Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-28

Our economics" students dis
cuss glibly about the end of
Laissez-Faire, via some textbook
on the subject. but have never In
their lives read Adam Smiths
The Wealth of Nations"-from
which they might have learned
that the man whom they are told
was the parent of Laissez-F aire
never unqualifiedly believed in 1t
either.
THEY read Mr.. Beard-and Mr..
l. Rugg-on the history Of the
Constitution. but I have never yet
met a college student who had
read more than two or three Of
[ : federalist papers.
Every last mothers son Of them
has definite and dogmatic opinions
about the last war. gained from
popular writers on the subject.
among them Mr.. Walter Mills.
and almost all Of them view the
present struggle In the world as
though IL were a mere duplication
of the last struggle.
Actually. they know nothing
whatsoever about even the last
one. They have never read the
distinguished and documented his
tories, whether from Germ a n
sources, or whether from English.
They have seldom read the papers
of Woodrow Wilson, or The New
Freedom"
And. similarly. though they
know all about John Chamber
lain,s concept of the democratic
state as a Limited racket" they
have read almost no Machiavelli-
who Is better, and even more
interesting.
They don't read De Tocqueville.
they don't read Bryce, they do
read the popularizers. who also
perhaps have read neither De Toe
queville nor Bryce.
THERE is an almost complete
i neglect in our colleges of all
the branches of philosophy. espe-
cially Of the philosophy Of politics.
This gives its ephemeral and
superficial nature to the thought
OF most Of our educated" youth.
They know great. great deal.
about a great. great many things.
But their education has given
them neither a personal nor a
social philosophy. They haven't
any point in their minds from
which they look about them and
to which they refer what they see.
Most Of our modern thinking
has this febrile quality of intel
lectuality without foundations. OF
brilliance without intelligence. Of
knowledge without sense.
THIS Is what makes II so easy
l. for them to be liberals one
moment and "progressives" the
next. and 10 sail from either point
into an apologize for fascism or for
communism. The end of it all is
nihilism.
They don't know what they
believe in, and. indeed. they are
encouraged TO think that to be-
lieve in anything at all Is some
how "narrow-minded." as though
the mind was something indiscrim-
inately open to every plausible
idea and was not an organ for
constant precise selection. choice.
association. synthesis.
They are asked, or ask them
selves, every question except a few
OF the really important ones. such
as what. in the light of history.
have been happy and creative
TELL college student that he
i can learn more regarding the
real nature of ia cism and its
causes from Aristotle than he can
from most modern writers on the
theme and he gapes in astonish-
ment. for that great. clear. free
mind lived couple of thousand
years ago. before there were
streamlined trains. and thus infer
entially has nothing to say to the
human mind and soul today about
the essentials. in content and
structure. OF a good society.
Our students admire Lincoln
because they have been taught
that he sought 10 make a larger
and more social democracy. which
is correct. but they do not drink
al the same spring from which
Lincoln drank---namely, the Bible
from the wisdom OF the great
prophets and the inspired Gospels.
Mr.. and Mrs. Lynd's Middle
town" is probably a completely
accurate" study of Muncie. Ind.
But just the same, it isn't at all
like Muncie. Ind II isn't nearly
as Ike Muncie. Ind, as Sinclair
Lewis Main Street" is.
Because human beings are simply
not measurable in any really i'm
portant way by the yardsticks used
by the Lynds. It's a fine piece Of
work and worthy of reading. pro-
vided that the reader knows this.
Copyright. 1871 New York Tribune, Inc.
February %. All rights reserved
GnDN h~~v~~n