New-York tribune., 1905-04-23
POLITICAL STUDENTS.
Role of University Undergraduates
in EurOpcaR UpriSingS.

dispatches describing pOltlcaI agitation anu
Eestlessness among university students. The
latter are largely responsible for the present
internal disturbances in the principal cities of
Russia and are in open conflict with the govern
ment In Spain there have within the last few
weeks been riots instigated by undergraduates
at Valencia and other cities, of sufficient gravity
to warrant military interference In Austria
and Italy the undergraduates have, by their
political demonstrations, strained the relations
between these two allied nations to such an eX-
tent that at one moment last winter seemed
probable while in Germany the students of the
various universities and even the alumni C'dle
aIten Herren" as they styled in the dOmln-
ion of the Kaiser) are UP in arms just at pres
ont against the Minister of Public Instruction
n. Studt owing to the latter's edict repri-
manding the undergraduates of Berlin and of
Hanover for sending an address to the German
speaking students Of the Austrian University of
Innsbruck congratulating them their strenu-
GUS opposition to the establishment of profess
sorships of Italian. portion of the population
of the TyrOl and of the district of which Inns
bruck is the principal educational centre Is
Italian speaking and of Italian origin. 1t was
for their sakes that the Austrian government
proposed to establish Italian chairs, which called
forth such intense anti-Italian feeling among the
German element at the university as to lead to
the mob on the one hand and the police and the
troops on the other.
Strange as it must seem to Americans and to
English people that university undergraduates
should figure so conspicuously in the political
movements on the Continent Of Europe, the
most cursory glance over the pages Of the his
tory of the last hundred years will suffice to
show that the students have been in the van OF
every revolutionary rising. Indeed, those Of
1S4S and 1S49 that convulsed all Europe, and
which resulted in the abdicatiOn of a number
of old fashioned and reactionary mOnarchS op-
posed to popular rights and to constitutional
government, were almost entirely the work Of
university undergraduates
Neither the great scholastic institutions Of
America nor yet those of England can lay
claim ever to have exercised any such direct
political influence upon the course Of events In
their respective countries those of Germany,
Austria, Spain, Italy. Russia, Portugal and
last but not least, Turkey At the very most,
Oxford may be said to have instituted several
purely religious movements the authors Of
which, however, have been. not the undergrad
yates. but the dons. There has been a marked
abstention from politics, and although the college
debating societies may occasionally get up some
mild enthusiasm about national issues, yet the
vast majority of the scholastic youth of the
English speaking countries attach 1nntlltely
more importance to football, baseball, cricket
and games Of one kind and another than to
electoral warfare or to Parliamentary strife
And IT is in this preference which American
and English undergraduates manifest for ath-
letic pastimes that must be sought the most
satisfactory explanation to a question that has
Just been addressed to The Tribune, namely, as
to why the students Of American universities
should show so much less interest in politics
than those of Continental Europe.
It Is because the American and British under
graduate is so entirely absorbed by his sports
that he holds aoof 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 should he find leisure
to discuss such abstruse questions trusts.
tariff or silver in the United States. the ever
lasting home rule and fair trade problems in
Great Britain? To him the composition of the
football team. Of the baseball nine of the
cricket eleven or of the college eight is of i'm
measurably greater Importance than the con-
stitution of a mere Cabinet or the reorganization
of a political party. and he shows a decided
preference for Sporting Life" and THE
Referee over 1.-The London Times and-but it
would be invidious to mention any contemporary
on this side of the Atlantic.
Sports play part in the life of the students
Of the Continental universities. True, as long
as a German school boy is at the gymnasium
or public high school he belongs to what is