Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-14
ENGLisH VIEW OF DIR. ANDREWS
ns Great Radical Daily Papcr
wakes Interesting Remark..

VIE" OF DIR. ANDREWS.
brstain's Great Radical Dnt,x p.
wakes Interesting Remarks.
From the London Chronicle
The dismissal of DR. T. Ra,,.,,
drews from the presidency of Brown I-,,.,
'ersity, Providence. r. l., is the mos. So
rious blow yet struck I'm America Inv a..
capitalist oliSarchy which threatens soc,a,
economic and intellectual liberty i'm IN.
.hion' and we do not wonder that the cas-.
mas attracted attention In the United States
Sehate- Dr. Andrews is one of the abIast
men IN american university life. and his
Piesiuehcy OF Brown University has led tn
great expansion of the power and inf,u.
ce ol that institution. A man of a nou
eriui' Keen and somewhat encyclopei,,.
h;n Dr andrews has especially identiacd
ninlseN with the study of economics 90,
is' now that DIR. Francis A Walker 10 ~.
more the recognized head of the American
academic bimetallists. He Was ono q, a..
n,a.,. icah deiegates TO the Brussels mon
etary conference. and il is no dish. -
fhent TO his colleagues to saw that he -,
easHs Hrst among them in knowledge aud
capacity His work on bimetaijsm wba,
nnot We may think of its conclusions. ts
probabiy the best statement of that sid, or
tne controversy which has been iss,,ed yst
~ Is assumed everywhere in Amaric,,
where the subject has been under ken lis
'',oh ior some time, that DIR. Andrews
mas Deen dismissed from the presiden., ar
Brown University because or his berat, -,
financial views, and because he like So
many other wise men. sees fbe prou,,,r
menace TO American liberty of the trusts
anu synulcates, and has warned his coma
uymen against them, and has also .,d,,o
Gated public ownership of big monopolies
when nave passed out from the stage OF
possible economic competition. There can
pe no other explanation of this dismissed
IMAM this, and the explanation is rendered
the more certain because not long ago
Prof Edward w. Bemis was dismissed
rom the chair OF economics in the new
University of Chicago on the same ground
vi course. the real ground was not stated
out Two Things We're clear-first, the Uni
Nersity OF Chicago was heavily endowed by
n .ne STANDARD OIL magnates. and second,
FroI Bemis had advocated the public own
ership of certain municipal monopo,ies in
winch those magnates were interested The
case OF Prof Bemis caused widespread dis
cussion ana not little indignation; the
case of DIR. Andrews will deepen the i'm
preston made
1t seems to us quite certain that n con-
flict Is approaching i'm the United States
wnlch VIII shake the Union as IT WAS
shaken by the great slavery contest of am
carrier generation. The power of organ
lied wealth has reached a point where IL
becomes inconsistent with the healthy cx-
istence and growth of republican institu-
tions- The tariff bill Just passed was not
demanded by the public. but by the trusts
and IL is they which will reap whatever
dement, may accrue from this reactionary
measure The state of tension between tho
trusts and both the workmen and the gen.
eral public is becoming keener every day
But no merely economic outcome of the
power OF concentrated capital is so serious
as is the pretension of wealthy men to con-
troll academic teaching and culture
Whether bimetalism is true or false IS
nothing to the point. Scores OF economists
in Germany. France and Great Britain be-
lieve in 1t, and openly teach II without any
other effect than to provoke controversies
mainly academic. Universities and colleges
should exist solely for the purpose OF frank,
Tree investigation into every department OF
learning. every aspect of life with which
science or culture can deal III the univer-
sity is gagged the intellect of the country
is crippled its intellectual organs of vision
are destroyed. Suppose Newton had been
forbidden at Cambridge to teach any new
doctrine which made against the received
dogmas in physics. or that Wolf in Ger
many had been prevented from inauiiing
into the real origin of the Homeric poems
where would our learning and culture have
been today? We owe the awakening life
of Europe to the foundation OF the great
medieval universities-Pars. Oxford and
Bologna, and We owe the fruitful influence
of these great institutions to the fact mat
they were free.
But there is one great difference between
such subjects as theories OF gravitation an
Gent Greek history. archaeological remains,
even theology on the one hand and eco
nomics on the other. The difference lies
In the fact that economics concerns itself
with the production and distribution of
wealth, and that may touch the interests
OF the rich man. Therefore the wealthy
men VINO endow colleges care but little
what is taught about experimental physics
or early Hebrew literature but a great
deal about what is taught in the realm of
economics. Splendid as have been the do
nations OF wealthy men in America 10
a rrraft- ..refes
sure whether, In some cases. there has not
been an unworthy motive behind these
gifts. The rich men, who have already SO
largely controlled the American pulpit I'm
the large cities, seem to have made up
their minds that it would also be We'll to
get hold of the colleges and universities
where the study of economics and political
science Is FAR more widely extended than it
Is In England. All the institutions of the
republic, from the Senate to a corner gro
Gerry i'm prairie town, are to be managed
by the owners OF the big monopolies-that
seems to be the idea entertained by these
magnates; and consequently the universe
ties, as being the places where the mind
OF youth is formed, are to be captured enc
by one. That this will rouse a most bitter
feeling first and dangerous insurrection-
airy movement next is absolutely certain.
A people who abandoned their seats OF
learning to the control of rich men Chem
selves neither cultured nor caring, as a
rule, for culture) would deserve TO lose
their liberty; would, as a matter of Tact,
soon lose 1t.
We anticipate. therefore. the rise of a
great wave of opinion in the United States
against the pretensions of the monopoust
class as dangerous to freedom. From the
economic point of view that movement will,
unless We are mistaken. lead to the substi-
tuition of public for private control of the
big trusts and ownership by the public OF
some forms of monopolies. From the aca-
demic point of view. IL will lead probably
to the substitution of state for private coll
leges and universities, as in several of the
western states already is the case.
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