The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-29
LOW. KID GLOVE SOCIALIST.
TIE COLUMBIA SCHOOLS OF
A RULING ARISTOCRACY.
..The state shall he All and We Cultivated
Men VIII &c the stnte.o They shipper 10
Heaven na They Plunge Int the Gulf where
Th.y,u Find No Kid Gloves on tho yrob.

Men Will Be the State" They shipper 10
Heaven ns They Plunge Int the Gulf where
They'll Find No Kid Gloves on tho Mob.
The kid glove socialism OF Columbia University
looms up behind the candidacy OF Seth Low. To
know what that socialism Is, who nro promul-
eating 1t and what Seth Lows relations with it
arc, is the duty OF every voter.
The names OF Profs. Franklin II. Giddines.
Richmond Mayo Smith. f. G. Goodnow. Edwin
II. A. Seligman. and Lecturer Edmond Kelly are
not prominent in the lists OF the directors Of tho
Citizens Union. 1t would be decidedly danger
Gus to the progress OF that remarkable political
body II their names were publicly connected
with II; but Seth Low Is their President and, In
a sense. their employer. They were selected to
do the part they are now doing In promulgating
socialism in Columbia University by him or by
those acting under his directions. James B.
Reynolds is their pupil and the exponent Of their
theories, and John u. Pine Is Mr.. Lows associate
in their direction. 1t is true. as set forth by Mr..
William VI. Wins elsewhere in THE Sun. that in
their published works they disagree with Mr..
Lows campaign contention that municipal gov.
crnmcnt is n matter OF business. not politics;
but that "easily presented and extremely
spccious theory" Is tho theory of Mr.. Low,
drunk with the desire for office" Nobody now
doubts that, once in office, he would be prompt
to recognize and use its political powers. When
his professors of economic science speak and
lecture, their words are pleasing in Mr.. Lows
| cars. Their theories are his theories. Othor-
wise he would remove them from their places.
His record as Mayor of Brooklyn and as Prcsi.
dent OF Columbia is not that OF n man who toll
crates originality or independence Of thought in
his subordinatcs.
1t is the tardy real zation OF the intimate re-
lntlons between ths Citizens Union candidate
and the Citizens Union Campaigners on tho
one hand and the Columbia soclalistic move.
mcnt on the other that is driving observant and
conservative men out OF the Low camp. They
go out thanking their stars for the sclf.-uflCicnt
conccit and the pol .tical ineSpericnce OF the
Citizens Union Directorate which gave them
time to see whittier they were being led. During
these las; few days OF the campaign the great
effort OF the Directorate is to shout down the
murmurs OF those who have become enli htened
and to gather recruits, no matter how much
mislcd, how ignorant. or how dangerous, who
will stay in the ranks long enough to cast their
votes for Mr.. Low next Tuesday. Mr.. Low him
self Is making ten speeches a day in this effort
But Prof. Franklin II. Giddings and his asso-
ciatcs have been talking to Columbia classes for
several years. and their IDEAS are not to be
talked out OF sight until next Tuesday by
speeches at the rate of ten a day from a dozen
candidates. Those who have observed from the
lnSIte Tue tcuutlCS u inc department U DOIllI
cal economy in Columbia University know just
what Prof. Giddings and the rest represent. The
dangerous views and theories OF Prof. Giddings
arc not TO be found in his published works. They
seldom find expression in his addresses outside
OF the university halls. Il may be said paren'
thetically, that when he docs say a dangerous
thing, in an address outside OF the university.
he tries TO cover Il over and minimize the dan
ger OF its reaching unsympathctic ears by hand
ing out TO the reporters who arc present ~falsitied
abstracts OF what he has said.
He did this. for instance. after his address be-
fore the Nineteenth Century Club last year
when he said that government by the people ii
this country had proved to he a failure, and thai
corporations and trusts were using the peoples
representatives for their own corporate ends
BY n careful collection OF the impressions OF mer
who have sat under Prof. Giddings in the class
room and who have not known that their word
were being used TO form an estimate OF the dan
gcrous tendencies in the Giddings school o
economy. THE SCN is able to formulate viii
perfect fairness an estimate OF what tn,
Columbia socialism really is.
]; is the socialism OF Prot. Richard T. Ely o
Wisconsin University and Johns Hopkins Uni
versity: it is kid glove and dress coat socialism
as contrastcd with the bareiis.cd and blue
jumper socialism OF Henry George. 1t is tn
socialism OF aristocracy. 1t says: Let ii:
who have culture and n college educa
ton. and whose children will have culture
and co lesc cducations proclaim socialism. lie
us 60 at it gradually. from municipal con
and all the rest. But let us deceive our
selves into believing that ii IL necessary e
make our socialism so complicated and abstrus,
that we shall be the only ones capable OF eN
pounding and administering il; ana that onl!
!, those who are our peers in intellectually AM
culture shall be able TO continue 1t in eN
iStence: Let us sway The poor dear people D!
In his lecture room Prof. GiddinGs is as lusty
: a shouter, against trusts. corporate rights
! and vested interests, as any Western octopus
l hunter OF 1896. He teaches that corporations
even now hope to own the Govcrnmcnt;"' tina
, the great body Of the voters of the United
States are merely tho tools and the politica
slaves OF the moncyrd interests" and that thos'
utivc power are, almost invariably paid agent
! OF monopolists." Through the complex reason
ing Of His discourscs lie shows TO his pupil
a iicetiug glimpses OF n Utopia where the Gov
, eminent is the only corporation. controlling
D everything from railroads to colleges. The poor
. t h6StTissfi psGbS BE- riob BE pF By the p %nR hHr9 a ne
= trusts until the right OF suffrage has come t
mean nothing nj all, are not to be trusted will
the administration OF this socialism. The ad
ministration is to be in the hands OF tho cdu
Q What the Low idea Of education is has bee,
strikinsly expressed by Prof. Harry Thurstor
n pecs Of c p.o1 a., IL is fair to v assume Y c one on,
"a he writes Of education. Il he did not. he wouI
not be in Columbia to-day. Linked closel
4 with many other very serious educational mis-
= takes. +" says Prof. Peck. and from many point
V Of view. By far the most profound and seriou
OF them all. is that curious fancy which i
almost universal among our p~coplr,-that etuca
=, ton in itself and Tor all human beings is a goo
" md thoroughly desirable possession. -
j Education means ambition, and ambition mean
n discomfort; yet the state DEGREES that n
shall have some share OF education, tina
i is. some share OF discomfort. And as tho vas
% majority OF minds are limited and feeble. con-
g puisory education means everywhere con
pulsory discomfort. ' Nor is there. an
Z moral safeguard in n limited degree OF educ1
ton. Quite the contrary. II only makes
h naturally criminal person fai more dangerous
converting the potential sneak thief into Tn
actual forger and cmbcZzler. and the barroor
brawlcr into the anarchistic, bomb ,thro Scl
ia And hi is due to the ill.considercd sy
TEN which forces u half etncAtion on AL me
y State some OF its most difficult sociologici
a problems: A soundcr policy would make tn
way TO education easier. DIT not free 20 Il.
IL This is tho last Illuminating touch added I
G. the Glddings' Mayo. Smith-Scl igman-GooduO
A. school OF socialism. They are Just as much tn
), foes OF social order, vested rights, establishc