The news & observer., 1905-12-31
EDUCATION IN %
DIPLOMACY,
FINANCE, RELIGION
Phases of Progress Con-
sidered by Thinkers.
Lifting American Colleges Out OF OLD
Ruts. Our Methods in World Politics.
Business Gains. Christian
Federation.

0AlOus
In the world of industry. Of com
merce. and Of agriculture, the year
1895 has made new records The
international commerce win probably
exceeded $4,000, coo. 900. a little more
than one-half Of that being represent.
ed by export from the United States.
The crops as a whole were never ex-
ceeded. and the domestic trade in vol
ume. in heaIthfulness. and in the
prompt payment Of obligations has
made a new record But there have
been other developments ia the year
1906, which from one point OF view
are even mere impressive than any
which can be represented By staticti-
cal figures
Ia the fields of education, of di-
plomacy. OF finance. and that higher
field which is occupied by those en-
gagged in the work Of religion. there
have been some new and encouraging
features showing how sympathetical-
" the advance in thought, in phil
anthrophy. and in the higher intellec-
tuai activities has kept step with
the advance in material things.
President Nicholas Murray Butter.
tunity during the summer for per-
sOnaI investigation into the education
al activities OF Great Britain and the
Continent Of Europe He was there
recognized as one Of the foremost
American authorities in the work OF
education. and possibly the foremost
IN the science of pedagogy DE- But
Ter during the year has noticed that
there is a better understanding Of
ssfa a Ia
the American college out of the ruts
OF tradition and stiff fornalities and
who hope to make the college Servf-
eeable through the facility with which
il accepts and adopts the changes
that are all about us. Dr. Butler
Speaks of this better understanding
as one OF the striking Developments
Of the year in the field of education.
Furthermore. he says that the chiel
object of real education is more and
more understood TO be the proper
training of the country's youth TO bear
we'll their part as citizens of the Re-
public.
Prof John Bassett Moore. who was
Secretary of the Paris Peace Commls-
sion. and who is the highest authority
upon the history OF American diplo-
macy. speaks of the Russian and
Japanese Peace Commission that met
in this country as not only the fore
mcst work of diplomacy during the
year. but also as illustrating the new
and unconventional methods which
the diplomats have at last adopted.
He cites the meeting of the Commis-
sioners at Portsmouth. where, without
excessive formalities or any red-tape
proceedings. these representatives OF
their respective nations met around
a table as illustrating the new meth
Cd OF diplomacy. That he regards as
one of the conspicuous features OF
the year.
The manager of the New York
Clearing House. William Sherer, who
daily feels the financial pulse, and
whose vocation is that or an overseer,
so to-sDeak. speaks OF the record or
the cIearings of the exchanges of the
New york Clearing House for the
vear as proving that il was the year
of the greatest domestic and inter-
national business ever done in the
United States
Fx-postmaster General Thomas L.
James some ten years ago established
n lecture course at Colgate University
for che purpose of showing how
trivial are the difficulties IN the way
of a reasonable federation of all the
religious churches. Clergymen OF va
rious denominations preached from
the pulpit OF that institution and
many think that this object lesson
served we'll all of those who hoped
for an organized federation That
federation has now been perfected,
and General James tells of il, speak
ing of it as the conspicuous event in
the religious world for the year 1919
The President OF Columbia Universt7
on Education.
In the annual report of the Pres
ident of Columbia University to the
Board of Trustees it was stated by
the president that it is now widely
appreciated that the most pressing
problem in American higher educa-
ton is that which concerns the fu-
ture place and character of the COL
lege. The college in which youths
are inspired with high ambition and
are to gain the best inspiration of their
lives. and where they are brought
under the disciplining and ennobling
infiuences of scholarship, cannot be
made Of brick and stone. IT must be
as much a social and moral institu-
ton as an intellectual one. and it
has been very gratifying To observe
that there seems to be a general ap-
probation of this. which. this year.
has led to fine endowments by which
instruction in social economy, in phil
anthrophy, in physical research, and
The like undertakings are made possi-
BILE for many of our colleges.
/ am still persuaded. that whatever
might have been said years ago of the
necessity of a rigid. strict. four-year
college course nothing can be said
for il now Forty years ago the
standard of admission into our col
leges could be reached in a few years
less time than are necessary now for
the preparation of-students who enter
our colleges. Today the require