbances that for = Few days
caused a reign OF terror 10 prevail on the
shores OF the Bosphorus. Moreover. the
most cursory glance over the pages or the
history OF the present century will suiflce
10 show that students have been IN the
van Of every revolutionary rising. IN
deed those o. 1S4s and $50. that convulsed
all Europe, and which resulted IN the alb
d.cat.on OF a number Of old-fdshlOned and
Teactionary monarchs opposed 70 popular
rights and constitutional government.
were almost entirely the work OF uni
vers.ty undergraduates
Neither the great scholastic institutions
Of America nor yet those Of England can
lay claim ever 10 have exercised any such
political influence upon the course or
events IN their respective countries as
those of Germany. Spain. Austria, Russia,
Portugal, italy, Turkey. etc. At the
instituted two or three purely religious
movements the authors Of which how
ever. have been. not the undergraduates,
hut the dons. There has been marked
abstentiOn from politics. and although the
college debating societies may occasionally
get up some mild enthusiasm about ma
t.Onal issues. yet the vast majority OF the
scholastic youth or the EnglsA-speaking
countries attach infinitely more impOr-
lance TO football baseball cricket and
games Of one kind and another than to
electoral warfare or to parliamentary
strife. And il IS IN this preference which
American and English UNDERGRADUATES
manifest for athletic pastimes that must
be sought the most satisfactory expana-
ton 10 a question that has just been adj
dressed - the Tribune. namely. as to why
the students Of American universities
SHOULD show so much less interest IN poll
ties than those of continental Europe.
sports Instead of Politics.
II is because the Anglo-Saxon under
grad" is so entirely absorbed by his sports
that he holds aloof from politics. Sports
scarcely leave him time enough for that
minimum of study which is Indispensable
to the taking Of a degree. Where on earth.
then. should he find leisure to discuss such
ahstruse questions as the tariff or silver
question in the United States or the ever
lasting home rule problem in Great Brit
ain? To him the composition OF the foot
ball team. of the baseball nine or of the
cricket eleven is of UNNECESSARILY Greater
importance than the constitution OF
mere cabinet or the reorganization If a
party, such as the Goo Coos. and am
sorry to say that he shows a decided Iref~
erence for Sporting Life and the London
Referee to the London Times and The
Evening Post. of New York.
Sports play no part in the life of the
4,r rf,aCs
True. as long as the German schoolboy is
at the gymnasium or public high school
he belongs to what is known as the turn
Verein.' and goes IN largely for y mnas-
tics. But from the moment he leaves
school and has his name entered at the
university he abandons gymnastics in ia
Vor of beer: and II is at the various cafes.
liquor saloons and beer gardens that the
continental undergraduates spend all their
leisure hours. instead of on the football
or cricket field. Athletics are absolutely
unknown TO the students of Spain, Portu-
sal. Italy, Austria and Russia. Those in
Germany DO a little in the fencing line,
just enough. in fact, 10 keep their hand IN
for the idiotic students duels which are
the subject of 50 much ridicule, both at
home and abroad while the divinity stu
dents at Constantin0ple occasionally OBJ
tain a little active and healthy exercise
by beating and prodding with their long
iron-tipped staffs the Armenians or other
inoncnsive Christian subjects Of the sui
tan whom they may happen 10 encounter
when engaged in painting the town
green that being the fayorite color of
the prophet
How the Softas Live.
They none of them have any definite
and common residence such as have the
students of Harvard, Yale, oxford and
Cambridge. colleges where the under
graduates are lodged, boarded and sub
jected 10 certain amount Of wholesome
discipline They live wherever they can
hire a room and take their meals at the
cheapest of restaurants. places where
drink plays a far more prominent part
than nourishing food. The result Is. OF
course. that they make the liquor store
their home II is there that they congre-
gate whenever time hangs on their hands.
and the unfortunate combination OF idle
ness and liquor gives birth 10 the newt
able offspring thereof namely politics.
Students possess neither the mental bal
ance nor Yet the experience of the world
that is acquired only with mature age.
They are fun of enthusiasm and OF the
rrckiessness that. i'm its best phases, re-
suits from youth. ami In its less fortunate
aspects from drink. In fact. the only
Soldering iniuence-the kind of brake that
occasionally checks impulses Of TOO hot
and physical siuggishnesss produced by
an excess of German beer. which liqnid
may he said % have saved Germany and
Austria from many a riot and Insured
tionary movement
The very numbers Of these students. as
we'll as their organization into a number
Of secret societies. each Of which has its
HEADQUARTERS ar some more or less repu-
table drinking resort render them "A per
pstual menace 10 public tranquility As
they know their power. the authorities
trmpcriZe with them. save in Russia,
where they are subjected TO suoh an
amount Of cruel tyranny that il results
IN <ih.lsm- more than nine-tcrths of the
Nihlist PARTY consisting OF past or pros
cut students helonEing 70 the various
NIuscoNife universities Thus. in Berlin
alone there aye unless I am much mis-
taken. some 1oo students. which may
serve 90 eVulai9 how important was the
role which they PLAYED in the bloody DAYS
of l>ts. when war RACED in the streets of
Berlin. NJ Dresden. AZ Prague. az Bonn,
SON che Rhine. as well as al Heidelberg,
they are numbered by the thousands also.
while I'm C0usta0tinop}e the Sofas arc
legion. In.sn of thew having been d"portet
by ;he sUItans orders some three years
.ar rthH.r MAKING any appreciate diff
ference in their numbers.
Objectionable I n!erGraduates.
az an ,hr Caa.aen.ai undergraduates
tH-v are tao most Objectionable. Dirty, iE-
rr-8nt ana A.eats] 81 a degree taay are
Htt.J v.-1 fanatic hatred - everything
fnrefa- ana. drawn iu mes. cases fr1sn
-.lruc places 81 tae ottoman empire.
i--E have nd 'Ie4 NJ t1e power eNf~'sset
tz Western nations nor are .atr able Fl