Evening star., 1900-07-14
RUSkIN HALL, OXFORD.

If he meant business. That was the gen.
eral air of everything about tho nlace
There are accommodations for twenty-five,
students at the hall. most of whom are in
ualning to become lecturers or assistants
a other centers.
Students DO the Homework
Perhaps the queerest feature of the whole
thing. and feature that IL TO be preserved
In the United States. is that every student
In the hall is expected to work two hours
a day at cooking, housecleaning etc. as no
servants are kept. and there are no women
about the place That is how the cost Of
residence is kept down to such low figure.
Although housework is not a part Of the
curriculum. the men soon become experts
at IT, and there IL Il growing suspicion at
Ruskin Hall that a man can scrub a floor
more effectively and more economically
than woman | had rather counted on
hnd.ng man with mop in one hand and
text book on political economy in the
other, but was disappointed. for the pre-
vailing maxim is ''One thing at a time
Although many OF the students are mar
ried and occasionally bring their wives TO
oxford with them, the women have 10 live
elsewhere.
The students who take residence at Rus
Kin Hall stay anywhere from two months
to a year, and usually have managed to ar
range with their employers to have their
places held open for them, the idea being
that man who has taken course there
is a rather better and more intelligent work
man than he otherwise would have been.
1t is not the intention that the work a
graduate does in extending the field of
Ruskin Hall shall interfere with his trade,
whatever it may be. Most Of those who de-
vote their whole time to the institution get
less money for it than they would if other
wise engaged. The rest is thrown in for
the good of the cause.
In consequence of all these economies the
who'e big institution now falls short only
s2.JOo year of being self-supporting. The
newy established hall in Birkenhead al
ready pays Its own expenses.
What They study.
If, as really seems possible this expert
ment is going to have a marked effect on
the British and American workingman, Il
becomes interesting to see what it is that
they are being taught. The list Of four
teen courses is made up OF these branches:
Sociology. in which special attention IS given
to the development OF modern society and
present social conditions: English consti-
tuition and political history, in which stress
is laid on the origin and development OF
Eng .lsh government; English industrial his
tory, covering land laws and the efforts Of
the workers to better their conditions: tho
industrial revolution, devoted to a consd-
GRAFTON of the mechanical inventions and
new industrial organizations. which changed
England into a vast workshop
The cooperative movement and the rela-
tion of corporation to modern social and
Industrial problems. Trade unionism. A
short Introduction into political economy.
Principles of politics, intended to give to
the student an insight into the workings OF
modern political machinery and an under
standing of the constitution and self-goy-
ernment. The labor movement. Psychol-
ogy especially applied to habit. atten-
ton reasoning memory, emotion and In
stinct. Philosophy, based on the needs OF
an organic society rather than on the spec
ulations OF pedants. English literature,
especially with reference to essay writing
John Ruskin as the prophet of a new social
order. Course for training and lecturing.
There also are classes in English, French,
German, mathematics and logic, as re-
quired.
paper of not more than 700 words each
week. Corresponding students are expect
ed to write such a paper every month. Both
are revised carefully. The correspondence
students have to pay a twenty-flve-cent en-
trance fee and twenty-five cents a month.
Oxford Students Shifted mt IL.
Although most of the Ruskin Hall IN
structors are oxford men, the hall has
nothing whatever to do with the ancient
university. A good many of the university
dons who condescended to give any atten-
ton at all to the matter thought 1t rather
audacious. and the oxford students were
rather inclined to have fun with 1t. When
the first public meeting was held I'm oxford.
at the time the hall was opened, the uni
verSity students prepared to take II by
storm But Nrooman and his co-laborers
20 IT tina the meeting place filled
completely with symps thizers before the
students got around, Sc the demonstration
didn't come off.
The first Englishman to enlist Ia the new
movepent was the present general secre-
tary, H. b. Lees Smith, who was at that
time Oxford undergraduate, but has
since taken his degree, and will soon cut a
nSure in the United States head of the
movement there. He is a trim. energetic.
smooth-faced young man, who talks like
an American. although he never has been
in the United States
Like every enterprise of this sort, Rusl1in
Hall has had good deal of criticism.
Some of the labor organizations that were
interested I'm IL at first found fault with
some of the teachings. Others made a fuss
They said it ought to be kept at home. and
threatening to warn American trades
unions against the Ruskin Hall delegates.
President Erooman, who has been sup
plying a good part of the funds from his
own pocket, naturally had notion that his
own views should have considerable weight,
and when those views came into conflict
with the opinions OF the labor organizations
the president not always inclined TO
give way. But a healthy squabble now and
then Is usually a sign of activity and ag-
gressiveness. and apparently Ruskin Hall
has come to stay. CURTIS BROWN.