Oxford Report 1908

Background notes

The complete report is shown in this single web page. You can scroll through it or use the following links to go to the various chapters.

Preliminary pages (page iii)
Note, Preface, Contents

Chapter I (1)
Educational movements affecting workpeople
Chapter II (11)
The university and colleges of Oxford
Chapter III (32)
The Oxford extension movement
Chapter IV (41)
The demand by workpeople for university education
Chapter V (55)
Tutorial classes beyond the university
Chapter VI (71)
The admission of workpeople to Oxford
Chapter VII (82)
The after careers of working-class students
Chapter VIII (87)
Summary of recommendations

Appendix I (91)
College statutes
Appendix II (95)
Cost of living in colleges
Appendix III (97)
Government grants for tutorial classes
Appendix IV (99)
Powers of LEAs under 1902 Education Act
Appendix V (103)
Grants from Gilchrist Educational Trust
Appendix VI (104)
Tutorial classes at Rochdale and Longton
Appendix VII (109)
Courses of study
Appendix VIII (155)
Suggestions for preliminary study

The text of the 1908 Oxford Report was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 27 October 2018.


The Oxford Report (1908)
Oxford and Working-class Education

Oxford: The Clarendon Press


[title page]

Oxford and
Working-class Education


Being the Report of a Joint Committee of
University and Working-class Representatives
on the Relation of the University
to the Higher Education of
Workpeople





Oxford
At the Clarendon Press
1908


[page ii]



HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE





[page iii]

NOTE

WE are glad to be able to report that the following steps have already been taken by the University to carry out the recommendations made below:

(1) A Statute was passed through the Convocation of the University on October 27, empowering the Extension Delegacy to form a Committee consisting of working-class representatives in equal numbers with members of the Delegacy.

(2) At a meeting of the Extension Delegacy on October 30 such a Committee was established, in accordance with the Statute.

Tutorial Classes will be held this winter under the new Committee at the following places:

Chesterfield
Glossop
Littleborough
Longton
Oldham
Rochdale
Swindon
Wrexham.
(3) The Committee for Economics has agreed to the resolution as to the admission of Tutorial Class students to the Diploma course expressed in §132 below.


[page iv]

(4) The Committee for Economics, acting on the suggestion made in §133 below, has passed a resolution in favour of the inclusion of Political Science in the Diploma course for Economics, and has appointed a sub-committee to draft a scheme.

(5) The Trustees of the University Appeal Fund have approached the University with a view to the establishment of a Lecturership in Political Theory and Institutions.





[page v]


NOTE. The Tutorial Classes are of course open to women upon the same terms as to men; there are several women students in the classes now at work. It is intended that the whole scheme shall benefit the education of working women as much as the education of working men. It would be within the province of the proposed Standing Committee to consider any further steps with regard to the education of working women which may from time to time appear desirable.

It should also be kept clearly in mind that the Committee has not dealt with the passage of boys from Primary schools to the University, holding this question, although at least of equal importance, to be outside its reference.



[page vii]

PREFACE

AT a conference of working-class and educational organizations, held in the Examination Schools at Oxford on August 10, 1907, under the auspices of the Workers' Educational Association, the following resolution, moved by Mr. Walter Nield, President of the North-Western Co-operative Educational Committees' Association, and seconded by Mr. Sidney Ball, Fellow and Senior Tutor of St. John's College, Oxford,(1) was passed:

That this National Conference, consisting of working-class and educational organizations, affirming the growing desire on the part of workpeople for Higher Education, and anxious for the further co-operation of Oxford in the systematic teaching of historical, economic, and other liberal subjects, approves the formation of a Committee of seven persons nominated by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and seven persons nominated by the Executive of the Workers' Educational Association, with instructions to report before Easter next to the organizations here represented, as to the best means of carrying into effect the suggestions made in the two papers read before the Conference.
In pursuance of this resolution, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford appointed the following persons to represent the University of Oxford upon the Committee moved for at the Conference:
1. Thomas Banks Strong, Doctor of Divinity; Dean of Christ Church; Chairman of the Delegacy for the Extension of Teaching beyond the limits of the University.
(1) The papers read by Mr. Nield and Mr. Ball have been printed and can be obtained from the Secretaries of the Standing Committee, Queen's College, Oxford, 4d post free.


[page viii]

2. Herbert Hall Turner, Fellow of the Royal Society; Doctor of Science; Savilian Professor of Astronomy; and Fellow of New College.

3. Arthur Lionel Smith, Master of Arts; Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College.

4. Sidney Ball, Master of Arts; Fellow and Tutor of St. John's College.

5. John Arthur Ransome Marriott, Master of Arts of New College; Lecturer at Worcester College; Secretary to the Delegates for the Extension of University Teaching.

6. Hastings Bertrand Lees Smith, Master of Arts of Queen's College; Professor of Public Administration and Economics at University College, Bristol; Chairman of the Executive Committee of Ruskin College.

7. Alfred Eckhard Zimmern, Master of Arts; Fellow and Tutor of New College.

The following persons were nominated through the Executive of the Workers' Educational Association:
1. W. H. Berry, Assistant Secretary of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, representing the Educational Committee of the Co-operative Union, Ltd.

2. C. W. Bowerman, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary of the London Society of Compositors, representing the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress.

3. Richardson Campbell, F.S.S., High Secretary of the Independent Order of Rechabites; Ex-President of the National Conference of Friendly Societies; representing the National Conference of Friendly Societies.

4. J. M. Mactavish, Labour member of the Portsmouth Town Council.

5. Albert Mansbridge, General Secretary of the Workers' Educational Association; member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education.


[page ix]

6. David James Shackleton, M.P., Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress; member of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education; Secretary of the Northern Counties Weavers' Association; Ex-Chairman of the Labour Party; representing the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress.

7. Alfred Wilkinson, Labour member of the Rochdale Town Council.

The Committee thus constituted has held five sittings, of one or more days, in Oxford between Christmas, 1907, and October, 1908. At its first meeting on December 27, 1907, the Dean of Christ Church was elected Chairman, Mr. D. J. Shackleton, M.P., Vice-Chairman, and Mr. A. E. Zimmern and Mr. Albert Mansbridge Joint-Secretaries. For the better dispatch of some of its detailed business the Committee appointed two sub-committees - one to deal with financial and administrative questions and the other with courses of study. The members of the Finance Sub-Committee were the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman, and Secretaries, together with Mr. Berry, Mr. Bowerman, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Marriott, and Professor Turner; of the Curricula Sub-Committee the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Secretaries, Mr. Ball, Mr. Lees Smith, Mr. Mactavish, Mr. A. L. Smith, and Mr. Wilkinson. The information collected and the courses drawn up by these sub-committees are contained in the Appendices to this volume.

We regret that we were unable to present our full report before Easter, 1908, as instructed by the Conference held on August 10, 1907. But the matters which came under our notice were so important that we decided to defer it until we had had time for further discussion, and, pending its completion, to issue an interim report for the consideration of the Vice-Chancellor of the University and the various University bodies whom its recommendations concerned. This was done in May, 1908. We have now considered, to the best of our power, the subjects covered by our terms of


[page x]

reference, and submit the results of our inquiries and deliberations in the following final Report.

We have divided it into the following chapters:

1. Educational movements particularly affecting workpeople.
2. The University and Colleges of Oxford: their purpose, history, and endowments.
3. The Oxford University Extension movement.
4. The demand made by workpeople for University education.
5. The establishment of extra-mural Tutorial Classes.
6. The admission of workpeople to Oxford.
7. The after career of the working-class students.
8. Summary of recommendations.





[page xi]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS PARTICULARLY AFFECTING WORKPEOPLE

PAGE
1. Manifold sources of the movement for adult education1
2. The Adult School Movement1
3. Mechanics' Institutes2
4. The Co-operative Movement:3
         Organization4
5.     Educational grants4
6.     Educational work5
7. Working Men's Colleges: The London Working Men's College6
8. The Trade Union Movement8
9. Ruskin College8
10. The Workers' Educational Association9

CHAPTER II
THE UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGES OF OXFORD: THEIR PURPOSE, HISTORY, AND ENDOWMENTS

11 . Object of the chapter11
12. English Universities and Colleges and the advancement of learning11
13. Rivalry of Universities in the advancement of learning11
14. Two ways in which Endowments are used for learning: for teachers and students12
15. Teaching at Oxford12
16. University Teachers: annual expenditure12
17. College Teachers: annual expenditure13
18. This expenditure will not diminish13
19. Reasons why the higher developments of learning are expensive13
20. The Committee's recommendations take account of the University's duty towards learning14
21. Students at Oxford14


[page xii]

22. The University before the foundation of the Colleges14
23. Turbulence of the students15
24. The declared purposes of the Founders of Colleges15
25. The Colleges devoted to learning, mainly theological16
26. Question for whom the Colleges were founded16
27. View of the Royal Commission of 185216
28. Confirmations of this view16
29. Reasons against this view17
30. Evidence from the University records18
31. Conclusion18
32. Changes in the composition of the Colleges19
33. Two sets of causes19
34. Increase in the fixed expenses of College life19
35. Decline of the yeoman class20
36. Result of these causes21
37. Reasons for bringing forward the historical argument22
38. Working-class opinion on the historical argument23
39. Arrangements for students of small means23
40. History of the scholarship system23
41. Scholarships originally restricted to certain schools or localities24
42. These restrictions largely swept away after 185225
43. The present scholarship system25
44. Sums expended on scholarships and exhibitions25
45. Double character of Oxford scholarships and exhibitions today26
46. The abolition of restricted scholarships and of the servitor system adverse to the children of poor parents26
47. Summary of discussion of the scholarship system27
48. Endowments: reasons for discussing them28
49. Classification of revenues29
50. Statement of University and College revenues30
51. Use of endowments for educational purposes30

CHAPTER III
THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY EXTENSION MOVEMENT

52. Reasons for the chapter32
53. The origin and objects of University Extension32
54. Method of Oxford University Extension33
55. Finance of Oxford University Extension34
56. Results of Oxford University Extension35


[page xiii]

57. Reasons why the Oxford University Extension system has not yet supplied the education desired by workpeople36
58. It is too expensive36
59. It necessitates the attracting of large audiences37
60. The teaching is not systematic37
61. It is too much withdrawn from the University39
62. Necessity of closer contact39
63. Suggested means of contact with Oxford40
64. Prospects of the Extension Movement40

CHAPTER IV
THE DEMAND MADE BY WORKPEOPLE FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

65. Connexion between the University and social movements outside it41
66. Two causes of the growing demand for University education41
67. (1) Growth of State-supported education: its direct and indirect effects upon the Universities41
68. Effects of State-supported elementary education42
69. The University and the problem of secondary education43
70. The Trades Union Congress secondary education policy44
71. Policy of connecting Oxford with the public secondary schools44
72. Necessity of supplementing this policy44
73. Informal means of further education among workpeople45
74. (2) Increased interest in social problems45
75. Difference between the present movement and earlier movements45
76. Significance of the movement46
77. Urgency of the working-class appeal owing to changes in the distribution of political power47
78. The older Universities as a training-ground for political life47
79. The functions of a University in a democratic community49
80. It should be accessible to every class49
81. It must not necessitate a change of class: it should therefore offer a humane education to all classes49
82. The relation between general and technical education50
83. It should inquire into educational needs52
84. Representation of workpeople on University governing bodies54
85. Importance of the principle of direct working-class representation54


[page xiv]

CHAPTER V
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TUTORIAL CLASSES BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE UNIVERSITY

86. Two lines of advance55
87. The two must not be dissociated55
88. The Tutorial Class56
89. The organization of the class56
90. Advantages of working-class management: the education will meet the needs of workpeople57
91. It will disseminate a desire for education58
92. Necessity of systematic and continuous courses59
93. The Rochdale Tutorial Class60
94. Limited size of the class60
95. Preparatory classes61
96. Personal relationship between student and teacher62
97. Continuity of study and attendance62
98. Necessity of regular private reading62
99. Necessity of an organized supply of books63
100. Duties of the teacher64
101. Qualifications of the teacher64
102. Necessity of some experience of the working-class point of view65
103. Status and remuneration of the teacher66
104. Reasons for giving the teacher an academic status66
105. Prestige of the direct connexion with the University66
106. It will preserve a high level of work66
107. It will be helpful to political and economic study at Oxford66
108. It will increase the attractions of the profession67
109. It will be of advantage to undergraduates67
110. Necessity of arrangements for study in the University67
111. Awarding of certificates68
112. Admission to Diploma courses68
113. Proposed Diploma in Political Science68
114. Expenses of the Tutorial Class69
115. Expenses borne by the local organization69
116. The cost of books69
117. Contributions by the centres and by Oxford towards the salary of the teacher69
118. The Permanent Joint Committee at Oxford70


[page xv]

CHAPTER VI
THE ADMISSION OF WORKPEOPLE TO OXFORD

119. The problem of bringing students to Oxford71
120. The Committee of Selection71
121. Instructions to this Committee71
122. Analogy with the Rhodes Scholarships72
123. Necessity of financial provision72
124. Recommendation for provision of scholarships or exhibitions73
125. Sources for the provision of such funds73
126. Oxford Colleges73
127. Labour Organizations74
128. Local Education Authorities76
129. The question of residence in Oxford Colleges76
130. Facilities for political and economic study at Oxford78
131. Degree students will be rare78
132. Adaptation of the Diploma in Economics78
133. Need for the inductive study of Politics79
134. Need for increased staff of teachers in these subjects80
135. Necessity of using the vacations80
136. Suggestions for using the vacations81

CHAPTER VII
THE AFTER CAREER OF THE WORKING-CLASS STUDENTS

137. They will return to their town and society82
138. Increasing number of responsible positions for workpeople82
139. Knowledge required for Trade Union work83
140. Parliamentary and municipal work84
141. Work as teachers of Tutorial Classes84
142. These proposals only a first step in a new development84
143. The career open to talent85
144. The need for education in all ranks of life85
145. Conclusion86


[page xvi]

CHAPTER VIII
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Teaching beyond the limits of the University87
2. The admission of working-class students to Oxford88
3. The position and payment of teachers88
4. The authority for organizing working-class education89
5. Ruskin College89
6. Diploma in Political Science90
7. Special Inquiry Department90

APPENDICES

I. THE ORIGINAL COLLEGE STATUTES91
II. ON THE COST OF LIVING IN COLLEGES95
III. GOVERNMENT GRANTS FOR TUTORIAL CLASSES97
IV. THE POWERS OF LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES UNDER THE EDUCATION ACT OF 190299
V. CONDITIONS OF GRANTS IN AID OF TUTORIAL CLASSES FROM THE GlLCHRIST EDUCATIONAL TRUST103
VI. REPORTS ON THE TUTORIAL CLASSES AT ROCHDALE AND LONGTON104
VII. COURSES OF STUDY109
VIII. SUGGESTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY STUDY155


[page 1]

CHAPTER I
EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS PARTICULARLY AFFECTING WORKPEOPLE

1 THE story of adult education in the nineteenth century has still to be written, and we cannot in this chapter do more than give a brief sketch of the movements which throw most light on the problem before us. They show that the demand now made by workpeople for the opening of the Universities is not the outcome of merely fugitive conditions, but has behind it a great mass of experience derived from the attempts which they have made in the past, sometimes unsuccessfully, sometimes with moderate success, to organize higher education suitable to their needs. Since it has rarely been crystallized in permanent institutions, their interest in education has not maintained a steady level or a regular advance, but has waxed and waned, leaped forward and sunk back, as the hopes kindled by other movements awoke them to new possibilities, or distress and disappointment made them sceptical of any kind of progress. Religion, machine production, the co-operative movement, Christian socialism, political discontent, have all contributed something to the demand for higher education among workpeople, and have left their mark upon the movement with which Oxford and other Universities are now confronted.

2 Earliest in point of time, and growing in influence to the present day, was the Adult School movement(1), which commenced at the end of the eighteenth century as an attempt to organize undenominational religious teaching for working men and women, and which, largely owing to the enthusiasm of members of the Society of Friends, has of late spread its branches over the greater part of England. In 1906 there

(1) See Professor Sadler's Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere, which has been used freely throughout this chapter.


[page 2]

were about 1,200 adult schools in existence, and about 100 new schools are opened every year. The number of members was 82,600 (men 60,000, women 20,000, junior 2,600). While the atmosphere of the schools is religious, they are more and more dealing with secular subjects. Their ultimate purpose is 'to intensify the social spirit by associating men together for the free study of the deeper problems of life, viewed in relation to the ideal of manhood set before them in the Gospels'. The time of meeting is usually Sunday morning, and Bible reading or religious instruction is accompanied by general teaching of one kind or another dictation, writing, or short lessons in history, science, or geography. It seems probable, to judge by developments which are now going on, that in the future the adult schools will systematize more thoroughly the instruction which they give in secular subjects. If this is done, they are likely to play a very important part in the higher education of workpeople.

3 Contemporary with the beginnings of the adult school movement was another development of a very different kind. At the end of the eighteenth century the industrial revolution had almost killed the craftsman in certain industries, and was creating the mechanic. The application of science to industry produced a demand for a race of workmen who had received some training over and above the customary dexterity imparted by the traditional and fast decaying apprenticeship system. This tendency, in conjunction with the increasing interest taken by the public in the physical sciences, resulted in an attempt to supply workpeople with technical education by means of Mechanics' Institutes, which sprang up and flourished in rapidly growing industrial centres like Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Birmingham. From 1800 to 1804 Dr. Birkbeck, the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow, lectured to 500 artisans; while at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Hawick, there were almost equally large audiences. In 1821 the Edinburgh School of Art was founded for giving education to the working classes; in 1823 the Mechanics' Institution was founded in Glasgow, the Mechanics' and Apprentices'


[page 3]

Library in Liverpool, and the London Mechanics' Institution in London; while in 1824 Manchester took the first step towards its present magnificent Technological College by founding a Mechanics' Institution. For the next twenty-five years the movement spread rapidly. A number of unions of institutes were formed in several different counties for the purpose of engaging lecturers and interchanging opinions. In 1850 there were in England about 610 literary and mechanics' institutions, with a membership of 102,000; in Scotland 55 institutes, with 12,500 members. The success of the movement in England was due first and foremost to the fact that it supplied a need with which the State had hardly begun to cope, by offering workpeople an easily accessible training in the scientific principles of their professions; and it is noticeable that in Wales and Ireland countries at that date almost untouched by the great industrial change it was a comparative failure. But after 1850 it declined very rapidly. Some institutes had never succeeded, in spite of their name, in attracting the artisan class. In others it was found that the preliminary equipment of the student who had never attended an elementary school was too small for him to make good use of lectures and classes. In all there was probably some disillusionment and disappointment when it was found that the direct effects of technical institutions in bettering the material condition of the individual workman were comparatively small. As an organized and widespread effort, therefore, the Mechanics' Institute movement carried little weight after the middle of the century. Its permanent success lay in preparing the way for a Government Department of Science (established in 1853), and for the foundation of the younger Universities.

4 At the time when Mechanics' Institutes were laying the first foundation of technical training, a group of workmen, under the inspiration of very different ideas and associations, were organizing a movement which for more than half a century has set education in the forefront of its programme. The Co-operative Societies, which at present form a large federation embracing about 2½ millions of men and women


[page 4]

nearly one-sixth of the whole adult population - combined in their origin several diverse elements: an idealistic faith in social regeneration, keen business ability, and something of Owen's belief that, given appropriate conditions, and above all appropriate education, human nature could be modified almost indefinitely for the better. Distrusting alike individualism and political action, they set themselves to try and construct a type of co-operative character by using the business profits of co-operation to teach their members to be better co-operators. From the starting of the Rochdale Pioneers(1) in 1844, a fund for education has been set aside by most societies, and at the present time the co-operative movement possesses an elaborate educational organization, and an income for education which, though small when regarded in relation to the total profits of the co-operative movement, is still considerable. Its educational machinery consists of the following bodies:

(i) The Central Educational Committee of the Co-operative Union, dealing with the whole movement, and formed from the Sectional Boards, with representatives of the Educational Committees, Associations and the Women's Guild.

(ii) Sectional Boards and District Associations.

(iii) Educational Committees, Associations, one in each section, working, if possible, in connexion with the Sectional Boards and District Associations.

(iv) Educational Committees and Women's Guilds connected with local societies.

5 The grants made by co-operative societies for educational purposes amounted in 1907 to about £93,000. As to the expenditure of the money thus raised, no particulars are available since 1896. In that year, at the Woolwich Congress, a special committee on co-operative education was appointed, and 402 societies responded to its inquiries. Of these societies 267 had educational funds, the amount devoted by them to education during the year 1895 being £36,336. Of this sum

(1) The Rochdale Pioneers originally set aside for education 2½ per cent on their dividend, since reduced to 1¼ per cent.


[page 5]

over £11,000 was spent upon reading rooms and £5,000 upon libraries. Lectures and classes absorbed £2,000. The report of the committee states that entertainments and concerts, carried on chiefly for propaganda purposes, would account for the greater part of the remaining £17,000.

6 The serious educational work of co-operative societies consisted, till recently, of three kinds - first, the maintenance of continuation classes for children and young persons; second, the organizing of lectures and classes for adults; third, the payment of fees and the granting of scholarships, such as the Hughes and Neale Scholarships at Oriel College, and the Blandford Travelling Scholarship. The organization of evening schools by the local authorities, which was made possible under the Education Act of 1902, has caused several co-operative societies holding continuation schools to hand them over to the local authority; and there is a growing and probably a wise feeling among the co-operators that their educational funds could be better expended than in giving education which would otherwise be paid for out of the rates. More characteristic of the co-operative movement, and more important in itself, has been the attempt to promote humane education among adults, combined with a training in the fundamental principles of co-operation. The objects of co- operative education are defined as 'primarily the formation of co-operative character and opinions by teaching the history, theory, and principles of the movement, with economics and industrial and constitutional history in so far as they have a bearing on co-operation; and secondarily, though not necessarily of less import, the training of men and women to take part in industrial and social reforms and civic life generally. It deals with the rights and duties of men and women in their capacities as co-operators, workers, and citizens'. As a reaction against purely individualistic industry, the co-operative movement naturally emphasizes the importance of studying the corporate life of society; and it has been strengthened in the high line which it has taken by the influence exercised upon it at different times by the teaching of Robert Owen, by Christian socialists like Maurice


[page 6]

and Kingsley, and by reformers like Arnold Toynbee. Of the work which it conducts through its own teachers, the greater part tends to be given to the study of co-operation, and the numbers attending classes are even in this subject disproportionately small. In 1907 there were 705 adult students for the study of co-operation, while 1,764 students entered co-operative book-keeping classes. But in addition to the teaching which they themselves organize, co-operative societies have given financial aid to University Extension courses, and by the emphasis which they lay upon education have encouraged their members to attend them. Their influence has thus not been limited to the movement itself, but has acted as a stimulus to Universities, local authorities, and other teaching bodies, to supply higher education of the kind desired by workpeople, and in a form accessible to them.

7 The fourth movement which we have to notice is the attempt to attach students to a permanent institution by the foundation of Working Men's Colleges. The earliest was established at Sheffield in 1842 under the name of 'the People's College', and it was followed by others at Wolverhampton, Manchester, Ayr, Salford, Cambridge, Leicester, and above all, London. Most of these have either expired or changed their characters. The London Working Men's College, however, has not only had remarkable success as an educational institution, but has remained very near to the original intention of its founders. The idea of Frederick Denison Maurice and his friends was in its essence an attempt to broaden adult education by converting it from a system of instruction into a way of life. In his own words: 'What we wanted was, if possible, to make our teaching a bond of intercourse with the men whom we taught. How that could be, we might never have found out. But the working men themselves had found it out. We heard in 1853 that the people of Sheffield had founded a People's College. The news seemed to us to mark a new era in education. We had belonged to colleges. They had not merely given us a certain amount of indoctrination in certain subjects; they


[page 7]

had not merely prepared us for our particular professions; they had borne witness to a culture which is the highest of all culture. We had formed in those Colleges friendships which we hoped to keep wherever we went - friendships that had had an influence upon our life and character through all the years that had passed since we left them. ... Was it not a glorious thing, then, that working people should lay hold of this name; that they should say: "We are determined we will have Colleges. Whether you set them up among us or not, we will have them, because we want to connect all our education with our social life, with our fellowship as human beings"?' Maurice saw that the individual student is weak, and that it is mainly in companies that uneducated men travel on the road to knowledge. Moreover, he valued co-operation for its own sake, and brought to education something of the mystical love for 'fellowship' which was afterwards popularized by the art and writings of William Morris. This settled the concrete form into which his plans were to run, and made him prefer collegiate education to separate classes or courses of lectures. At the same time, he realized what many enthusiasts for popular education forget, that the teacher divorced from a tradition of learning, is apt to drop to the level of his audience, and therefore, while insisting that the College should be a College of workpeople, he was anxious that it should keep in close touch with the older Universities. 'The Universities, we hope, will receive persons coming with certificates from our College as readily as from any other, and will grant our students degrees, provided they go through the necessary examinations. How the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London may be disposed to accomplish this object, we cannot, of course, foresee, but we are confident that no fee will hinder working men from having all the advantages which their fellow-countrymen possess.' These words were written in 1854. At the present day, the Working Men's College in London is the only institution (apart from Ruskin College and the new College at Selly Oak) which offers workpeople both a University education and comradeship in learning. In the year 1906-7,


[page 8]

the total number of persons entering the College was 3,411, of whom 50.4 per cent were engaged in manual occupations.

8 Other agencies and movements might be mentioned, including the University Extension Movement, with which we deal in a later chapter. But it is time to pass on to the influence which has done most in the last few years to turn the attention of workpeople to Higher Education the revival of a belief in the possibilities of political action. This has inspired trade unionists with something of the same enthusiasm for humane studies that was felt by early co-operators; and though the movement does not do much officially to promote education among its members, trades' councils and trade union branches are more and more adding the organization of lectures, classes, and discussions to their other duties. Thirty years ago the Nottingham Trades' Council had much to do with the inauguration of University Extension work, and at the present day, though there is little system or method in the means adopted, there is a growing opinion that Trade societies should aid the education of their members.

9 Its fruits are seen in the support which has been given to Ruskin College, which was established in 1899 to give working men, and especially those likely to take a leading part in Working-class Movements, an education which will help them in acquiring the knowledge essential to intelligent citizenship. The work is carried on partly by the education given in the College, partly by the correspondence school, which is designed to help the home reading of those who cannot come to Oxford. The course of instruction for the year runs from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, and the students may enter at any time for a period of not less than one month. Each student is expected to work two hours a day at cleaning, &c., and to take his turn as delegate, as no servants are kept, except a cook. There are no examinations or creed tests, religious or political. The cost of residence, covering board, lodging, and education is £52 per annum. The courses of study include classes in political economy, history, sociology, local


[page 9]

government and public administration. There are also classes in essay writing, and in English grammar, logic, and arithmetic. An essay of not more than 700 words is expected from each student each week during residence. The Council of the College includes University men, and well-known trade unionists and co-operators. During the six years of its work 232 students have come into residence, the greater number for one year, including among them engineers, miners, spinners, weavers, black- smiths, painters, and representatives of many other trades. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers has raised £1,350 for the College by means of four levies of one penny on its 95,000 members. The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has subscribed £300 to the Building Fund and has established three scholarships. The Northern Counties Weavers' Association has given £90, and three scholarships. Subscriptions have been received from the London Society of Compositors, the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, and other working-men's organizations.

10 Of the movements which we have described nearly all were hampered by two serious difficulties, the early termination of the school life of the working classes (see §72), and the dissociation of the efforts of workpeople from co-operation with the Universities. The former is now under the consideration of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education. With the latter it is the object of this Committee to deal. Though adult education has throughout the nineteenth century received much support and encouragement from individual University men, there has till recently been no regular machinery for enabling Universities to ascertain the special needs of the working classes as voiced by their representatives, and little organized effort on the part of workpeople to claim the Universities as a common national possession. This state of things has been changed by the formation of the Workers' Educational Association, which has succeeded in bringing academic and working-class opinion into alliance, and was indeed responsible for the Conference which led to the appointment of the Committee. The


[page 10]

Association was founded in 1903, and consists of a federation of over 1,000 working-class and educational bodies, including- 420 Trade Unions and Branches, 150 Co-operative Committees, 120 adult schools and classes, 8 University Extension Authorities, 3 University Colleges, 350 Societies, chiefly composed of workpeople, but including Literary societies, University Extension Centres, and others. It has fifty local branches in different parts of England and Wales, and is governed by a Council representing the branches and the affiliated national movements. Its work consists in stimulating the demand for Higher Education among workpeople, in co-operating with Universities and other Education authorities, to supply their needs, and in acting as a Bureau of Intelligence upon all matters which affect the education of workpeople. By organizing Higher Education upon a democratic basis under the direct control of work- people themselves, and at the same time placing at their disposal the best academic advice, it has succeeded in bringing together two elements which are indispensable to the success of any movement for the Higher Education of the working classes. We consider that the best hope for such education in the future lies in the growth of the Association, and in its establishment on a sound financial basis.



[page 11]

CHAPTER II
THE UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGES OF OXFORD: THEIR PURPOSE, HISTORY, AND ENDOWMENTS

11 IT would not be germane to our purpose to enter upon the history and work of the University of Oxford in any detail. But, as in the later part of our Report we make various recommendations affecting the University, it seems desirable to set out clearly and briefly what the actual situation is. What we say may be familiar to many of those into whose hands our Report will come; but we have thought it better to run the risk of this than to leave our point of view uncertain.

12 The University and Colleges of Oxford, like all other Universities and Colleges, is a body constituted for the preservation and advancement of learning. This aspect of it is apt to be overlooked, and undue emphasis is laid upon what are called its social advantages. No one can possibly wish to deny that the association of people together in a residential University has effects upon the character which are, in most cases, of the greatest value; but it cannot be too distinctly asserted that these results are incidental rather than primary. They depend, of course, upon the common pursuit of knowledge, upon the intercourse of students and teachers, who are drawn together by a common interest, or who follow various lines of interest side by side. It is not the mere association of individuals that gives Universities of the English type their special character - it is their association in the pursuit of knowledge.

13 If the University of Oxford were disposed to forget or ignore this purpose within its own limits, the rivalry of other Universities would force the matter forward. Oxford has to take its share - a share that adequately represents its history and capacities - in the general advance in knowledge. It is affected by the modern conditions which have brought all


[page 12]

parts of the world more closely together: it has to consider what is going on, not only in the sister-University of Cambridge, but in the newer English Universities, and, perhaps still more, in the Universities of Germany and America. Whatever else it might do, it would have failed in its first duty if it were to lose ground among the learned bodies of the world.

14 Any consideration of the University must start from this its primary function; but it is of special importance to keep it clearly in view if we are attempting to form an opinion upon the Endowments of Oxford arid the use made of them. We may say, roughly, that it exercises this function in two ways - by providing a large body of trained teachers, and by securing that persons who have capacity and desire for learning shall have the opportunity of attending their instruction.

15 The teaching-function of Oxford is performed by two classes of people - by the Professors and Readers who teach in the name and with the authority of the whole University, and by the Tutors and Lecturers, who are appointed and paid by the Colleges.

16 (i) University Teachers. In the University Calendar for 1908 (pp. 37-41) will be found a list of 105 Professors and Readers. These are the persons to whom the University entrusts its higher teaching, and of whom it expects the advancement of learning. They are not all appointed in the same way, nor upon the same conditions; they vary greatly in the work required of them, and the stipend paid to them. Roughly speaking, the cost of this body of teachers is £40,000 per annum, of which sum the Colleges, directly or indirectly, contribute about £27,000.(1) To this expenditure must be

(1) These figures do not pretend to exactness, but they have been tested in various ways, and will be found, we think, to be fairly accurate. The accounts of the University simply deal with the moneys administered by the Curators of the Chest, and therefore do not show, for instance, the stipends of Professors paid wholly by a College, but do show endowments of which the proceeds are paid completely to a Professor, in regard to which the University simply acts as an intermediary. The accounts, both of the College and the University, are presented in a statutory form, which aims at showing not the cost of the work of the University, but the agreement of its administration with the requirements of the Statutes.


[page 13]

added a considerable outlay each year upon the equipment of the various departments. As would naturally be anticipated, such items are largest in connexion with the various branches of Natural Science.

17 (ii) College Teachers. By far the largest part of the teaching and lecturing is done by the Tutors and Lecturers. From the published accounts for 1908 it appears that the sums paid by the Colleges to the Tuition Funds amounted to some £62,000. This sum covers the amounts paid to the Tutors, but other expenses are also included. It is impossible to tell from the published accounts the exact sums paid for teaching.

18 There is not the slightest likelihood that expenditure of this kind will diminish, though it is possible that by reducing their staffs Colleges would effect economies. Indeed, there is a strong feeling that many subjects are, in the present conditions, existing at a starvation level. Owing to the lack of means, professors have to do their work as best they can with very insufficient equipment; and the bare needs of the University, for its own work in Oxford, cannot be satisfied without the expenditure of a very large annual sum.

19 There are many reasons why the higher developments of learning must necessarily prove expensive. Research, even such research as is required for a teacher, much more such research as really advances his subject, needs leisure. Its results are attained slowly, and cannot be produced at will. As in the old days books were too expensive for the individual student to possess in large numbers, so now the scientific inquirer needs costly apparatus and laboratories. It is possible that expenditure has not always been conducted with the strictest eye to economy; but it is never possible to base a criticism of the expenses of higher learning upon the analogy of trade without considerable danger of error. Unless the pursuit of new knowledge in untried paths is to be starved, there will always be the appearance of waste: there will be efforts without tangible result, and persons will occupy themselves in investigations which seem useless. Like all other reasonably ordered institutions, the University should work with an eye to economy; but the freedom of its


[page 14]

workers to follow their lines of study unhindered is a more fundamentally necessary consideration even than economy.

20 We have placed these reflections in the forefront of our remarks upon the University because we think it important to emphasize our conviction that any method of dealing with the University which impaired its value as a learned body, or diminished its output in the various branches of learning", would be ruinous to the University, and would defeat its own end. We give reasons below (§107) for our conviction that our recommendations, so far from thwarting or diverting these activities, will afford them valuable co-operation and stimulus.

21 We remarked above that the University fulfils its functions in two ways - by providing teachers and by attracting scholars. We must now pass on to this second branch of the subject. It must be remembered that the modern organization of the University with which we are familiar does not correspond with its original form. In the first days of the University there were no Colleges, and it was the introduction of the collegiate system which had most to do with the gradual change in the organization of the University. It is not possible here to go into the history of the University and Colleges in any detail: it will be necessary only to mention a few points in order to make clear our position.

22 According to the best evidence available, the Schools of Oxford came into existence at about the beginning of the twelfth century, while the foundation of the 'University' may probably be connected with a migration of English students from Paris to Oxford in or about the year 1167.(1) It is not certain what form of government they used: there is no mention of a Chancellor till the year 1214; it is probable, however, that they reproduced the order to which they had been accustomed at Paris. Of this Dr. Rashdall writes as follows (op. cit. p. 361): 'The University of Paris was what has been called a merely customary society, without officers,

(1) See Dr. Rashdall, Universities in the Middle Ages, vol. ii, p. 339. In our account of the University, we have followed Dr. Rashdall throughout, except when stated to the contrary.


[page 15]

written Statutes, or any other attributes of a recognized legal corporation.' At this stage the constitution of the University would have been extremely simple, somewhat like that of a guild of craftsmen. The students gathered round licensed teachers, and, after due instruction and exercises, became themselves licensed to teach. The fame of the teachers drew large numbers of students to the town, and this was a source of trouble as well as a sign of success. In 1213 the King thought it necessary to issue a Brief to the Sheriff banishing all scholars who were not under a regular master (Rashdall, p. 393). So far as there was common life for the students of these times, it would have been in the halls or hostels, of which there was a large number. There were not, at first, buildings specially erected for academic purposes, but merely houses occupied by scholars. They could be let again to ordinary tenants, if the scholars vacated them provided (after 1303) that no other body of scholars wished to take them.

23 It is obvious that a situation such as this must have been greatly lacking in discipline and order. The scholars were apt to be turbulent, quarrelling among themselves and with the people of the town. One of the conspicuous advantages of the Colleges when once founded was that the members of these bodies lived under a rule which tended to protect both them and the townspeople from the danger of unbridled licence.

24 We must now inquire briefly, What were the declared purposes of the founders of Colleges, and for whom were they founded? In answer to the first question we may say generally that every single College in Oxford was founded for purposes of learning. In many of them elaborate directions were imposed by the founder upon those who profited by his munificence, determining the lines of their academic studies. But there was a further purpose usually associated with this. The scholars or fellows were bound to pray for the soul of the founder and his relations - in the case of All Souls, especially for King Henry V and those who died in his wars in France. It was this function, together


[page 16]

with the large attention paid to Theology, that led to the Fellows, who had always been clerics, being compelled to take Priests' Orders. There were no such restrictions in the earliest Colleges. Further, certain great monasteries such as Gloucester and Durham, established houses in Oxford where their monks could reside and acquire such knowledge as they needed.

25 The Colleges were thus places devoted to learning, to a large extent theological learning, in which the Scholars lived under a rule of some kind, and were bound by certain definite obligations. What we have already said about the relation of the University to learning is thus entirely consistent with the purposes of the Founders of the Colleges, though the learning they pursued would look very strange in a modern University.(1)

26 The question for whom the Colleges were endowed is a much more difficult one, and perhaps does not admit of a single unqualified answer.

27 It is sometimes maintained that the Founders aimed solely at providing an access to the higher walks of life for members of the poorer classes. Thus the Report of the Royal Commission of 1852 (p. 136) declares of the Colleges: 'They were designed to supply poor students, so long as they were poor, and so long as they were students, but no longer, with a maintenance, decent and honest, as it is expressed in the Statutes of New College, but of a very frugal character.'

28 There is no doubt much in the old foundation-Statutes which gives countenance to this view. In the large majority of the Statutes the persons to be elected are defined as 'poor', 'poor and indigent', 'poor men living on alms' (pauperes ex eleemosyna viventes); and they are in most cases obliged to swear that they have not more than a certain amount of fixed annual income. For instance, William of Wykeham in founding New College (1386) states that in addition to his kinsmen 'poor indigent clerks are to be admitted because Christ among his works of mercy hath commanded men to receive the poor into their houses, and mercifully to comfort the indigent'. In Queen's and

(1) For further details see Appendix i on the Statutes of the Colleges.


[page 17]

New College the Fellows are forbidden to keep dogs, on the ground that 'to give to dogs the bread of the children of man is not fitting for the poor, especially for those who live on alms'. Further, the sums provided for the daily commons of food, even if we make allowance for the changed value of money, were extremely small; and the rule of plain living was not only held as a theory but enforced in practice. It is worth while quoting, in proof of this, the severe reproof addressed by Archbishop Peckham to the Fellows of Merton, of which College he was the Visitor, fourteen years after the date of the last Statutes of Walter de Merton, 'Regardless of the duties of gratitude and charity, and mindful only of your own advantage, you have taken not little more than your settled allowance, though the decrees of your founder were expressed and urgent, not for an increase of the allowance to existing scholars, but for an increase in the number of scholars. Some there are among you, who desiring to live more delicately than suits the poorer portion of the Community make the modus of your expenditure notably to exceed that which your founder by rule appointed.'

29 There are, however, a number of considerations which make it difficult to accept this view as it stands. The statutable provisions were, in many Colleges, complicated by special privileges for Founder's kin. Even so far back as the Statutes of Dervorguilla, the foundress of Balliol, it is plain that the College consisted of men of different degrees of wealth and scales of living. In the interest of the poorer scholars she exhorts the richer ones to live 'so temperately as not to weigh down the poor by reason of burdensome expenses' (Statutes of the Colleges, ed. 1853, p. vi). Such a provision would have been unnecessary if the Scholars had all been drawn from the poorest class. Again, in the Balliol Statutes of 1507, the Fellows are to choose as a scholar the candidate whom they think most suitable according to three conditions, poverty, excellence of character, proficiency in learning, or one in whom they find these conditions most exemplified in combination. In the Statutes of 1270 for Merton there is a further foundation for really poor men beyond the original


[page 18]

one - pauperes secundarii, 'secondary' or 'second-class poor': and in several cases it would appear that the strictly eleemosynary [charitable] foundation was not identical with the main constitution of the College. Moreover it is very difficult to believe that the scholars could have met the expenses of their degrees and the like if they had nothing, or almost nothing, beyond their Collegiate endowments. As Dr. Rashdall remarks (p. 662), 'the mere fact that great prelates designed the Colleges in part for their nearest relatives shows how far they were from intending their liberality to be confined to the lowest and poorest classes, or from expecting those who accepted it to live like labourers, although at that time there was less difference than now between the diet of the labourer and that of the classes immediately above him. The will of a Fellow of Queen's College in the fifteenth century shows that it was possible for a Fellow to possess several horses, besides sheep and cattle, and to have lent his father as large a sum as £7.'

30 Other points might be mentioned, but the most significant is supplied by the University records, which give us information about individual students themselves. Of these Dr. Rashdall writes as follows (Universities, vol. ii, p. 658): 'After all, as we see from the University records, it was only a very small proportion of the students in a University, and a still smaller proportion of University graduates, who belonged to the pauper or servitor class. The vast majority of scholars were of a social position intermediate between the highest and the very lowest sons of knights and yeomen, merchants, tradesmen, or thrifty artisans, nephews of successful ecclesiastics, or promising lads who had attracted the notice of a neighbouring Abbot or Archdeacon.' And again (p. 661): 'A "poor scholar" in the sense of College founders meant only a scholar unable to support himself at the University without assistance.' 'It is almost assumed that the College Fellow would, as a rule, have some small private means: since the College allowance was usually confined to bare food and clothing' (ibid. p. 662).

31 It is fair to conclude then that the Colleges were not founded exclusively for, or ever tenanted exclusively by, the


[page 19]

members of the poorer classes of the community. They were founded, in an age when life was much simpler and differences of comfort between class and class less marked than in our own, for inmates drawn from all classes but the richest and the very poorest; and they were mainly tenanted by members of what roughly corresponded in the mediaeval division of ranks to our middle class. They were intended for the poor, but not with the idea that they were to remain poor, but that they should become Churchmen, members of a peculiar and powerful caste, rising out of their class into positions of dignity and authority; for in the Middle Ages what are now known as the professions were, with a few unimportant exceptions, monopolized by Churchmen. The important difference between mediaeval and modern Oxford is not that in the Middle Ages the majority of students were drawn from the poorer while today they are drawn from the wealthier classes, but that in the Middle Ages the University was open to practically all who desired to learn, irrespective of wealth or poverty. No doubt the problem was then far simpler than it is now. The necessity for knowledge was less manifest and the desire for it less general and widespread. But we venture to maintain that the recommendations made below, which aim at removing, so far as possible, the bar of poverty, and making the University more accessible to working-class students, are thoroughly in harmony with the original objects of the Colleges.

32 It will perhaps be of interest to inquire briefly into the causes to which this change in the composition of the Colleges is due.

33 In the course of the last three centuries two influences have been at work to alter the social character of the classes resorting to Oxford for an education, and to diminish the number of poor students.

34 On the one hand the fixed expenses of College life have increased with the growth of the demands made upon them for housing room, lecture rooms, and generally for a more extensive and opulent establishment than was conceived in the fourteenth century, or if conceived, would


[page 20]

have been thought suitable for the students. A Visitor of Merton in 1284 might reluctantly yield to the 'importunities' of that Society * some relaxation for wood, straw, and the like '. But at the present day the Fellows of a College must maintain an expensive plant, and a fund for its depreciation, must be prepared to extend it with the growth in the number of students and of branches of study, and must satisfy the demands of exacting parents that rooms are sanitary and commodious. We are far from implying that no reduction is possible in the scale of College life, or that the capital expenditure on buildings has always been necessary or judicious. And though, as Appendix ii shows, efforts have been made in Oxford to keep down the cost of College life to the students, there can be no doubt that the increase in the demands made upon the Colleges, and the rise in the standard of comfort to which the middle classes, during the nineteenth century their chief clientèle, are accustomed, have resulted in making it almost impossible for the sons of poor parents to reside in them unless they receive some special allowance by way of scholarships or exhibitions. To say that the expenses of College life in Oxford are due mainly to the social habits of individuals resorting to them, and to the fashion which they set, is an incomplete statement. Though it is true that there is extravagance among wealthy men in Oxford, just as there is in the same class outside Oxford, and though their habits and example no doubt make life more difficult for the man of small means, the real reason why poor men cannot enter College without assistance lies in the fact that the fixed expenses of College life, fixed that is by the scale of establishment and maintenance which College authorities think necessary, are too great for them to bear, however economical they may be.

35 Side by side with the change in the cost of College life, partly as a cause, partly as a consequence, has taken place a change in the type of student who is able to exercise an effective demand for University education. The mediaeval student was drawn largely, if not predominantly, from the class of yeomen or farmers, and found his career in what are now


[page 21]

classed together as the professions. But with the intellectual and economic revolutions of the sixteenth century, the love of learning spread upwards, while yeomen evicted from their lands were in no position to send their sons to Oxford. If the former change was a blessing, the latter change was an unmixed evil. To writers like Latimer and Harrison the gradual divorce between these classes and the Universities seemed one of the most sinister features in an age of popular suffering. 'If ye bring it to pass,' wrote the former,(1) 'that the yeomanry be not able to put their sons to school (as indeed Universities do wondrously decay already), I say ye pluck salvation from the people, and utterly destroy the realm. Is this realm taught by rich men's sons? No, no; read the chronicles. By yeomen's sons the faith of Christ is, and hath been maintained chiefly.'

36 The result of these and other changes has been the gradual establishment, first between Oxford and the old aristocracy, and then between Oxford and the new aristocracy created by the Industrial Revolution, of the connexion which exists at the present day. These social changes have been partly counteracted on the Continent by the organization of the professions. When the Church ceased, after the Reformation, to be the only gateway to professional life, Continental nations tended to restrict the new professions, as they grew up, to University-trained men, and the Faculties of the Continental Universities are thus to a large extent schools for professional men. But in England practically every profession (except that of higher education) is both by rule and in practice open to aspirants whether they have received a University training or not. This has brought with it some advantages of its own; but it has tended to make University life in England a luxury confined to the wealthy class and to the upper members of the professional class, who can afford a lengthier period of training. Figures as to the wealth and social position of the students are not available, and, if available, would probably be of little value. But it is undeniable that in spite of the presence in Oxford of a considerable number

(1) Latimer, First Sermon preached before King Edward VI.


[page 22]

of comparatively poor men, Oxford is in the main the University of the wealthier classes, and public opinion, even cultured opinion, still clings to the idea that the. main reason for its existence is that it may give to a select class 'the education of a gentleman'. We are far from suggesting that this is a view usually, or even frequently, taken in Oxford itself, and we need not say that in emphasizing the fact that the endowments of Colleges were originally intended, as they undoubtedly were, for the maintenance of 'poor students', we do not imply, what is sometimes stated, that 'they have been taken from the poor and given to the rich'. Such a statement, unless accompanied by large qualifications, would not be true, because a considerable part of the endowments at present held by Oxford Colleges do at the present day maintain students who could not receive an Oxford education without them; and even if it were true, it would have little relevance to the demand now put forward that Oxford should be made more accessible to poor men, because the divorce of the poorer classes from Oxford, which has increased during the last three centuries, is partly due to changes which could not possibly be controlled by the Colleges.

37 It is neither practicable nor desirable that the present policy of Colleges should be bound by all the original intentions of their founders; and we certainly do not base the recommendations made below, which are designed to re-establish a closer connexion between Oxford and the poorer classes, on the mere historical argument that this was one purpose of those who endowed the Colleges. We think it desirable, however, to emphasize the explicit directions of these founders, that the Colleges should provide for 'poor students', partly because they express an idea which is worthy of carrying weight, in spite of the fact that they are no longer legally binding; partly because they explain the widespread, and not wholly inarticulate, opinion of the working classes, that the poorer members of the community have lost something as well as gained something by the progress of education, and that in demanding a larger share in the endowments at the disposal of Oxford, they are asking, not for an innovation, but for


[page 23]

a restoration of old advantages under the changed form which the constitution of modern industrial society makes necessary.

38 Thus the West London Council of the Independent Labour Party in answering a question as to their views on the organization of Higher Education for the working classes, stated 'that the funds requisite for carrying out this idea should be met by grants from the Imperial Exchequer, and by the restoration of educational endowments, which, primarily intended for the education of the poor, have in the course of time become appropriated by the richer members of the community'. The following words of a Labour newspaper represent an attitude of mind which is not uncommon among workpeople: 'So far as the spread of knowledge among all classes is concerned the wealth of Oxford has proved more of a curse than a blessing. It has not made learning any cheaper. It does not foster and encourage poor and deserving students. It does not promote simplicity of life, or keep the University free from abuses, or give equality of opportunity to everybody. It attracted the sons of noble and wealthy aristocrats, who could afford to pay large sums of money for their education, and indulge in all kinds of expensive amusements, and Oxford thus became the rich man's University. The poor and deserving students were driven out of Oxford by heavy expenses, and they had to go where they could get a training for the money. We need some drastic reforms to compel these mediaeval institutions to adapt themselves to the altered circumstances of our own time.' We quote this statement because it expresses at any rate the view of the working classes that Oxford holds her endowments in a fiduciary capacity, and as the trustee, not of a class, but of a whole community.

39 The machinery by which men of small means are enabled to reside for three or four years in an Oxford College consists of scholarships and exhibitions, and of special grants made by the Colleges to poor students.

40 The scholarship system of Oxford Colleges has undergone great changes in the course of their development. It has been applied in several different ways, and its best application is still a matter of controversy. At the present day the 'scholar' is


[page 24]

naturally contrasted with the 'commoner', but this contrast is a comparatively modern one, for there were but few of the Colleges in which it was originally intended that any person should be educated except members of the foundation and their attendants. In the earlier statutes of most of them the name 'scholars' is applied to those who would now be called 'fellows'. But it was necessary to provide for the maintenance of the number of Fellows by making arrangements for recruiting them, and it became in time the custom to establish two classes of members on the foundation - the one consisting of Fellows, who, as a general rule, were to be graduates at the time of their election, the other of persons elected to be undergraduates. From the foundation of Magdalen (1457) this division seems to have become the general rule. But something analogous to it is to be found in the Colleges established at an earlier date. For example, by the earlier statute of Queen's College there was to be added to the governing body of Fellows a proportionate number of poor boys, to be maintained in the College, to wait on the Fellows, and to be educated by a master provided for them. The fourth and last statutes of Balliol, which date from 1507, directed that each of the Fellows was to have the nomination of one scholar, sufficiently learned in plain song and grammar, who was to live on the broken meat of the Fellows' table, and to be the servitor of his patron; and as early as 1386, about a century after its foundation, Merton College was entrusted with an endowment for twelve Postmasters, or Portionistae, who occupy much the same position as scholars at other Colleges. With the admission of Extranei, or persons not on the foundation, first noblemen and gentlemen commoners, then commoners from all classes, there arose the distinction between the scholar and commoner which exists today.

41 The original intention of the founder and benefactor of most Colleges had been to maintain at Oxford a succession of students drawn from schools or localities in which they were specially interested, or to which they owed some particular obligation. Thus University College had certain scholarships restricted to the natives of Yorkshire; the endow-


[page 25]

ments given to Balliol by Peter Blundell were confined to Tiverton school; while of the exhibitions given at Queen's College some were appropriated to schools in Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, others to natives of Lancashire, Cheshire, Wiltshire, Gloucester, and Middlesex. The most striking instance of a connexion established between a College and a particular school was the famous benefaction of the founder of New College. According to the direction of William of Wykeham the persons to be admitted, after his own kinsmen, were to be members of Winchester College. His kinsmen at Winchester were to be preferred to all others; on the failure of kinsmen, then persons of the place where either of his Colleges had spiritual or temporal possessions; next poor indigent clerks, scholars, of the Diocese of Winchester: then persons from certain specified counties: and finally natives of any part of England, provided that they had been instructed in Winchester College for one year.

42 The system of which this is typical lasted, with a few unimportant changes, down to the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was swept away, except in certain special cases, by the Royal Commission of 1852, in order to make way for the awarding of scholarships after examination, and without reference to the place of birth and education, or to the intention expressed by benefactors and founders. At the present day New College still reserves certain of its scholarships to Winchester, Christ Church to Westminster, and St. John's to the Merchant Taylors' School in London, But in the main it is true to say that, with some important exceptions, any boy from any school is eligible to receive an Oxford scholarship, if he satisfies the demands of the examiners.

43 Having given this summary sketch of the scholarship system of the Oxford Colleges, we proceed to discuss briefly how far it may be considered successful in making the University accessible to men of every class, whatever their financial means.

44 The total sum expended annually by Oxford Colleges in scholarships and exhibitions amounts probably to a little


[page 26]

over £50,000. Of this sum about £16,200 a year, or a little less than 35 per cent., is restricted to scholarships and exhibitions tenable only by poor men, either in the way of foundations statutably limited to them, or in the way of foundations (such as the Hastings Foundation at Queen's College), for which only the members of certain schools, attended largely by poor boys, are eligible, or in the way of grants made by the Colleges, at their discretion, to poor men. (These discretionary grants are estimated to amount to not less than £3,000 per annum.) The remainder of the sum of £50,000, amounting probably to about £34,000, or 66 per cent of the total expenditure made annually on scholarships and exhibitions, is awarded without reference to the financial means of the recipient: though of course a considerable proportion of it is, in practice, won by men who could not obtain education in an Oxford College without it.

45 The character of Oxford scholarships is therefore at the present day a double one. Like the rest of the endowments entrusted to Oxford Colleges, they were originally designed to be eleemosynary, for the maintenance of 'poor students' and of 'poor students' only; and this aspect is still preserved in the limitation of the majority of exhibitions to men of small means. But since the middle of the nineteenth century it has been generally held that the maximum of efficiency in the schools could only be secured by awarding scholarships to the ablest candidates, irrespective of their financial needs and position, with the result that nearly all the scholarships have ceased to be eleemosynary, and have become educational prizes given in accordance with the opinion expressed by the Commissioners of 1852, 'that the endowments of the Colleges may be used to mould and incite the schools by encouragement in the form of scholarships.'

46 It would be outside the scope of this report to inquire how far the influence of the Oxford scholarship system upon the schools affected by it is a good one, and how far it is desirable to 'mould and incite' them by offering prizes of £80 a year tenable for three or four years to their ablest members


[page 27]

irrespective of their financial needs. But in consideration of the terms of our Reference we think it proper to point out that the changes recommended by the Commission of 1852, while they did much good, had the effect of severing the connexion which had till then existed between Oxford and a considerable number of Grammar Schools attended mainly by the children of poor parents. While the system of close scholarships, scholarships restricted, that is, to certain schools or counties or to founders' kin, was undoubtedly indefensible, in view of the change in the distribution of the population which had taken place since they were instituted, it appears true to say that it had at one time the advantage of keeping open the communication between Oxford and the poorer secondary schools, and that this advantage was largely lost when the system was abolished, or almost abolished. The importance which the Commissioners, in common with most of the men of their day, attached to 'Free competition' appears to have caused them to overlook its incidental disadvantages, and, in particular, to consider the establishment of a connexion between Oxford and schools attended by the poor as less important than the raising of the standard of attainment in schools attended mainly, though by no means entirely, by the well-to-do.

It is also worth while to point out that the democratic movement of the nineteenth century has in a sense actually had an adverse influence upon the admission of poor students to the University, for it has made the system of servitors, by which poor men in previous centuries were enabled to reside, universally distasteful.

47 To sum up our remarks on that part of the endowments of Oxford Colleges which is dispensed in scholarships: There are three main reasons why, at the present day, the scholarship system of Oxford Colleges cannot be regarded as doing all that is desirable in the way of making Oxford accessible to men of small means. First, the fact that scholarships (though not exhibitions) are awarded without inquiry into the financial needs of the recipients has the effect of diminishing the endowments available for bringing


[page 28]

poor men to Oxford. Most Colleges now send out notices to scholars suggesting- that the emoluments should be returned if not required, and there has of recent years been an increase in the number of emoluments thus returned. But this palliative cannot be regarded as satisfactory. Second, the predominance of classical subjects in scholarship examinations tends to give an advantage to boys from the schools, especially the great 'public' schools, where the classics are taught most fully, and excludes boys from many small secondary schools where the requirements of the majority of the pupils causes those subjects to be crowded out by other studies. It may be noted that there has lately been a tendency on the part of several Colleges to offer more scholarships for subjects other than Classics. Third, the fact that the industrial life of the lad who will be a workman begins not later than sixteen, makes it impossible for him to take advantage of an Oxford scholarship at the same age, and on the same lines, as boys from the secondary schools. While, therefore, the limitation of more scholarships to poor men and the awarding of a larger number of scholarships in subjects other than classics would result in making it easier for the children of the working classes to enter Oxford, a movement which is very desirable, it would not by itself and without further changes bring to Oxford the class which is specially contemplated in this report, namely those persons who are, or who are going to be, workmen themselves. We return to this subject in the recommendations made in §125.

48 Note on Endowments.

It is impossible, without unduly extending our Report, to give a full description of the endowments of the University and their utilization. There are three reasons why it is desirable before closing this chapter to give a brief account of them.

(a) The endowments of the University and Colleges constitute by far the greater part of the financial resources at Oxford's disposal.

(b) There is a widespread conviction among the working classes that these endowments have not been utilized as much


[page 29]

as is possible and desirable in the best educational interests of the poorer sections of the community.

(c) Any proposal to organize the education offered by Oxford in such a way as to make it accessible to men of small means, or to add new branches of study, or to develop those already existing, in the manner suggested below, will entail a certain amount of additional expenditure, and must take account of the funds which Oxford has at its disposal.

49 The Revenues of the University of Oxford are classified, in the statutory form prescribed by the Statute of 1882, under the following heads:

A. External Receipts.
B. Internal Receipts.
C. Trust Funds.
D. Sale of Stock.
E. From Colleges.
Of these A. and C. alone concern us, as they alone represent Endowments.

The revenues of the Colleges of Oxford are classified similarly:

A. External Receipts.
B. Internal Receipts.
C. Trust Funds.
D. Special Funds.
The Internal Receipts do not concern us as they are payments made by undergraduates for services rendered, and consist of Admission fees, Degree fees, Tuition fees, Room rents, Establishment charges, &c. The revenue from special funds is so small, amounting in 1906 to not more than £1,672, that it need not be considered. The revenue of Oxford Colleges from endowments may therefore be ascertained by the examination of the 'External Receipts' and the 'Trust Funds'. The former heading includes income from Estates (land and house property), and interest upon investments. The latter heading includes money given in trust for special purposes.


[page 30]

50 The total net receipts of the University and Colleges under these two heads (A. and C.) are given in the following table:

51 The above statement is taken from the published accounts of the University. These are made up in a form prescribed by Statute of which the object is to show that the Statutes for the University and Colleges approved in 1882 are being kept. In order to ascertain from them the general financial position of the University, it is necessary to combine the statements of the University and the Colleges. Starting then from the figure £265,228 6s 9d, the net receipts from Endowments, &c., of the University and Colleges, we inquire what is their expenditure. From the table appended below it appears that the total internal expenditure of the University and Colleges for the year 1907 was £442,445 17s 6½d - a sum which includes about £6,000 or £7,000, set aside, apparently, for various purposes of reserve. The expenditure exceeds the receipts from Endowments by £177,217 10s 9½d. This deficit is covered by the sums collected from graduate and undergraduate members of the University and Colleges,


[page 31]

which amounted in 1907 to £178,932 1s 8d, leaving a balance of £1,714 10s 10½d.

To analyse these figures fully and set them out at length would occupy far more space than is at our disposal in this Report. We may, however, make the following comments. These figures show how far the University, treated as a single Institution, falls short of being completely supported by Endowments, and how important are the payments of its members. The existence of the Endowments reduces the cost to every one, but the contributions of the members of the University are necessary. Two of the items under the head of Institutions, &c., are high and likely to remain so for opposite reasons. 'Institutions' cover the various Departments of the Museum. These are costly because Natural Science is a new subject, and the University is engaged in bringing its equipment up to a proper level in a comparatively short period of years. The maintenance of Buildings is also a very large item: but this is, in a great measure, due to the fact that the buildings are, in many cases, old. The direct assistance offered in Oxford to encourage a high level of Scholarship in Schools, and to assist poor Students, is found under the head of College Scholars and Exhibitioners: but, as we have already noticed, all persons alike, both poor and well-to-do, are benefited indirectly by the existence of the Endowments.

NOTE. The accounts referred to above are published every May for the year ending on the previous December 31, and can be procured from the Clarendon Press or through any bookseller at 3s. 6d.


[page 32]

CHAPTER III
THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY EXTENSION MOVEMENT

52 THE chief existing means, by which it is sought to introduce teaching of a University standard to persons who are unable to enter the University, is to be found in the instruction organized by the Oxford University Extension Delegacy, and by similar bodies at other Universities. The Extension work of other Universities, especially Cambridge and London, differs in many important essentials from the work of Oxford University and has not been considered in the preparation of this Report. We proceed to state here (i) the origin and objects of the University Extension Movement; (ii) its methods and organization; (iii) the reasons which make it difficult for it, as at present organized, to supply the education of a University standard now demanded by workpeople.

53 (i) The Origin and Objects of University Extension

'University Extension' is a phrase which has been applied in the course of the nineteenth century to different movements having for their object to increase the opportunities for Higher Education open to adult students. Thus the Oxford University Commissioners of 1852 used it to denote plans for founding affiliated halls, for allowing students to lodge in the town in connexion with Colleges, and for granting degrees without residence in the University. It has been taken to denote the great revival of interest in Higher Education which has resulted in the foundation of Colleges and Universities in various industrial towns. In its present and more restricted sense of extra-mural lectures organized by University authorities for students who are not members of a University, it may be said to date from the lectures delivered


[page 33]

in 1867 and in following years by Mr. James Stuart, M.P., then a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. After giving courses of lectures at Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield, Mr. Stuart appealed in 1871 to the University of Cambridge to organize lecture centres under the supervision of the University authorities. His proposal was adopted by Cambridge in 1873, and was followed by the London University Extension Society in 1876, and by the University of Oxford in 1878. Since that date University Extension has been adopted by all English Universities. Between 1885 and 1908, 32,146 lectures have been delivered under the control of the Oxford University Extension Delegacy in some 577 centres, and have been attended by over 424,500 students. At the present day about 40 lecturers are employed by the Delegacy in nearly 300 towns, of which about 138 were in 1906-7 in active work.

(ii) The Method, Organization, and Results of Oxford University Extension(1)

54 University Extension teaching consists of courses of lectures given by lecturers approved by the University, and paid for by local committees, who select the subject of the lectures, provide the rooms, and secure the audience. The courses consist as a rule of units of six, twelve or sometimes twenty- four lectures, delivered at weekly or fortnightly intervals. They comprise subjects drawn from ancient and modern history and literature, natural science, political science, political economy, and art. The lecture lasts for one hour, and is preceded or succeeded by a class lasting as a rule for about half an hour, which is attended by those members of the audience who wish to study the subject in some detail, or to come into closer relation with the lecturer. The members attending the lectures vary from 30 or 40 in country towns to 1,000 in large industrial centres. At the end of the lecture questions are read out or distributed, to be answered at home by those members of the audience who are able and willing to do written work.

(1) In this paragraph we quote freely, and as far as possible verbatim, from the Report of the Oxford University Extension Delegacy for 1907.


[page 34]

These answers are sent to the lecturer by post, and having been read and corrected by him are returned to the writer at the next week's class. Boxes of books are supplied to centres by the University Extension Delegacy. In their use of books the students are assisted by the printed syllabus, which gives an analysis of the lectures and provides lists of works recommended for private study. At the end of the course of lectures an examination is held by an examiner, other than the lecturer, who is appointed by the Extension Delegacy. Entrance to the examination is optional, and open to all students over fifteen years of age who have attended not less than two-thirds of the classes following each lecture of the course, and have written for the lecturer answers to two-thirds of the questions set by him. According to the report of the examiner certificates of two grades, or printed lists, are awarded to the successful candidates, and a prize is given to the student whose work, if worthy of 'distinction', is considered by the examiner to have shown the greatest merit. Terminal certificates are awarded only after courses of ten or twelve lectures; sessional certificates after a complete session's work. Examinations are permitted on shorter courses, but successful students receive, in place of a certificate, a copy of the examiner's award. The summer meetings (one month in duration), held in alternate years in Oxford and Cambridge, give Extension students an opportunity of hearing distinguished lecturers within the walls of a University.

55 The entire cost of University Extension, apart from the salary of the secretary and the expenses of the central office, is borne by the local centres in which the lectures are given, and is in no sense a charge upon Oxford. The fees payable by a centre to the University Extension Delegacy vary according to the grade of the lecturer employed. For a single course of twelve lectures the fee is:

For a Staff lecturer£54 12s
Class A lecturer£42 12s
Class B lecturer£25 15s

The rate is reduced for two lectures delivered in the same centre on the same day, and there is a further reduction for


[page 35]

a federated group of five neighbouring centres employing a class A or a class H lecturer. The fees quoted include classes in addition to the lectures, the correction of not more than 30 written exercises, the loan of a travelling library (35-50 volumes), 100 copies of the printed syllabus, the examination of 21 candidates, the provision of certificates or printed lists, and a specially bound prize. They do not include the lecturer's travelling expenses, which are borne by the centre, nor expenses locally incurred by the local committee. The methods of raising the necessary funds is left by the Delegacy to the discretion of the local committee, and varies in different centres. In a very few, probably not more than six out of 138 in active work, the whole financial responsibility was (in 1906-7) assumed by the local education authority. In about twenty other centres the local education authority made a grant varying from 50 per cent of the total expenses down to a small subscription, or to the free use of a hall for lectures. Apart, therefore, from the maintenance of the office of the Delegacy, which falls mainly on the University, University Extension is entirely supported by the fees of those attending the lectures and by local subscriptions. Unlike other teaching of a University standard, it is not helped by any endowments; but each student pays the full cost of what he receives, out of which the Delegacy has not only paid the lecturers' fees, but has also devoted a sum (about £2,500) to a Lecturers' and Officials' Benefit Fund. The charges borne by Oxford in connexion with the central office are given as follows in the accounts for 1907:

Receipts from the University Chest£535

56 The work of the University Extension Delegacy has been successful in stimulating an interest in Higher Education among a large number of persons, especially women, who are unable to study in Universities. It has elicited hidden talent, and has given encouragement and guidance to many isolated students, a few of whom have been encouraged by the teaching given to prepare themselves for entering one or other of the Universities. It has spread knowledge of the subjects of University education, and has done something


[page 36]

to counteract the tendency to narrow and utilitarian views of adult training. Above all, by arousing local interest in intellectual matters, it has helped to lead to the establishment of Universities or Colleges, as at Sheffield and Nottingham in connexion with Cambridge, whilst Colleges at Exeter and Colchester have been a direct creation of Cambridge University Extension and that at Reading of Oxford University Extension.

(iii) Reasons why the Oxford University Extension system has not yet supplied the education desired by workpeople

57 But, while the Delegacy has accomplished very valuable pioneer work in this way, it has not undertaken to supply the continuous tutorial teaching of a University standard which workpeople now desire, and we think that its work must be supplemented and reorganized in the manner recommended below (see §88) before it can be considered even approximately to meet their needs.

58 There are three main disadvantages under which it labours.

Since the whole cost of the lectures given is borne by those attending them and by local subscriptions, centres in which work- people predominate, and where it is particularly desirable that teaching should be given, find very great difficulty in raising the necessary funds. If workpeople are to attend courses of lectures regularly without making an unjustifiable financial sacrifice, they cannot be expected to pay more than a small fee, such as 1s per course of twelve lectures. Hence, if a lecturer in Class A is employed, it is necessary that 852 persons should attend his lecture in order to raise the money necessary to pay the fee of £42 12s which is charged by the Delegacy. In the words of the present secretary to the University Extension Delegacy, who is also a member of our Committee: 'So long as the system is compelled to be financially self-supporting, so long must the lecturer attract large audiences.' It is no doubt possible for a centre to raise part of the funds which it needs by obtaining donations from wealthy individuals. But, even when such donations are forthcoming, there is natural objection among the working classes to being depen-


[page 37]

dent upon patronage, and the task of obtaining them is so distasteful to all concerned that they cannot be considered a reliable source of income. In the absence of the endowments by which other University teaching is made possible, University Extension work can only be carried on by continuous efforts on the part of the local committees to secure an audience sufficiently large to pay the full cost of the lectures out of its fees.

59 The result is - first, that the numbers attending the lectures make anything like tutorial instruction impossible in the case of those who do not attend the class held before or after the lecture; second, and more serious, that both the lectures and the subject to be studied must be chosen not solely or chiefly on account of their educative value, but with a view to the probability of their drawing such large numbers that the lectures will 'pay'. Success tends to be measured in terms of quantity, not of quality. If the numbers attending a course fall off, however educationally valuable it may be, it must give place to another which is more likely to draw a large audience; and as one consequence of this, there is sometimes evident a distressing desire on the part of local committees continually to attack new subjects, instead of mastering thoroughly an old one. From the information before us, we believe that this is not due to any ignorance on the part of the centres as to the importance of regular study on systematic lines - on the contrary, we think there is a growing demand for facilities for such study - but solely to the fact that their better judgement has to yield before irresistible financial considerations.

60 The second defect of the University Extension system, as it is at present organized, is found in the fact that the teaching offered is not sufficiently systematic, and in particular that individual students rarely receive the personal guidance and supervision which is offered to an undergraduate in Oxford, and which is all the more necessary among workpeople because in an industrial city the means of knowledge - libraries, bookshops, and the atmosphere of culture - are less easy of access than they are in a University town. We have


[page 38]

already stated that financial difficulties have often compelled centres to sanction or even to encourage a most regrettable discontinuity between the courses of lectures given. But we are of opinion that, even when this difficulty is removed, as we think it will be if the recommendations made below are adopted, yet it will still be essential for courses of study to be planned in a systematic manner, small classes to be instituted in addition to large audiences, and for the personal supervision of all the students to be a regular part of the duties of the teachers appointed. We reserve to another section (§88) a detailed description of the system which we recommend should be adopted among workpeople as a supplement to the unconnected courses of lectures to large numbers which have been the main type of instruction offered hitherto. But we may perhaps support our remarks on the defects of the present system of teaching by the friendly criticism of Professor M. E. Sadler, an ex-secretary and present member of the University Extension Delegacy: 'The defects of the system lie upon the surface. They consist in the frequent discontinuity between the subject of one course of lectures and the next, in the often precarious dependence of the work upon the fluctuating resources of the local committees, and in the lack of systematic class-work in the less effectively organized centres.'(1) The same criticism is implied in the words addressed by Sir Robert Morant, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Education, to the Conference of the Workers' Educational Association held at Oxford in August, 1907: 'It is not mere lectures that are required, but real solid work.' We agree with him that, as a result of the valuable pioneer work done by the University Extension Delegacy in stimulating an interest in higher education, and of the great capacity and enthusiasm of many of the lecturers, the time has come when the present system should be modified and supplemented to make 'real solid work' on the part of the students in working-class centres, under tutorial guidance, and conducted upon a plan drawn up by representatives of workpeople and of the University, the main type of education offered. We do not

(1) Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere, p. 78.


[page 39]

desire to see the courses of the kind hitherto predominating done away with, as they let down a net which draws many persons to seek for further instruction, and inspire interest in those who, for one reason or another, are not yet prepared for more regular study. But we think that, as far as working-class centres are concerned, they should be recognized as merely subsidiary to the tutorial classes, whose establishment we recommend below in §88. In our opinion, it is essential that the extra-mural students of Oxford should be given guidance as systematic as that given to those resident in the University.

61 The University Extension system has been criticized not only because the want of endowments makes it too expensive for the working classes, and its courses too little of a continuous education, but also for another and more fundamental reason. Hitherto, with some important exceptions, the lecturers employed by the Delegacy have not necessarily had that close connexion with teaching work at Oxford itself, for which we now desire to make permanent provision - a connexion which will also exercise a valuable effect on the audiences whom they teach. A University Extension lecturer should be recognized as being a teacher employed by the University and performing work of a kind as important, responsible, and difficult as any that is carried on in the University. A University Extension student, though by regularity in attending the courses and in writing papers he may win a certificate, is neither as yet stamped thereby with the hallmark of an educated man in the same way as is the recipient of even a Pass Degree at Oxford, nor enabled, if qualified for more advanced study, to pursue it in Oxford.

62 It is desirable that both lecturers and students should feel that they share in the dignity which comes from belonging to an ancient academic body, and that their endeavours should win the same sympathy from Oxford which is given to work done within its walls. University Extension lecturers would thus obtain in a far greater degree the stimulus which comes from the criticism and co-operation of other University teachers, and would find it easier to maintain a high level in their


[page 40]

teaching, while the students would be carried forward by the impetus derived from membership in a corporate body of learners. 'Teaching beyond the limits of the University' has hitherto been regarded as an alternative to the instruction given in Oxford itself; it implies for students a second-best which is offered to those who cannot proceed to the University; for lecturers a status which has not been put sufficiently on a level with that of University or College teachers.

63 While recognizing fully that to the majority of those who attend them University Extension lectures are the only kind of higher education which they will receive, we think, first, that at any rate, as far as working-class centres are concerned, it should be clearly laid down that it is a very important part of the work of University Extension to act, not as a substitute for study in Oxford, but to prepare men for it, and that its progress should be measured largely by its success in giving students the initial education needed to qualify them for future work in the University (see §119). Second, that it is essential that the teachers of the tutorial classes under the scheme proposed below should be given a recognized status as members of the teaching body of the University, and be placed on the same academic footing as those w r ho are teaching in Oxford. We think that this might be done by requiring them regularly to lecture in Oxford, as well as in the centres organized by the University Extension Delegacy. But we defer till later a full explanation of our proposals (see §104).

64 In conclusion, we may say that we believe that if due attention is paid to the history of the University Extension movement, and an earnest attempt is made to build in the future on the experience of the past, it may ultimately be- come what its founders desired, one channel (though only one) for bringing University education of the highest and most systematic character within the reach of the working classes.


[page 41]

CHAPTER IV
THE DEMAND MADE BY WORKPEOPLE FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

65 WE believe, on reviewing the evidence which has been put before us, that there has, in the course of the last twenty years, been a great increase in the capacity of workpeople to profit by a University education such as Oxford can supply, and in their desire to obtain it. Since a living University is not a self-contained and independent unit, but an organ of society growing with its growth and nourished by its vitality, its policy and internal organization must necessarily be in part controlled by developments which occur outside it, and which are independent of its own volition. We therefore make no apology for dwelling briefly on certain movements outside Oxford (familiar though these may be) which make it imperative to reconsider the relations at present existing between the University and Colleges of Oxford, and the large and important social groups whom, for the sake of brevity, we have described as 'workpeople . We do so with the less hesitation, because we are of opinion that these movements contain elements which, were they brought into close touch with Oxford, would confer upon it benefits as great as they would derive from it.

66 The growing demand for a University education, which undoubtedly exists among workpeople, is the result partly of state-supported elementary and secondary education, partly of their increasing interest in the graver problems of communal life, and in their consciousness that education alone can render the solution of these possible.

67 The direct contact between Oxford and the classes attending the elementary schools which has existed hitherto, though no exact statistics are available, has probably been slight. Prior


[page 42]

to 1870 she was bound by sympathy and tradition to schools which existed before, and stand apart from, the national system, and in order that she might get into touch with the new educational forces created in and after 1870, there was obviously need of time to allow of growth upon both sides. But though it has often been stated, and no doubt with considerable truth, that the direct effect upon Oxford of the creation of a national system of education has been comparatively small, the indirect effect has been enormous, though it is not until comparatively recent years that it has been felt; and, if Oxford is to continue as a living force in English education, it will undoubtedly be far greater in the future.

68 It is, of course, true that elementary education does not by itself prepare youths for studying in a University, and that one of the reasons why Oxford has failed to come into close contact with the classes who receive their early education in the public elementary schools is the backward condition of English secondary or 4 continued ' education. But it would nevertheless, in our opinion, be a great mistake to infer from the fact that most working-class lads pass straight from the primary school to the lathe or the bench, that therefore Oxford or any other University can afford to overlook the recent great improvement in elementary education as a matter which has no important bearing on her own educational outlook and policy. On the contrary, every change since 1870 which has made elementary education more widely diffused and more efficient - the abolition of school fees in 1891; the gradual raising of the school age by the Acts of 1893, 1899, and 1900; the laws limiting the still far too prevalent employment of children of school age; the co-ordination of elementary, secondary, and technical education begun by the Education Act of 1902; above all those developments which are not the result of legislation so much as of higher educational ideals, such as the much-needed diminution in the size of classes, the rising status of elementary teachers, and the growth of a popular demand for good literature and for public libraries - have added to the opportunities of Universities by adding to


[page 43]

the intellectual momentum of the whole nation. The improvement in elementary education is more and more making all classes aware of the objects for which Universities exist, and is supplying the basis of general capacity upon which Oxford, among others, should help to build. It has stimulated hopes and ambitions which it cannot by itself satisfy, and has taught men the existence of powers for whose full development they look to the Universities of the country. There is still much to be done in the schools before any very large proportion of the working classes will be qualified to benefit by a University education, particularly in the direction of lengthening the period spent at school. Whether or no it will continue to be the custom for the school life of the greater part of the people to end, as now, at or before fourteen, is a matter on which we express no opinion, though the example of Germany suggests possible changes, and though of course any prolongation of it would greatly facilitate the work of the Universities and of education generally. What we desire to emphasize here is that the elementary school system created in the last thirty-eight years, in spite of the early age at which it terminates, has already succeeded, firstly in supplying the basis of intelligence which makes a future training possible; secondly, in awakening the more thoughtful members of the working classes to a keen desire for advanced study under competent guidance - in short, for University education.

69 In considering how far the present policy of Oxford requires to be modified by recent changes in the secondary schools, we are met by the difficulty that education other than elementary is at present in a state of transition, and that it is by no means clear upon what lines it will develop. The question which bears most directly upon the reference of this Committee is whether it will become usual for the majority of boys leaving the elementary schools to pass to a secondary school till the age of sixteen or seventeen before entering a trade as an artisan, or whether the secondary schools will be in practice confined to those (including, of course, the children of workpeople) who wish to enter a profession, while those who intend to become workmen, in the narrower sense


[page 44]

of the word, will receive a continued education in some other manner.

70 In favour of the first alternative there is the resolution passed by (for example) the Trades Union Congress, to the effect that 'secondary and technical education should be an essential part of every child's education, and secured by such a reform and extension of the scholarship system as will place a maintenance scholarship within the reach of every child, and thus make it possible for all children to be full-time pupils up to the age of sixteen'. In accordance with the spirit of this resolution is the closer co-ordination of elementary and secondary education which followed upon the Education Act of 1902, the increase in the number of scholarships at public secondary schools given by local authorities, and the declaration(1) of the Board of Education that not less than 25 per cent of the places in them are to be reserved, without payment of fees, for elementary school children.

71 It might therefore be argued, in view of these tendencies, that sooner or later it will become the normal thing for the children of the working classes to attend the secondary schools, and that it is therefore unnecessary for Oxford to take any special steps to get into touch with the working classes, because she will in time draw working-class lads straight from the public secondary schools in the same way as she draws them from the great endowed schools at the present day.

72 We mention this suggestion only to discard it, because it overlooks one fundamental element in the problem. At the present day it is the case, and as far as can be seen it will continue to be the case for many years to come, that the conditions of industrial life require lads to begin acquiring technical qualifications, in the workshop, certainly not later than sixteen years of age. Hence, those boys who are destined to be workmen in the ordinary acceptance of the term, even if they were in the future to attend secondary schools up to the age of sixteen, as suggested in the resolution quoted above, and as is eminently desirable, could not possibly pass directly from the secondary schools to Oxford,

(1) Mr. McKenna in the House of Commons, August, 1907.


[page 45]

and therefore could not receive the teaching which Oxford offers without abandoning the learning of a trade and ceasing to be workmen. On consideration, therefore, of all the facts, we are obliged to dismiss as impracticable the suggestion that Oxford would fulfil her responsibility for the higher education of members of every class merely by establishing a closer connexion with the public secondary schools. Highly desirable though we believe such closer connexion to be in the interests of those who pass from such schools to professions - particularly to the professions of elementary or secondary teaching - we do not think that the development of secondary education has materially altered the problem with which Oxford is faced when it is desired that she should make some increased provision for the working classes. We return to this aspect of the problem in the sections on 'The function of a University in a democratic community (§79)', and in the recommendations referring to the establishment of tutorial classes (§119ff.).

73 At the same time, we wish to state emphatically that, though the formal education of the working classes at present stops with the elementary school, the informal education obtained by them through discussion in the workshop and at meetings of their societies is in itself an excellent preparation for study in a University. No one in Oxford is likely to underrate the value of the continual contact of mind with mind which goes on without formal instruction, and the great educational value of the training thus received by many members of the working classes, as well as the wide practical experience which many workmen obtain in comparatively early youth, must be borne in mind in considering the qualifications which they possess for receiving a University education.

74 The second reason for the growing demand of workpeople for University education is to be found mainly in their increased interest in the problems of society and government, which is so marked a feature of modern English life.

75 As we have already pointed out in our summary of the attempts made by workpeople to organize for themselves teaching suitable to their needs, a keen interest in education


[page 46]

is among the more prosperous of them no new phenomenon. The common aspirations which produced the Trades Union and Co-operative movements have always created an atmosphere favourable to the ferment of ideas, and the earlier history of those movements offers many glimpses of artisans clubbing together 'to raise the standard of life among workpeople by means of education', 'to train men and women to take part in social and industrial reform,' or 'to teach man his inherent dignity and worth as a human being'. But there is a marked difference between these earlier movements, which were mainly sporadic and sectional in character, and the demand now made that all Universities should be organized, not as a matter of favour, but as a matter of right and social expediency, in such a manner as to be regularly and easily accessible to all sections of the community. The information which has been put before us shows clearly that workpeople will not be content with any substitute for University education, however excellent, which assumes that they will be unable to enter the Universities themselves. What they ask is that the Universities of the country should be treated as the apex of a single educational system, of which the foundation is the primary school. We quote as an illustration of this claim the resolution passed at the fortieth annual meeting of the Trades Union Congress: 'This Congress urges the organized workers to continue their efforts to secure Parliamentary and Municipal recognition of the Trades Union's education policy, which demands as essential to the well-being of our future citizens a national system of education under full popular control, free and secular, from the primary school to the University.'

76 Expressions of this nature, which could be paralleled from the declarations of representative bodies, such as the Independent Labour Party or the Social Democratic Party, and by the repeated statements of many individuals, show that education of the highest type given by Universities is not only appreciated by a few persons of peculiar gifts or enlightenment, but has entered the consciousness of large bodies of organized workpeople as an essential element in their conception of human welfare. In our opinion nothing could be


[page 47]

more encouraging for the future of English education than aspirations on the part of men and women whose social conditions might have been expected to afford little time for reflection upon the value of culture. Certainly no more magnificent compliment could be paid to English Universities than this public profession in their potential value to the working population, which would seem in itself to lay upon them the obligation of amending at once any part of their system which may be a stumbling-block to those who so sincerely believe in them.

77 Moreover, we consider that at the present moment the appeal of workpeople to the Universities can claim an urgency which it may be held formerly not to have possessed. The demand that the Universities shall serve all classes derives much additional significance from changes which are taking place in the constitution of English society and in the distribution of political power. The most conspicuous symptoms of such changes to which we refer have been the growth of Labour Representation in the House of Commons and on Municipal bodies, the great increase in the membership of political associations which claim to express the ideals of at least a considerable section of the working classes, the increasing interest taken by trade unions, which till recent years were purely industrial organizations, in political action, and the growing demand for a widening in the sphere of social organization. As to the advantages and disadvantages of these developments, we, of course, express no opinion. But their effect has certainly been both to foster a ferment of ideas in classes where formerly it did not exist and to make it imperative that, they should obtain the knowledge necessary to enable them to show foresight in their choice of political means. We are of opinion that, as a result of these changes, all educational authorities, and Universities above all others, are confronted with problems to which they are bound to give continuous and serious attention. Oxford, in particular, which stands for the contact of ideas with the whole of life, has a special interest in the new situation which has been created.

78 It has always been the privilege of the older Universities


[page 48]

(though, of course, not to the exclusion of the new) to train men for all departments of political life and public administration. Throughout the nineteenth century a considerable proportion of those who, as ministers or members of Parliament, or public officials, wielded great influence, have received their earliest education in political ideas at the hands of Oxford, and have acknowledged freely that they have learned through it to be more efficient servants of the community. The Trade Union secretary and the 'Labour member' need an Oxford education as much, and will use it to as good ends, as the civil servant or the barrister. It seems to us that it would involve a grave loss both to Oxford and to English political life were the close association which has existed between the University and the world of affairs to be broken or impaired on the accession of new classes to power. No doubt other Universities have done something in the past, and will do more in the future, to provide higher education for the working classes, and we are far from suggesting that the burden and privilege of making such provision should rest solely or even mainly upon Oxford. But we are strongly of opinion that recent political developments make it imperative that in her own interests, as much as in the interests of workpeople, it should be made possible for a far larger number to turn to her for teaching than have done so in the past. In the words of a paper read at the Conference of the Workers' Educational Association, held last year in Oxford, by Mr. Sidney Ball, Fellow of St. John's College: 'Changes in the structure of English society are throwing more and more responsibility on the shoulders of men who have had no opportunity of obtaining the synoptic mind which, as Plato says, is desirable in governors.' We might add, to give the other side of the picture, that the increasing complexity of industrial organization, and the growing tendency of different classes to live in different quarters of the same town, or even in different towns, is making it increasingly difficult for the various sections of the community to appreciate each other's circumstances or aspirations. In modern life there is much which tends to the separation of classes, and little which brings them together. For this reason it


[page 49]

seems important that the leaders of every class should have an opportunity of obtaining a wide outlook on the historical development and economic condition of the whole English community, such as is given by a University education.

79 Having sketched briefly the main changes in the organization of education and in society which explain the demands now being made that Oxford should establish a closer connexion with the working classes, we conclude this part of our report by stating summarily the requirements which a University must satisfy in a democratic community, and which ought, we think, to be carefully borne in mind in Oxford:

80 (1) A modern university must be accessible to every class, not merely in the formal sense that it admits every applicant of good character who satisfies its educational requirements, but in the practical sense of making it certain that no one will be excluded merely on the ground of poverty. Religious tests were abolished at the older Universities some thirty years ago, and the step is usually held to have been a wise one. But to the majority of the working classes who are in receipt of incomes of less than £80 per annum, a system which excludes a student because his parents' means are small appears indistinguishable in effect from one which excludes him because his parents are Roman Catholics or Nonconformists; and if their reasonable wishes are to be met, it would seem necessary to increase the already existing provision for bringing men of small means to share the benefits of a University education, and, in Oxford, of collegiate life.

81 (2) In order to obtain the University education which they desire, it must not be necessary for workpeople to leave the class in which they were born. This is a point to which we attach the greatest importance. It is, of course, most desirable that youths who have some special gifts, for example, for scholarship, or medicine, or law, should obtain the opportunity for cultivating them to the full, and there have been several memorable cases in which assistance, given by Oxford colleges, has enabled the sons of poor parents to rise to high


[page 50]

positions, both in Oxford and in the outside world. But we believe it would be very unfortunate, and we are confident that it would not be welcomed by the working classes, were the democratizing of University education taken merely to mean that exceptionally fortunate or exceptionally talented individuals should obtain the means of achieving personal success, of however excellent a kind. The ideal expressed in John Milton's definition of education as 'that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the duties of all offices', is one which is, we think, very deeply embedded in the minds of the working classes, and we attribute part of the failure of Higher Education among them in the past to the feeling that by means of it their ablest members were being removed to spheres where they would not be available for the service of their fellows. What they desire is not that men should escape from their class, but that they should remain in it and raise its whole level. They do not wish, like the Scottish ploughman of fifty years ago, that their sons should be made by a University education into ministers or school masters, but that they should, on public bodies, or in trade union offices, or in the workshop, speak fearlessly for those whom want of education has in the past too often condemned to silence and impotence. In the words of a letter forwarded by an important Labour Organization to the Workers' Educational Association, 'Each child should be taught that the aim of Education is not material self-advancement that he should get on and rise out of his class, but that he may be enabled to take his part in the uplifting of his class and the community in general.' This ideal of loyalty to their order, which has led many workmen to sacrifice their material prospects, seems to us a noble one, and one which Oxford should help to foster. We have already mentioned this point in speaking of secondary education, and we state later in greater detail the positions which it seems to us that the education offered by Oxford would fit workmen to fill without either leaving their own people or allowing their talents to rust.

82 (3) Any organization of Higher Education which is based on the assumption that education of a 'general' kind is


[page 51]

desired or needed only by those entering the professions, while technical education alone is suitable for persons engaged in manual labour is fundamentally mistaken. It is, of course, true that the education of the majority of the former may be predominantly of the 'general' kind, while that of the majority of the latter may be predominantly 'technical'. But technical and general education ought not to be distinguished on the ground that they are fit for different classes, but because they stimulate different sides of the same individual; and in our opinion a man who will throughout life work with his hands needs a general education for precisely the same reason that it is needed by a specialist like a lawyer, or a doctor, in order that he may be a good citizen, and play a reasonable part in the affairs of the world. Manual labour (except when accompanied by undue pressure) does not in any way disqualify a man for receiving such an education, and indeed the whole principle involved in the absolute distinction which is sometimes made between physical and intellectual work is open to the objection that it rests upon an unsound psychology. The truth is that the education of every class must keep two objects in view, because in a democratic community every man and woman stands in a twofold relationship to the rest of society. On the one hand, as a workman, whether with head or hand, he must obtain the technical qualifications needed to maintain him in independence, or to advance him in life. On the other hand, as a member of a self-governing nation he must acquire the civic qualities which enable him to co-operate with his fellows, and to judge wisely on matters which concern not only himself, but the whole country to which he belongs. In the words of a workman, a student and a Trade Unionist, 'the education required is not a mere bread-and-butter education, which will only make the worker into a more efficient wealth producer. It may be very good for the commercial prosperity of the nation that our workmen should be higher skilled and more capable than their brethren in America or in Germany, but when education has merely made a man into a better workman, it has not done all that it can for him, nor all that he has


[page 52]

a right to expect. The time has come for the working man to demand a share in the education which is called "liberal" because it concerns life, not livelihood; because it is to be desired for its own sake, and not because it has any direct bearing upon his wage-earning capacity. By the avenues of Art, Literature, and History, it gives access to the thoughts and ideals of the ages; its outward mark is a broad reasoned view of things and a sane measure of social values; in a word, it stands for culture in its highest and truest sense. This "liberal" education should be a common heritage. But in this, as in many other things, the working class has been for long a disinherited class, and the national Universities, which are the natural fountain-heads of national culture, have been regarded as the legitimate preserves of the leisured class. This state of things has not only wronged the working class; it has to a great degree sterilized the Universities themselves.' These words show admirably the nature of the education for which the working classes are now asking Universities, and we see no reason at all to fear that by acceding to their request Oxford would tend to make the education which she gives less 'humane'.

83 (4) In the fourth place we desire to state that the task of meeting the needs of new classes of students is one which cannot, except with great detriment to education, be deferred until an organized demand arises (as it has now arisen) outside the University. We have already stated our opinion that Universities should provide for members of every class the higher education which they need, and it appears to us to be a necessary corollary of this that they should exercise as careful a supervision over the educational and social developments which are going on outside themselves, as they do at present over their own internal teaching and organization. It may be prophesied that at no distant date it will be one of the recognized functions of a University to watch local educational experiments and to inquire carefully into the educational needs and facilities of every class - in short, not only to follow at a distance, but to anticipate and even to evoke a demand for teaching of a University standard. When the great mass


[page 53]

of the working population could neither read nor write, and when secondary education was confined to a few score endowed schools, it was possible for Universities to draw to themselves most of those qualified to benefit by their teaching, without any further attempt at organization than that already implied in the customary connexion of Oxford and Cambridge with the endowed secondary schools itself, be it noted, the result of very careful, if not always judicious, adjustment on the part of a long succession of pious founders and benefactors. But in the last thirty years a great change has overtaken the social and educational system of England; new classes are pushing upwards with new needs; teachers are asking for University degrees, artisans for University education with or without a degree; in a multitude of new professions - engineering, mining, scientific agriculture (whose needs are already recognized by Oxford) - and in many branches of commerce, a general education in the principles of the Political Sciences is recognized as an indispensable necessity for a career of public service. As a result of these changes, it has become incumbent upon Universities to watch carefully every sign that a new class is ready to receive their guidance, in order that the seed of University culture may be deposited wherever it has suitable material on which to work. What these facts point to is the need that Oxford should possess an organized department for special educational inquiry,(1) similar to that in existence at the Board of Education, where reports upon educational and social movements may be accumulated, and where its governing bodies may turn for authoritative information when confronted by any new demand. This department would exercise over the classes of persons desiring to enter the University a supervision similar to that exercised by the existing appointments committee over those leaving it. W^e recognize to the full the work already done on these lines by different delegacies, but we think that a centralized bureau of information would be of invaluable service to Oxford and to national education.

(1) We understand that such a department has been established at University College, Bristol.


[page 54]

84 (5) The fifth respect in which it appears to us that the participation of all classes in public life makes a new departure desirable is that of the direct representation of workpeople upon some of the governing bodies of the University. This has already been established at certain of the newer Universities (e.g. Birmingham), where both business men and workpeople, who represent the views of the consumer of University education, co-operate in determining its policy and development. We may quote the words of the Principal of University College, Bristol, in support of it: 'With regard to the relations of working men to the University, he thought they should certainly have representatives directly upon the University Court. ... It was for the workers themselves to express themselves, to say what representation they want. ... He felt that they should aim at getting on their governing body any man of tact and power from any class.'

85 We are not at present prepared to go in our suggestions beyond the recommendation made below, that the direction of University teaching, in as far as it relates to the working classes, should be in the hands of a committee consisting of an equal number of workpeople and University representatives. But we attach great importance to the principle of direct representation, and we desire to see it extended for the following reasons: (a) The presence of leading members of working-class organizations is invaluable on account of the personal contributions of knowledge and suggestion which they can offer. This report is a striking example of our statement. (b) It secures the confidence and co-operation of large bodies of men who might otherwise be inclined to distrust Oxford. (c) It gives workmen a very valuable insight into the working of University institutions a knowledge which, through them, may be widely diffused throughout the nation.


[page 55]

CHAPTER V
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TUTORIAL CLASSES BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE UNIVERSITY

86 HAVING considered the nature of the demand put forward by workpeople for University education, and the attempts which have already been made to meet it, we now proceed to state the lines upon which future advance appears to us to be desirable and practicable. In our opinion they are to be found - (1) by the establishment in industrial towns of classes specially adapted to the needs of workpeople, and of the character described below. (2) In the provision of machinery for ensuring that a proportion of the working-class students in such classes may pass regularly and easily to Oxford to study in the University itself, and to share the benefits of collegiate life.

87 We desire to emphasize very strongly the fact that these two reforms are closely connected with each other, and that neither of them, if divorced from the other, will achieve the purpose stated in our terms of reference. In particular, we hold that it must be the first object of the system which we contemplate, not to act as a substitute for study and residence in Oxford itself, but to lead up to these and to make them profitable to an increased number of students. There is no doubt that working-class opinion is inclined to the view that Oxford has been far too much in the past the exclusive possession of the wealthier sections of the community, and that it would resent any proposal which did not create a broad avenue along which intelligent workmen could proceed to Oxford. Indeed, to make such proposals at all would be to court failure. At the same time, we believe that the discontinuous nature of much of the work done under the auspices of the University Extension Delegacy has been due,


[page 56]

in part, to the fact that there was not sufficient contact between the teacher and student and the University. Our two proposals, therefore, must in our opinion stand or fall together. We will now deal with them separately.

The Tutorial Class

88 Our first proposal is that in certain selected industrial towns classes should be established, of not more than thirty students; that these classes should pursue a plan of study drawn up by workpeople and representatives of the University in consultation; that Oxford should appoint and pay half the salary of the teachers by whom such classes are taught; and that such teachers should receive a status as a lecturer in Oxford, appointed either by a college or by the University. The points in this recommendation calling for detailed explanation are: (1) the organization and membership of the classes; (2) the curricula and methods of study; (3) the character and status of the teachers; (4) the relation of the classes to Oxford; (5) the financial arrangements; (6) the authority responsible for organizing working-class education.

(i) The Organization and Membership of the Classes

89 The organization of the classes, while it can be greatly facilitated and encouraged by Oxford, must in the first instance rest upon a strong belief among representative workpeople that these classes will meet their needs and are worthy of their whole-hearted support. Hence, before any such class can be formed, it is essential that a representative body of workpeople should have expressed their desire for it and determination to do their share in making it a success. That this may be assured, it is desirable to start classes of the kind recommended only in those centres where there exists a working-class organization willing and able to maintain its membership, and to make part of the necessary financial provision. Where a branch of the Workers' Educational Association exists, it would be the natural body to undertake the work. Where it does not exist, it would be necessary to rely upon the co-operation of other working-class associations, such as Trade Unions and


[page 57]

Trades Councils, Friendly Societies, and Co-operative Societies. The assistance of the Local Education Authority should always be invited. It would be the duty of the body thus formed, whether it is identical with the class, or whether the class is organized by it, to make itself responsible for the regular attendance of members, to appoint a secretary to act as correspondent between it and the University, the Board of Education, and the Local Education Authority, to fix the terms of membership in the class, to have a voice in selecting the teacher offered by Oxford, to make its work known in the district, and generally to bear the considerable burden of administrative routine which will be necessary. The account of the work of the Rochdale Class and Education Guild given in Appendix vi will show how greatly such work expands after it has been in existence even a comparatively short time.

90 The first advantage of throwing the local management of these classes into the hands of a body representing workpeople is that it ensures that the education offered will meet the needs of workpeople. We do not, of course, mean to imply that Oxford should ' tune her pulpits ' to meet the view of any class. But it is undoubtedly the case that workpeople feel, and feel with justice, that there are certain departments of knowledge in which something more than the best academic training is needed for the attainment of comprehensive and impartial views, and that they are sometimes inclined to suspect teachers of displaying in these subjects an unconscious class bias. We may illustrate our meaning by an extract from a letter from the Barry branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, which sent a representative to the conference of workpeople held last summer at Oxford, and which, after considering his report, forwarded the following resolution to the secretary of the Workers' Educational Association: 'That it is inexpedient for the Working Classes to cultivate a closer relationship with Oxford by University Extension Lectures, or any other methods, until the teachings of the Universities are radically altered, so that a truer view of social questions may be taught, and that it is inadvisable to send working- men students to colleges unless the curriculum is made


[page 58]

suitable for the training of Labour Leaders.' One way of meeting the sentiment expressed in this resolution is to give a controlling voice in the selection of a teacher to a representative body of workmen, and to co-operate with them in their efforts to obtain what they want, instead of providing, without consulting them, what the University thinks they ought to want. The whole history of the University Extension movement shows that higher education cannot be imposed upon workpeople from above, but must be organized and managed by men who belong to themselves, and whom they have learned to trust in other capacities. This is, in our opinion, a fundamental axiom, the neglect of which will be followed by certain failure. We have no fear at all that were the classes placed, as we recommend, under the direct control of workpeople, in co-operation with University men, they would be used for any but the highest educational ends.

91 Moreover, there is another reason why their control should be vested in workpeople themselves, namely, the great impetus which such a step would give to the dissemination of a desire for education among the working classes. The genius of English workmen for organization has covered some of the districts of northern England (for example, Lancashire) with a network of institutions, industrial, social, political, and religious. They have been much less influenced than other classes by the individualism of the early nineteenth century, and there are certain towns in which almost every adult appears to a stranger to be connected with half a dozen different associations. It is obvious that the common atmosphere thus created is favourable, like that of an Oxford college, to the dissemination of ideas. If a class is formed under the control of members of working-class societies, its influence filters through a hundred different channels, and may leaven a whole town. Every member of it is a missionary of education in a continually expanding field, and spreads habits of criticism and reflection among his fellows in a way that is impossible if education is organized simply from above. We therefore recommend that, prior to the establishment in any new locality of the special type of


[page 59]

class which we contemplate, a conference be summoned and a committee established representative of all shades of working-class and educational opinion, in whose hands the local management of the class shall be vested. In this work, the Workers' Educational Association will usually be found of the greatest assistance.

(ii) Curriculum and Methods of Study

92 While the management and organization of the class should be mainly in the hands of workpeople, the selection of curricula and guidance in reading must be the duty of the University acting in co-operation with workpeople. We attach great importance to the adoption of regular courses of study, consisting of different parts leading into each other and grouped round some central idea. Hitherto, in spite of efforts to the contrary, University Extension work has been far too discontinuous. Partly owing to the financial exigency under which centres have lain of choosing a subject which will pay its way by attracting large audiences, and of abandoning it when it ceases to pay, it has frequently happened that succeeding courses of lectures have had little or no connexion with each other, so that students have passed too rapidly from one subject to another. The financial arrangements which we recommend below (see §117) will in part obviate these defects. We think, in addition, that Oxford, in co-operation with workpeople, should draw up courses of study in certain subjects, such as Political Science, Economics, History, and Literature (see Appendix vii), which would guide students in their reading. It is suggested that the limit of time over which a class should extend should be at least two years, a period in which it should be possible to get a fairly comprehensive view of the main principles of at least one of the subjects studied. It is probable that the subjects which will commend themselves to the majority of classes established will be those connected with the study of society. Partly owing to the fact that at the present time higher education appeals to workpeople not primarily as a method of personal culture or distinction, but as an avenue


[page 60]

along which their class can pass to a broader life, partly because their daily experience gives them an insight into the working of human motives and into economic conditions, they have a natural aptitude for the study of political and economic science. We therefore think that the courses of study should be drawn up so as to approach the study of human institutions from different points of view. At the same time full provision should be made for those whose tastes lead them to prefer literature, and we think that the two years' course of study which is intended, as we explain below (§119), to qualify students for residence in Oxford, should be drawn up so as to include students taking two years of History, Political Science, Economics, or Literature, or one year of any two. We give in Appendix vii specimen courses which will show fully the kind of way in which we think these subjects may best be approached by workpeople.

93 The best explanation which we can give of the actual methods to be adopted in these classes themselves is contained in the report of the class in Industrial History which was carried on during the last session at Rochdale under the auspices of the Workers' Educational Association and of the University Extension Delegacy (see Appendix vi). The class consisted of forty-three students, made up of two or three teachers and clerks, four ladies, and about thirty-three or thirty- four artisans and labourers. It met every Saturday afternoon from 2.30 to 4.30, an hour being given to the lecture, and an hour to discussion and questions by members of the class. Papers were done every fortnight by the students, to whom the teacher gave, as far as time permitted, individual attention and supervision. The members of the class each bought the text books recommended; while additional books were obtained, though in very insufficient numbers, by means of book boxes sent out by Oxford and by the Fabian Society. Reading circles were formed with a view to preparation for the class, and for the future study of the problems raised in it.

94 The following points call for special notice in connexion with the method of study adopted:

(i) The limited size of the class. Valuable though lectures to


[page 61]

audiences of more than one hundred persons may be in stimulating interest and attracting genuine students, they are necessarily, when taken by themselves, of very little real educational value. They make the lecturer into an orator, and the audience into a public meeting. It has so long been recognized that almost the gravest evil under which elementary education suffers in this country is the far too large size of the class, that it is unnecessary to do more than point out that the more advanced the subject taught and the more capable the student, the more important is it that he should not be allowed to sit passive as one among a crowd, but should have ample opportunity for questioning the teacher. In our opinion, even a class of forty is considerably too large, and where forty or fifty students are anxious to join the class, it is better to divide them into two groups, of twenty-five each, even in spite of the fact that the expense would thereby be doubled. By this means the problems arising from the differences between students in knowledge and intellectual capacity would be solved, and the teacher would be able to meet in a tutorial capacity these individual difficulties, go through the written work with them in detail, and guide them in the choice of books.

95 It will usually be found that, when a class, such as we suggest, is instituted for the first time, the number of students sufficiently advanced to make full use of the teaching offered certainly does not exceed thirty. In that case, only one tutorial class should be established under an Oxford teacher. But it should be considered part of his official duties to ascertain the names of those who, while not yet fit for the class, take an interest in improving their education along the lines laid down, and to persuade them to form among themselves a preparatory class, which may lead them to more advanced work. In the course of time, if our proposals are adopted, the problem of finding suitable teachers for such preparatory classes, which is now a serious one, will be solved by the presence in different industrial centres of workmen who have received an education in Oxford. It may then be possible, as it is now desirable, for it to be made a condition of a student's admission to the tutorial class that he shall


[page 62]

have prepared himself for it by preliminary study of a less advanced kind. For the present we must content ourselves with the recommendations that the tutorial class should not contain more than thirty students, and that, wherever practicable, the establishment of a tutorial class shall be accompanied by the simultaneous formation of a preparatory class to lead up to it. At the same time, we wish to express our opinion that very valuable work has been done by means of the Extension Lectures given to large audiences, and that such lectures should be continued in the centres where the small classes, such as we recommend, are established.

96 (2) The second feature of the class organized at Rochdale was the close personal relationship between the students and the teacher. This has been already emphasized in speaking of the advantage of a small class, and its indispensability in any sound system of education is so obvious that we need not dwell upon it, further than to emphasize the importance of selecting the right type of teacher. To this matter we return later.

97 (3) The third point to which we call attention in the methods to be followed by the tutorial classes is the principle of continuity of study. It is highly important that all students should feel education to be a business which must be taken as seriously as their daily work, more seriously than some kinds of work, and that they should consider themselves under an honourable engagement to allow it to be interrupted by nothing short of actual necessity. In Rochdale, the students who were admitted to the class, signed a declaration that they would attend it for two years.

98 (4) It is important that all members of the class should engage in regular reading at home, or in co-operation with other students, and that they should regard such reading as a part of the implicit engagement which they make on entering into the class. We are well aware of the great difficulties which beset the working-class student - the lack of books, the crowded home, the often exhausting and mechanical labour, the fear of unemployment that too often absorbs his thoughts, the inroads upon his scanty leisure made by unregulated overtime, the breaking of this


[page 63]

leisure by irregular hours of employment, the numerous duties to his own class, which claims him as trade unionist, or co-operator, or local politician in almost ceaseless propaganda. We have known students to sit up not once, but regularly, completing an essay, till 1 o'clock at night, and enter the mill next day at 6.30; or to attend classes on Saturday afternoon after a week containing twelve hours of overtime over and above the standard fifty-three hours. But the regular reading of selected books is absolutely essential, if the classes are to be of any value at all; and therefore, though fully conscious of the difficulties of workmen students, we must still insist that all experience shows that those who attend the class must somehow or other find time for private study. The example of Rochdale and of other centres encourages us to hope that the difficulties in the way of such study may be overcome by the enthusiasm of the students.

99 (5) The example of Rochdale shows the importance of organizing a system by which a really large supply of books may be placed at the disposal of students. A man who is supporting a family on twenty-four shillings a week cannot afford, and ought not to be expected to buy, more than one or two inexpensive textbooks, which should certainly not be the student's staple food. The chief sources from which books can be obtained are local libraries, and boxes of books supplied by the Oxford Extension Delegacy, and one or two societies, such as the Fabian Society. The statutory limitation of the library rate to one penny in the pound places a severe handicap on students who live in towns, such as Longton, where the rateable value is small. It seems to us that the supply of travelling libraries by Oxford must necessarily be the chief means by which expensive and indispensable works are brought within the reach of students, that in future part of the library at the disposal of the Oxford Delegacy should be specially appropriated to the use of the tutorial classes, and that the supply of standard works which Oxford can lend in return for a small payment should be greatly increased. It would be a graceful act on the part of such colleges (if any) as do not make any other financial


[page 64]

contribution towards the scheme suggested, to grant the Standing Committee of the Delegacy whose appointment we recommend, a sum of money to be spent on amassing the nucleus of a library.

(6) Finally, we think it desirable that the classes should be visited and reported on every term by a member of the Standing Committee, which will thus be enabled to keep in close touch with the work at every stage.

(iii) The Duties, Qualifications, and Status of the Teacher

100 We attach the greatest importance to the selection of the teacher or tutor, and consequently to the precise definition of his duties and status. His first duty will naturally be to assist the class in its course of study by the delivery of lectures, and we propose that he should give twenty -four lectures per session to each class. At the same time the delivery of lectures will not be the most important or difficult part of his work, nor that which will absorb most of his time. He will be required to become personally acquainted with the students under him, and, if possible, to see them outside the class, in their homes or elsewhere. In dealing with their papers, he must not only 'correct' them, but must make full comments and criticism, and supplement these by interviewing the students individually, or in groups of three or four together. He should find time to guide their reading, appreciate and sympathize with the point of view from which they approach the subject, and, in short, act as far as possible, the part of an Oxford tutor who is dealing with honour students in such a subject as History or Philosophy. He should assist the local body in organizing a preparatory class to lead up to the tutorial class, and help the teacher of this preparatory class with his advice. Finally, he should, so far as possible, make himself acquainted with the industrial conditions of the locality or localities in which he is stationed.

101 It is obvious that if these duties are to be adequately performed, the teacher must be a man with sound academic qualifications. He is not required to address large audiences, but he must have sufficient self-possession to be able to


[page 65]

express himself clearly to critical listeners, and to handle the questions put to him in the hours discussion which follows the lectures. But he must not only be able to guide and stimulate his students; he should also have sufficient knowledge of working-class life and habits of thought to be able to understand the lines along which students have reached their conclusions, and see the unstated assumptions from which their questions start. It too often happens that a teacher with a good knowledge of his subject and the gift of expression fails almost entirely when confronted with a working-class audience, because he has started from a point of view so different from theirs as to make it impossible for the mind of students and teachers ever to come into real contact with each other. The things he regards as important have seemed to them trivial, and he has never really touched the problems upon which their minds are exercised, perhaps never read the books through which alone they have approached the subject. Every teacher of economics, for example, who has lectured to a working-class audience, must have been for the moment at a loss when confronted with unfamiliar formulae on the lips of men to whom they seem exactly to answer all their problems. In the same way, working-class audiences who listen for the first time to economics being taught by a University man have an un- comfortable feeling of being played with by a clever dialectician.

102 It is desirable, therefore, that in appointing the teacher of the tutorial classes, attention should be paid, not only (a) to their academic qualifications, as at present, but also (b) to their experience of industrial conditions among the working class. Though we do not desire to lay down any general conditions of appointment to be universally applied, we think that, as a rule, teachers should be selected from among those who have had previous experience of teaching workpeople either at Ruskin College, or at Social Settlements, or in connexion with the Workers' Educational Association, or in some other way, and should satisfy the standing committee that they possess the desired qualifications.


[page 66]

103 Passing to the status and remuneration of the teacher we recommend (i) that the teacher be paid £80 per unit of twenty-four classes, or when in full work £400 per session of twenty-four weeks, together with travelling expenses (for suggestions as to how the money should be raised see §114 below). (2) That the teacher be given an academic status in Oxford by being employed regularly as Lecturer for a college or for the University. We think that as a variant upon this, the normal arrangement, Oxford tutors might sometimes themselves conduct one or more classes outside Oxford of the kind which we contemplate.

104 To the second recommendation, which is designed to create a new class of teachers in Oxford, we attach considerable importance for the following reasons:

105 First. The fact that the tutorial classes were being conducted by a man who was at the same time performing work of an official kind in Oxford itself would bind these classes closely to the University, and would give the students confidence in the qualifications of their teachers.

106 Second. By being required as part of his duties to teach regularly in Oxford, the teacher would be saved to a considerable extent from dropping into slipshod and unacademic habits of thought and expression. It is extremely difficult for a man who is engaged for the half of the year in lecturing to an unacademic, often highly appreciative audience, to prevent himself from insensibly lowering his tone, dropping behind the work which is being done in his subject, and in short from losing the scholar in the lecturer. But the whole plan of these tutorial classes rests on the assumption that the teaching given shall be of a University level, and we therefore think it important that the teacher should be brought regularly into contact with the critical atmosphere of Oxford.

107 Third. The teachers of classes in industrial towns will have opportunities of informing themselves at close quarters with regard to important industrial problems, which cannot be studied so well in Oxford, or indeed in any place which does not offer ample opportunities for the observation of the methods and organization of modern industry. The experience


[page 67]

thus obtained should be of invaluable service to them in vitalizing and broadening their teaching at Oxford, and should tend to introduce a new and very valuable element into the political and economic instruction given at Oxford itself. Workpeople who reflect on the attitude adopted in the past by academic economists towards those problems which specially concern them, such as those connected, to take one instance, with Trade Unions, are frequently disposed to blame Oxford and other Universities for having neglected to put themselves in close communication with leaders of working-class thought, and to consider that the teaching given by Universities has sometimes unconsciously misrepresented the facts of industrial life. Whether this is so or not, it is at all events eminently desirable that all points of view should be represented in the economic school of a University, that of the working classes among others; and we think that for this reason, if for no other, it would be a wise step to make regular teaching in Oxford itself a definite part of the duties of the tutors whom we desired to see appointed.

108 Fourth. If University Extension work is accompanied by a recognized status in Oxford itself, the teachers employed will have far better prospects of obtaining Professorial Chairs and other posts of dignity and emolument, with the result that the ablest men will tend to offer themselves for the work.

109 Fifth. The presence in Oxford of the teachers of the tutorial classes will give undergraduates an opportunity of obtaining a knowledge of industrial conditions, which it is much to be desired they should possess.

(iv) The Relation of the Classes to the University

110 We have already stated that workpeople will not be content, and in our opinion ought not to be content, with anything less than the creation of a broad avenue leading not only children but adults of their own class to Oxford. It follows from this that the success of the tutorial classes established in industrial towns must depend on a full recognition that their main object is to prepare men for study in the University itself.


[page 68]

111 With a view to the attainment of this end, we propose -

(i) that a special certificate be awarded, under the authority of the University Extension Delegacy on the work, attendance, and proficiency of the students, after a report from the teacher and two University representatives, nominated by the standing committee (see §118 below) for the purpose; and that the students' capacity should be tested mainly by examination of the essays written by them during the two years' course.

112 (ii) That the certificate be such as is likely to satisfy the requirements of the Committee for Economics (or other similar committees), for the admission of students not members of the University to Diploma courses. This recommendation has reference to the fact that the statutes of the University require students admitted to Diploma courses to prove that they have a 'good general education'. The character of this education is not defined; but we understand that it has been the practice to require the knowledge of at least one foreign language. We consider that such a condition would be onerous in itself, and likely to diminish the real educational attainments of students wishing to approach Diploma courses through the tutorial classes. It was felt that the amount of linguistic knowledge acquired under such conditions would tend to be small and ineffective, that the time spent in acquiring it would be a heavy tax on the time available in the case of working-class students, and that there would be a serious risk of lowering the standard of knowledge in other subjects. For these and like reasons we adopted the following resolution, which we understand the Committee for Economics is prepared to accept:

'That the Committee beg leave to express their opinion, that if a sufficiently high standard is required in any two of such subjects as literature, political science, economies, and modern history, and in the power of correct expression, this will fully answer the demand of the Committee for Economics for a good general education, and that such an interpretation will do much to bring the University into touch with the leaders of working-class opinion.'

113 (iii) That there be established in Oxford a Diploma course


[page 69]

in Political Science, either as a part of, or parallel to, the Diploma course in Economics. We believe that the establishment of such a course of study at Oxford would be a powerful stimulus to working-class students, and would be in harmony with the best traditions of the University. We understand that the Committee for Economics is considering a scheme for giving- effect to this proposal.

114 (v) The Cost of Establishing the Tutorial Classes

The expenses incurred in establishing the Tutorial classes which are one part of our proposals will include -

(i) The salary and travelling expenses of the teacher.
(ii) The cost of books.
(iii) The cost of obtaining rooms (when they are not lent).
(iv) The cost of correspondence and organization.
115 Of these, the last two items will be borne entirely by the local organization arranging the classes, and need only be mentioned here in order to make clear that the members of the class will have to meet calls upon their money over and above those involved in the part payment of the teachers.

116 With regard to (iii) we have already stated our opinion (§99) that it is desirable that the Standing Committee which is to be appointed should increase the travelling library available for the use of the centres, and that colleges might with advantage be asked to make grants towards this purpose.

117 With regard to (i), the salary and travelling expenses of the teacher, we think that the maximum amount which the local centre can be asked to contribute will amount to £40. This sum will be raised partly out of the fees paid by students, partly out of the grants made by the Board of Education, the Local Education Authority, Educational Trusts, Trade Unions, Co-operative Societies, Clubs, and other working-class organizations. (See Appendices iii, iv, and v for a detailed statement of these sources.) The travelling expenses of the teacher, and the £40 which is the other half of his salary for taking one course of twelve classes (that is, £200 for taking five courses) is the share which we ask from Oxford. We recommend that


[page 70]

the colleges be approached with the request that they will provide the money necessary to maintain the teachers for whom we anticipate there will be work in the near future. By this means Oxford would realize the wish of Jowett that 'outposts of the University should be established in the industrial towns'.(1)

(vi) The Authority Responsible for Organizing Working-Class Education

118 We recommend that a permanent committee be constituted to deal with the education of workpeople, both in and outside Oxford. This committee should consist of seven representatives of the University and seven representatives of working-class institutions and organizations appointed through the Workers' Education Association; any representative of Ruskin College would naturally be included among the latter. Its duties will be to make all arrangements with regard to the establishment and maintenance of the tutorial classes, to raise the necessary funds for carrying them on, to appoint teachers, to undertake the management of any new working-class centres that may be established, where Extension Lectures are given in connexion with the work of this committee, to supervise the admission of workpeople to Oxford as well as their studies in Oxford, to raise funds for scholarships, to advise the University Authorities on matters relating to working-class education, and generally to make such arrangements for establishing or strengthening the connexion between Oxford and the working classes as may from time to time appear desirable. The committee should have its own secretaries r and should conduct all the correspondence necessary between Oxford and working-class centres.

(1) Since October 1907 London University has paid and is still paying the whole cost of the teacher of a class of workpeople somewhat similar in purpose to those which we desire to see established.


[page 71]

CHAPTER I
THE ADMISSION OF WORKPEOPLE TO OXFORD

119 WE have already stated that, in our opinion, and, we believe, in that of the growing number of workpeople who give serious thought to Higher Education, extra-mural teaching, however excellent, must not be regarded as a substitute, but as a preparation, for study in the University. Having, therefore, described the system of classes which we wish to see established, and partially endowed, by Oxford in industrial towns, we now go on to consider the important problem of ensuring that a considerable proportion of the students in these classes may pass regularly and easily to Oxford itself. The points which seem to call for special attention are (i) The nature of the test by which students are to qualify for residence in Oxford; (ii) The financial provision needed in order that they may be enabled to do so, and the best means of introducing them to the life of Oxford; (iii) The courses of study to be pursued by them in Oxford; (iv) The conditions of study in the vacation.

(i) The Test for Residence at Oxford

120 We recommend that, on the conclusion of the period of two years' study undertaken by any extra-mural class, a special committee of selection be appointed, consisting of the class teacher, two University representatives, a representative of the Workers' Educational Association, of the local organization, and of the class, to select those students whom they consider ought to be enabled to come into residence at the University.

121 This committee should, in making its recommendation, take account (i) of the work done by the students in qualifying for the special certificate mentioned above (§111) and of their capacity to profit by more advanced study; (ii) of the character and influence of the students, and in


[page 72]

particular of any probability which may exist that they will be asked to hold places of trust and responsibility. We think it important that in the selection of those who are to study in Oxford, the second point should not be overlooked, as it is one of the objects of the scheme which we recommend to give the broad general training needed to qualify workpeople for public positions.

122 Provided therefore, that all those recommended by the committee have reached the intellectual standard needed to qualify them for taking advantage of the advanced teaching offered by Oxford, it is desirable that regard should be had to the future career which they intend to pursue, and the likelihood that they will use their education in some public or semi-public service. At the same time we do not, of course, imply that men whose gifts lie in other directions shall be excluded. It will be noted that in recommending that the selection of students to proceed to Oxford be left in part to members of the tutorial class, we are following a plan similar to that established by the will of the late Cecil Rhodes for the appointment of his scholars.

(ii) The Financial Provision for Workpeople in Oxford

123 It is obvious that if workpeople are to reside for two years in Oxford, some financial provision must be made for them. The cost of living in an ordinary college is certainly not less than from £100 to £120 for a year of twenty-four weeks; the cost of living in Ruskin College is about £52 for a full year of forty- eight weeks; the expenses of a non-collegiate student who lives in lodgings during the three Oxford terms may perhaps be put at about £70. (See Appendix ii.) It is hardly necessary to point out that no workman can, out of his own earnings, provide anything approaching even the smallest of these sums, and that such money as he has laid by must be used, not to pay for his residence in Oxford, but to support him during the period after leaving Oxford in which he is likely to be looking for employment. Moreover, if he is married, his family has to be considered. In abandoning his trade for two years, and consequently losing his wages and breaking


[page 73]

his service, he will make, in any case, a very considerable financial sacrifice. It will be necessary, therefore, if the freedom of access to Oxford which is generally thought desirable is to be a real and not merely a nominal freedom, to find the means of maintaining him at the University. In the words of the Secretary of the Longton (Staffs.) Education Committee in answer to a letter from the University Extension Delegacy: 'What is wanted before it is possible for any working man to think of going to the University is a scholarship of such an amount as would enable him to maintain himself there, and, in some cases, as would, in addition, provide a margin to assist those who might be dependent upon him, and who, in consequence of his temporary withdrawal as a wage-earner, might suffer great hardship.'

124 We therefore recommend - (a) That those of the students who have passed through the two years' course with special distinction should be enabled by the grant of scholarships or exhibitions to come into residence at the University. (b) That it should be one of the duties of the Standing Committee of the University Extension Delegacy, whose appointment we recommend above (§118), to organize funds for the establishment of such scholarships or exhibitions, to be tenable either at an Oxford College or Hall, by a non-collegiate student, at Ruskin College, or at any Hostel for working-class students which may hereafter be established.

125 There are three main sources to which it appears reasonable to look for the provision of the necessary scholarships (i) Oxford Colleges, (ii) Working-class Organizations, (iii) Public Funds.

126 (i) The total sum expended annually on scholarships and exhibitions by Oxford Colleges, and the conditions under which they are awarded, have already been stated (§44). It appears to us, in view of the urgent importance of bringing the working classes into touch with Oxford, that it would not be unreasonable to ask the colleges to devote part of the funds which they spend on scholarships and exhibitions to the maintenance of the students from the Tutorial classes, when the latter have been established. The number of such


[page 74]

students is not likely, for some time to come, to be large, and we think it important that before classes over and above the two already existing are established, the willingness of the colleges to help in the manner suggested should be ascertained. We do not think that by doing so they would run the risk of spending part of their scholarship funds on a class of student with intellectual attainments inferior to those of the ordinary scholar. The workmen recommended as eligible for residence in Oxford will be a highly selected class, the ablest members of a constituency which will be, we hope, practically coterminous with the whole country. They will necessarily be men who are willing to face a considerable risk for the sake of improving their education, and who will already have gained in the workshop and in their societies a knowledge of life which is very valuable to the student of the Political Sciences. Regarding the proposal to appropriate certain exhibitions to them from the point of view of the colleges, it seems to us that the change will not be in the direction of endowing an intellectually inferior class of scholars, but rather in the direction of giving greater encouragement to the students of history, economics, and political science, who at present absorb a very small part of the total amount spent by Oxford Colleges on scholarships and exhibitions. We think that in view of the great impetus given to the scientific study of society in recent years, such a readjustment would in any case be desirable, quite apart from any demands which might reasonably be made upon Oxford by the working classes. Now that the working classes have themselves sent representatives to Oxford to ask for a fuller share in the endowments of which Oxford is the trustee, we feel that we can with confidence ask the colleges to appropriate part of the funds at their disposal to scholarships and exhibitions for the maintenance in Oxford of workmen engaged in the study of these subjects.

127 (ii) The second source from which we think money might be obtained for the maintenance of working-class students in Oxford is to be found in the funds of the Labour Organizations. The public-spirited and far-sighted action of great Trade


[page 75]

Unions, such as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the South Wales Miners' Federation, the Steel Smelters' Society, the Northern Counties Weavers' Association, and of several others, has supplied the scholarships needed to maintain some of their members at Ruskin College. The Co-operative Union has endowed two exhibitions at Oriel College, and has biennially sent a working-class student to it. We do not think that the Trade Unions either can or ought to be the chief source from which funds should be drawn for the purpose of offering an Oxford education to workpeople. It would be most undesirable that the number of such students maintained at the University should fluctuate with the fluctuating financial prosperity of these societies, increasing when they are prosperous, and diminishing whenever a period of bad trade or a prolonged dispute has depleted their resources. Moreover, it is probable that workpeople would regard with considerable, and not unjustifiable, suspicion, any proposal to save the endowments given to Oxford for the purpose of maintaining poor students by throwing the whole burden of their maintenance on the shoulders of men whose income frequently does not exceed thirty shillings per week, and that they would be inclined to demand a larger share in the scholarship funds already existing before raising fresh funds by levies imposed through organizations which have heavy calls upon them for other purposes. Scholarships granted by Trade Unions or Co-operative Societies cannot, therefore, in our opinion, maintain all or most of the working-class students whom we desire to see brought to Oxford. But we think, nevertheless, that were Labour Organizations really convinced that Oxford was anxious to offer some of their members an education to fit them for the services of their fellows, and that Oxford was doing all in its power with its present resources to make the necessary financial provision for them, they would come forward readily to supplement its efforts by endowing additional scholarships and exhibitions tenable by them at an ordinary College, or as Non-Collegiate students, or as members of Ruskin College.


[page 76]

128 Finally we think that Local Education Authorities in areas where Tutorial classes are established should be consulted with a view to ascertaining whether they would be willing to allot part of the rate fund at their disposal for the maintenance of higher education to scholarships tenable at Oxford by members of the Tutorial classes.(1) (See Appendix iv.) We are well aware of the heavy calls made upon them and of the strictly limited funds which they can command. But the grants which they make to scholarships tenable at the Universities are at present so small, and the importance of establishing a connexion between Oxford and industrial cities is so great, that we feel confident that they will consider our proposal.

129 Assuming that the money needed to maintain a considerable number of working-class students at Oxford will be forthcoming, we do not think it necessary to determine in advance where the scholarships shall be tenable. The scholars may come up either as members of an ordinary College, or as Non-collegiate students, or as members of Ruskin College, according to the tastes of each individual and the advice given to him. But we think it important to point out that the fullest facilities should be offered for the admission into ordinary Colleges of any approved person who desires it. The life of the non-collegiate student, in spite of the great educational advantages which it offers at a very small cost, would not be that most adapted to the education of workpeople, because it would tend to cut them off from the opportunity of mixing with many different types of character and social tradition, which is generally admitted to be one of the most valuable elements in an Oxford education. The corporate spirit which is so strong among the English working classes naturally disposes them to regard education as a kind of co-operative undertaking and to fit them for collegiate life. Nor do we think that it would be wise to restrict them to residence at Ruskin College. While its success in evoking the enthusiastic support of Labour

(1) The Yorkshire West Riding County Council has already given two scholarships to maintain students at Ruskin College.


[page 77]

has been very great, and while it is most desirable that should develop largely in the future, the effect of restricting working-class students to Ruskin College would be, in our opinion, to give rise to a false impression that it is the wish of Oxford to put them off with some kind of unofficial recognition, and to confine the ordinary Colleges to men of other social classes. This misunderstanding would be most lamentable. We have seen no reason at all for agreeing with the suggestion occasionally made that workmen students would not mix well with men drawn from the 'public' schools, or that they would introduce a discordant element into college life. Though it is hard for a poor man to enter a College, he finds in it, once he has entered, a spirit of fellowship and equality, and if we may be permitted to express our opinion on a matter on which certainty is impossible, it seems to us that they would make very valuable contributions to the social life of Oxford, and that they would teach other undergraduates at least as much as they would learn from them. For this reason, if for no other, we would wish that a large number of them could reside regularly in Oxford Colleges. We cannot, indeed, conceal from ourselves that there are certain dangers against which only the good sense of working-class students can guard them, and we understand that some doubts have been expressed in Labour circles as to the wisdom of sending workpeople to Oxford Colleges as they exist today, on account of the possible risk that they might be carried off their feet by the social life of Oxford, and forget their own people. We therefore regard our recommendation as experimental, and we think that, if it should not be followed by the results which we hope and anticipate, the new Standing Committee might consider the desirability of making special arrangements in college for working-class students.(1) In the immediate future, however, we think that workmen students should be admitted to the ordinary colleges in the manner recommended above.

(1) This suggestion has been made by the Rector of Exeter in an article in the Fortnightly Review, Oct. 1907. Emmanuel College, Cambridge, affords an instance where a hostel has been attached to a college.


[page 78]

(iii) Courses of Study and Provision for Teaching

130 We have already stated that, in our opinion, the majority of working-class students will desire to study, during their residence in Oxford, some of the various branches of the Political Sciences. The provision at present existing which seems to have a special reference to their needs consists of lectures and instruction given in connexion with the Final Honour Schools of Literae Humaniores and Modern History and the Diploma in Economics, to which may be added occasional courses and special lectures instituted by the Common University Fund, the Dunkin Lectures in Sociology at Manchester College, and lectures given at Ruskin College on economic, historical and political subjects. In this connexion may be mentioned the proposal of the Trustees of the University Appeal Fund to provide a Lectureship in Political Theory and Institutions and the selection by the Common University Fund of Mr. Beveridge of the Board of Trade to give a special course of lectures on the Economics of Unemployment.

131 We think that the majority of working-class students drawn from the Tutorial classes will naturally read for a diploma rather than for a degree. Since they will usually reside for two years in Oxford (sometimes for only one), they will very rarely be in a position to acquire the linguistic attainments necessary to passing Responsions and reading for Honours in Modern History. At the same time, every opportunity and encouragement should be offered to those who are anxious, and qualified, to take a degree, either by extending their scholarships and exhibitions, or by taking any other steps which may seem desirable.

132 Of the Diploma courses at present existing that which is most desirable for them is the course presented to students taking the Diploma in Economics. The course of reading laid down for it might be adjusted so as to give special attention to the industrial problems in which workpeople are particularly interested, and of which it is specially desirable that they should have a thorough and critical knowledge.


[page 79]

133 We think, however, that in addition to this, facilities should be offered them for studying questions which are not strictly economic, but a grasp of which is essential to the understanding of modern society, such as those of local government, political geography, the contact of races, the government of dependencies, and many others. This might be done to some extent by encouraging them to attend those courses of Lectures given for the History School and the Geography Diploma which deal with recent history and problems. We hold strongly, moreover, that not only in the interests of workmen students, but in the interests of the scientific study of political problems, political science in the broadest sense of the term, or Sociology, should be given a much more prominent place in the curricula of Oxford than it has occupied hitherto. In the course of the last few years the inductive study of political and economic problems, based upon careful investigation into past and present conditions, has made great progress both in this country and upon the continent, and seems likely to exercise a profound influence upon the future development of the Social Sciences. We may perhaps mention, to illustrate what we have in mind, the sociological work done by individuals such as Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb, the endowment of two chairs of Sociology at London University, and the research work in political and economic science carried on at the London School of Economics. We think it most desirable that the theoretical and analytical study of politics and economics, which has hitherto predominated at Oxford, should be supplemented by inductive investigation of political and economic problems, and we therefore recommend that, in the immediate future, a Diploma in Political Science be established at Oxford either as part of or parallel to the Diploma in Economics. At the same time we hope that ultimately the University will organize a School of Politics and Economics and that one or more Chairs of Sociology will be endowed in Oxford, as they have been in London University. In view of the great and growing interest taken by working people in these subjects, we think that the Labour Organizations of


[page 80]

the country might be willing to contribute to the endowment of such Chairs.

134 The increase in the number of persons studying economics and politics which will be brought about by the introduction of working-class students into Oxford, and which is, for its own sake, eminently desirable, will make it necessary to increase the staff of teachers engaged in teaching of these subjects. As the demand for such teachers more and more makes itself felt, posts for them will, no doubt, be created, and fellowships will be offered for proficiency in such subjects. In the meantime, we think that the immediate needs might be met by giving a wider application to the policy, already adopted by the University in certain subjects, of inviting persons who have had special opportunities for the study of particular questions, and who have no official connexion with the University, to lecture in Oxford. Well-known experts, such as Professor C. S. Loch, Professor W. J. Ashley, Professor M. E. Sadler, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, and Mr. Graham Wallas, have in the course of the last few years been invited to give the Dunkin lectures at Manchester College, bringing an invaluable atmosphere of actuality into the political and economic thought of those who heard them. Though the number of persons equally well known as experts in their own departments of science is, of course, not large, it seems desirable that in organizing the study of economics and political science, Oxford should make full use of the services of men who, outside Oxford, have had first-hand experience of economic and political problems. A small step would be taken in this direction were our suggestion adopted, that the teachers of the new Tutorial classes appointed under the Standing Committee of the University Extension Delegacy should be required to teach regularly in Oxford in connexion with the Diploma in Economics already existing, and the Diploma in Political Science which we hope to see instituted.

(iv) Conditions of Study in the Vacations

135 It will be necessary to make special arrangements for the working-class students brought to Oxford to enable them to


[page 81]

carry on their studies during the University vacations, as the period of two years which will in most cases be the longest time during which they can reside in Oxford is too short to admit of being interrupted.

136 In the case of such students as go to Ruskin College no difficulty will arise, since the College year is continuous, and study is carried on during the University vacations. We think that arrangements might be made for the working-class students admitted into ordinary Colleges - (a) by arranging that in the vacation they shall attend the lectures given at Ruskin College, and that their work shall be supervised by the teachers at work there - (b) by inviting teachers from other Universities and other persons unconnected with Oxford to reside for part of their vacation in Oxford, and to lecture to the students, on the lines of the Cambridge Long Vacation Term, and the 'summer schools' and 'vacation courses' already established at some Universities in Germany and America. We do not anticipate that there would be any difficulty in obtaining their services for part of the Long Vacation, provided they were adequately paid and were offered hospitality by the Colleges. It has often been pointed out that the virtual disuse of the Colleges during six months in the year means that a great educational capital is lying idle, and we think that our suggestions would contribute to its fuller and more effective utilization. The Standing Committee should be responsible for making all arrangements. (c) By requiring the teachers of the Tutorial classes to give part of their vacation to teaching in Oxford, not only in term time, but when the ordinary students have gone down. Such work would, of course, be accompanied by a honorarium. Finally, we think it desirable that the working-class students in residence in different Colleges should as far as possible reside together during the vacation, and we recommend that facilities be offered them by one of the Colleges for obtaining rooms in it at any rate during July, August and September.


[page 82]

CHAPTER VII
THE AFTER CAREER OF THE WORKING-CLASS STUDENTS

137 IT will naturally be asked: 'To what will the education which we wish Oxford to offer workpeople lead, and what career will they follow after leaving the University?' We have already expressed an opinion that the demand for University education made by workpeople, is not so much for facilities to enable their children to compete successfully with members of other classes for positions of social dignity and emolument, as to enable workmen to fulfil with greater efficiency their duties which they owe to their own class, and, as members of their class, to the whole nation. There can therefore be no doubt that, with some exceptions, the working-class students who go to Oxford will at the end of their two years of study return to the towns from which they came, and continue to work at their trades, as before, as has hitherto been done by almost all the students educated at Ruskin College. To those who do this their education will be a means, not only of developing their own powers of enjoyment, but of enabling them to exercise an influence for good in the social life of their factory and town.

138 At the same time there is a large and rapidly increasing number of positions of great responsibility which are held by workpeople, and for the most efficient discharge of which it is essential that they should have a means of obtaining the best education which the country can offer. The working-class demand that higher education should not separate the student from his own people must not be taken to imply that it is desired that he should necessarily return to the bench or the machine at which he worked before going to Oxford, but that he should in one capacity or another use his education in the service of his fellows.


[page 83]

139 We may perhaps indicate a few of the duties which an Oxford education will enable workmen to perform, and in the more efficient fulfilment of which they would enlist their class on the side of higher education. (i) There are in Great Britain 1,153 Trade Unions (some of them with several hundred branches), 237 Trades Councils, 93 Federations of Trade Unions, 6 Federations of Trades Councils, 3 Parliamentary Committees appointed by Trade Union Congresses, 209 Conciliation and Arbitration Boards, 389 Friendly Societies, and 2,646 Workmen's Co-operative Societies(1). Most of these organizations employ paid officers, men who are daily discharging duties of the utmost responsibility and delicacy, and which make demands on their judgement of men and knowledge of economic and political principles as great as, or greater than, those made on the Civil Servant in India or this country. The district secretary of the engineers or boiler-makers who is met by economic arguments as to the effect of machinery, arguments which he sometimes cannot easily answer, but which yet in the face of his daily experience he cannot accept; the textile operative who is required to gauge the results of foreign competition and its bearing on hours and wages; every official who has at once to convince educated opponents of the justice of his contentions, and to persuade large bodies of men to postpone immediate gains to the higher good of the community, knows that he and his class are hampered in their decisions by their lack of knowledge of economic science, and of the experience of other countries and other ages. The education which Oxford can give, by broadening his knowledge and strengthening his judgement, would make him at once a more efficient servant of his own society, and a more potent influence on the side of industrial peace. The working classes are quick to recognize the advantage of being officered by men of education, as is shown by the support which they have given to Ruskin College; and we have no doubt that many of the students who are

(1) These figures are taken from the Directory of Industrial Associations in the United Kingdom in 1907 published by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade.


[page 84]

trained at Oxford would be offered positions of importance in the service of their Trade Unions. What is said above with regard to Trade Unions applies to almost the same extent to Co-operative Societies.

140 (ii) The growth of the movement in favour of the direct representation of Labour in the House of Commons and on other public bodies is creating a demand for a class of educated men to act as Labour representatives. At the present day, in many parts of England, Labour Organizations find great difficulty in getting suitable men to represent them, and they will continue to do so until workpeople are brought into close contact with the Universities. At the same time, the development which is now taking place in the number and complexity of municipal and other services makes it increasingly important that persons elected on to public bodies should have had a training in the principles of political and economic science. We think that a certain number of the working-class students educated at Oxford will find a useful career in service on municipal bodies of all kinds. It is not necessary to add that by doing so they would raise the whole tone of public life.

141 (iii) Some of the students educated at Oxford will naturally become teachers of the tutorial classes organized under the new Standing Committee of the University Extension Delegacy. This would, in our opinion, be a most important and desirable development. It is at present extremely hard to find teachers who possess both sound academic qualifications and the requisite knowledge of working-class life and habits of thought. We strongly hope, therefore, that when the arrangements for bringing working-class students to Oxford have been in operation for a few years, Oxford will be training a new class of teachers to spread its influence in the industrial towns of the country men with the sympathies of workpeople and the breadth of view given by a University education.

142 These are a few of the positions of influence and responsibility which we think an Oxford education would fit working-class students to fill with honour to themselves and advantage not only to the manual workers of their own trades and their


[page 85]

own class, but to the whole community, which rests upon their labour, which suffers for their ignorance, and which will be strengthened by their increasing wisdom. But they are only a few; for our proposals are but a small beginning of what we hope will be a new step towards the development of a democratic education and of an educated democracy.

143 If at the end of this report we may venture to state our anticipations of the future development of University education among the mass of the people, we are inclined to say that there are two ideals which the State and the Universities should keep before their eyes, neither of which can be neglected without grave loss to the spirit and intellect of the nation. On the one hand, a career must be opened to talent. There must be that free movement from one class to another that alone can ensure that the manual and intellectual work of the nation is performed by those best fitted to perform it, and that fresh streams of ability are continually drawn from every quarter of society. There must be more scholarships from the elementary to the secondary schools, and from public secondary schools to the University. A larger number of Oxford scholarships must be reserved for poor men, and must be given in subjects such as history and modern languages, in order that the youth educated at schools where classics predominate may not have an unfair advantage over the boy from schools where the future of most of the students causes classics to be crowded out by other subjects. The expenses of a University education must be reduced to a minimum by action on the part of the University, and if necessary by grants from public sources, and a far larger number of those who are destined to teach the rising generation must receive the broad mental culture which Universities can give. By these and similar steps the movement of the sons of poor parents into the intellectual professions would be facilitated, and Oxford would be enriched by men from every school and every social class.

144 But this is only one side, and for our purpose not the most important side, of the ideal at which Universities must aim. If it is necessary that talent should flow freely between


[page 86]

different classes, that channels should be dug and ladders should be raised along which it can move, it must, nevertheless, never be forgotten that the boys who can take advantage of these must always be an infinitesimal proportion of the whole population, and that the great mass of the working classes gain little by any system which merely transfers to other positions the brightest and most zealous among them. The nation needs the services not only of the professor, the lawyer, the doctor, and the civil servant, but of the miner, the bricklayer, the engineer, and an unnumbered army of labourers. The eleven millions who weave our clothes, build our houses, and carry us safely on our journeys, demand University education in order that they may face with wisdom the unsolved problems of their present position, not in order that they may escape to another. Hitherto that education has lain far beyond their reach. They have read the teachings of political economists and political philosophers belonging to other classes, but they have not always profited by their reading. For economists and philosophers have often seemed to them too ignorant of the position of the wage-earner, and too unsympathetic towards his difficulties, to be guides in whom they could trust for theoretical enlightenment or practical advice. Today, in their striving for a fuller life, they ask that men of their own class should co-operate as students with Oxford in order that, with minds enlarged by impartial study, they in their turn may become the future teachers and leaders, the philosophers and economists, of the working classes. Such a movement is fraught with incalculable possibilities. For it seems to us that the task of educationalists in the future must be not merely to make smooth the way for those who wish to rise to positions usually considered higher than that of the manual worker, but to ennoble the status of every class by supplying it, whatever its work and social conditions, with the form of culture appropriate to its needs.

145 We present this report in the hope that it may call attention to the urgent importance of this problem, and that it may make some small contribution to its solution.


[page 87]

CHAPTER VIII
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

We give below a summary of our recommendations:

I Teaching beyond the Limits of the University

We recommend:

(i) That it is desirable to organize systematic teaching in certain selected centres extending over a period of not less than two years.

(ii) That this teaching should take the form (a) of lectures (with classes), but more particularly (&) of class work as distinct from lectures, each class to consist, as a rule, of not more than thirty students.

(iii) That a special certificate should be awarded under the authority of the University Extension Delegacy on the work, attendance, and proficiency of the class-students, after a report from the teacher and two University representatives appointed for the purpose; and that the students' capacity should be tested mainly by examination of the essays written by them during the two years' course.

(iv) That it is desirable that the certificate should be such as would satisfy the requirements of the Committee for Economics (or other similar committees) for the admission of students not members of the University to Diploma courses.(1)

(v) That in view of the lack of textbooks suitable for the use of these classes, the Standing Committee recommended below be asked to make arrangements for the provision and publication of such textbooks.

(1) This proposal has already been met by the Committee for Economics.


[page 88]

II The Admission of Working-class Students to Oxford

We recommend:

(i) That it is desirable that in the future qualified students from the tutorial classes should be enabled regularly and easily to pass into residence at Oxford, and to continue their studies there.

(ii) That in order to make possible the residence of working-class students in Oxford (a) Colleges be asked to set aside a certain number of scholarships or exhibitions for them; (b) a request be forwarded to the Trustees of the University Appeal Fund to set aside a sum for the purpose of granting assistance to working-class students from the tutorial classes.

(iii) That recommendation for such scholarships, exhibitions and maintenance grants be based on a report from a Committee of Selection, consisting of the class teacher, the two University representatives, a representative of the Workers' Educational Association, of the local organization, and of the class.

(iv) That it be one of the duties of the Standing Committee, which it is proposed to constitute below, to organize funds for the establishment of such scholarships, exhibitions, or maintenance grants, to be tenable either at a College or Hall of the University, by a non-collegiate student, or at Ruskin College.

III The Position and Payment of Teachers

We recommend:

(i) That the teachers be paid £80 per unit of twenty-four classes, or when in full work £400 per session of twenty-four weeks, together with travelling expenses.

(ii) That the teachers be given an academic status in Oxford by being employed regularly as lecturers for a College or for the University.

(iii) That £40 out of every £80 paid per course of classes, or £200 per annum when the teacher is in full work, be contributed by Oxford, and that it be the duty of the Standing Committee to raise the necessary money for this purpose, and


[page 89]

also for travelling expenses, fees to examiners and other incidental University expenses.

(iv) That the selection of teachers be in the hands of the Standing Committee, subject to approval by the University Extension Delegacy, and by the body, whether College or University, which makes itself responsible for their part payment.

IV The Authority for Organizing Working-class Education

The question of organization is at present in an experimental stage.

We recommend - for the present:

(i) That a Standing Committee of the University Extension Delegacy be constituted to deal with the education of work- people both in and outside Oxford, whose duty it shall be to take steps for the carrying out of the recommendations made in this report, and to take all other steps for establishing or strengthening any connexion between Oxford and the working classes which may from time to time appear desirable.

(ii) That the Committee consist of not less than five, nor more than seven representatives of the University nominated by the University Extension Delegacy and of an equal number of representatives of working-class institutions and organizations, appointed through the Workers' Educational Association.

(iii) That it should be immediately responsible to the Delegacy.

(iv) That it should hold a stated meeting each Term.

(v) That the Committee have its own secretaries, and conduct all correspondence between Oxford and working-class centres where tutorial classes are established, or lectures given under its auspices.(1)

V Ruskin College

We recommend:

(i) That residence for one year at Ruskin College together with a certificate from the College, in which two University representatives appointed for the purpose by the

(1) This Committee has already been constituted.


[page 90]

Committee of Economics shall concur, that the student has reached a satisfactory standard in the course of study pursued in the College should be accepted as satisfying the requirements of the University that he has received a good general education and is qualified to pursue the study of Economics.

(ii) That under any scheme of Scholarships or Exhibitions for working men, a certain number of such Scholarships or Exhibitions should be placed at the disposal of the Council of Ruskin College for second-year students who have qualified for admission to the Diploma course in Economics or Political Science.

VI Diploma in Political Science

We recommend the establishment of a Diploma in Political Science, either as part of, or parallel to the Diploma in Economics.

VII Special Inquiry Department

We recommend the establishment by the University of a Special Department, whose duty it shall be to collect information as to educational movements in this country and abroad, to inquire into the needs of new classes of students, and to issue reports from time to time. We think that such a Department would render valuable service in guiding the policy of the University and Colleges upon all matters which concern the secondary schools, and other parts of our educational system, especially those affecting the working classes.

THOMAS B. STRONG (Chairman)
D. J. SHACKLETON (Vice-Chairman)

S. BALL
W. H. BERRY
J. M. MACTAVISH
C. W. BOWERMAN
RICHARDSON CAMPBELL
J. A. R. MARRIOTT
A. L. SMITH
H. H. TURNER
H. B. LEES SMITH
ALFRED WILKINSON

A. E. ZIMMERN
A. MANSBRIDGE
Joint Secretaries

NOTE. Mr. Marriott cordially concurs in the educational recommendations of the above report, but prefers to express no opinion on the administrative changes suggested in the University Extension Delegacy.


[page 91]

APPENDIX I
THE ORIGINAL COLLEGE STATUTES

THE following passages are taken from the ancient College Statutes, printed for the Royal Commission of 1852. All these Statutes are now superseded by the Statutes approved in 1882. They are cited here in illustration of the statements in the text of the Report as to the original purpose and constitution of the Colleges:

BALLIOL COLLEGE. Statutes of Dervorguilla, A. D. 1282. 'First, we will and ordain that our Scholars, all and singular, be required, on Sundays and the principal feast-days, to be present at the Divine Office (Mass) also at sermons or preachings on the same feasts ... on other days that they diligently attend the schools and give their minds to study, according to the statutes of the University of Oxford, and the form defined below. ... We prescribe that our Scholars shall provide that three masses be celebrated solemnly in each year, for the soul of our beloved husband John of Balliol, and for the souls of our ancestors and all the faithful departed, also for our own health and safety. ... And in order the better to provide for the sustentation of poor men, for whose advantage we intend to labour, we will that the richer in the society of our Scholars, shall give diligence to live so temperately that the poor be in no way burdened on account of onerous expenses' (vol. i, p. v. 7). Then follow rules about the allotted portion and other matters: 'Let our Scholars have one poor Scholar assigned to them by our Procurators, to whom they are required to supply the remains of their table, unless our Procurators shall have decreed that this may be omitted' (p. vii). Sir P. Somerville added six Scholars to Dervorguilla's foundation. These are to be students in the Faculty of Arts, chosen from places near the estates granted to the College, 'provided


[page 92]

that the three conditions named in ancient ordinances be found in them or any of them, namely, that they be the more poor, the more proficient, the more excellent in character.' Six Fellows to be elected out of the Scholars, of M. A. standing, 'to study in the faculty of theology and Canon Law' (p. viii. ix). In the election care is to be taken that no one be admitted but men of honesty, purity, peacefulness, and humility (p. x). The Fellows to have 11d a week, the Master 40s (p. xvii), with certain other allowances. These Statutes were sanctioned in 1340. In 1507 under a Papal Bull the previous Statutes were consolidated. In the Statutes of 1507 the allowances were raised, and the amounts spent on taking degrees limited (p. 14). No person to be elected Fellow 'who has any ecclesiastical cure, who has at his disposal more than 40 shillings of fixed net income, from patrimony, chapelry, chantry, or prebend' (p. 7). 'The Master and each of the Fellows to have one Scholar or Servitor in his keeping, not more than 18 years of age, these (Servitors), being sufficiently trained in plainsong and grammar shall give diligent and continuous attention to logic, obey the Master or his Vicegerent, wait upon the Fellows at table, and live upon the remains of the table of the Master and Fellows' (p. 9). A Fellow acquiring income of more than 100 shillings must vacate his place after twelve months (p. 17).

MERTON. Statutes of the House of Scholars of Merton, 1264. Certain estates are granted 'for the perpetual sustenance of twenty Scholars living at Oxford or elsewhere where learning may flourish, and for the sustenance of two or three ministers of the altar of Christ dwelling in the aforesaid house'. 'The Scholars to be of our kin, so far as there may be found in it men honest, capable, and willing to advance (in study).' In default of these other persons may be elected, with preference to the diocese of Winchester. The Warden is to search for poor children of the founder's family and have them educated so as to succeed to the scholarships (pp. 5-6). In 1270 these Statutes were superseded by a more elaborate code: the preferences for founder's kin and the diocese of Winchester were still retained (p. 10); the founder's kin


[page 93]

having an increased allowance (p. 18). Three chaplains and twelve poor Scholars of secondary rank (pauperes secundarii) were added with ecclesiastical functions to pray 'for the soul of Henry of Germany and Richard the King his father' (p. 20).

ORIEL, 1326. Founded for ten Scholars in Theology, well suited and disposed for this science. With the assent of the Society three might study Canon Law. The Scholars to be honest, peaceable, and humble, ... poor, suited to study, and 'willing to make progress' (p. 8). None to be elected for theological study unless he had previously 'ruled (i. e. graduated) in dialectic or philosophy: nor in Canon Law unless he had previously studied Civil Law for three years or two at the least' (p. 8). Masses to be said for founders (p. 10).

QUEEN'S, 1340. The College was established for a Provost and twelve Fellows mentioned by name (p. 7). The Founder wishes his College to exclude no competent persons, but to make elections to vacant places from the ranks of poor Masters, fit and suitable to advance in Theology, who have already graduated in Arts. There is to be preference for the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and for founder's kin (p. 12). All to be ordained within a year (p. 13). The Provost may have a separate table and household: there is also a class of 'poor boys' reading for the Arts degree (p. 15). Various luxurious practices are forbidden: e.g. keeping hawks and hounds, musical instruments, horses or other animals (pp. 18-19). The poor boys to live 'on the alms of the Scholars' with aid from the College. A preference is reserved for founder's kin (p. 28).

NEW COLLEGE, 1400. The College to consist of one Warden and seventy poor needy scholars, clerks, to study in the faculties of Theology, Law, Canon and Civil, and Philosophy. Two Scholars to be allowed to study Medicine, and two Astronomy. There shall be also ten chaplains, three stipendiary clerks and sixteen boys for choristers (pp. 2-4). Founder's kin have preference, next to them poor indigent clerks who have already received the first tonsure, not


[page 94]

graduates: Scholars from Winchester to have a prior claim to election, especially if they come from places where the College has estates. After these certain counties have preference in a fixed order (p. 7). The amount of the allowance to Fellows, &c., was to vary with prices: normally, it would be 12d weekly, in times of scarcity 16d, and, if corn was more than 2s a bushel for more than 20 days it was to rise to 18d. Certain allowances granted to persons taking degrees were restricted to poor students, who had to prove their need by oath, before the Warden, Vice-Warden, and Bursars (p. 53). Times are fixed by which the Fellows are to take orders, and masses enjoined for the Founder and others.

These references are sufficient to indicate the general character of the mediaeval foundations. It would be superfluous to go through the Statutes of all the Colleges: there is a strong family likeness amongst them. At Magdalen (1479) noblemen's sons are to be admitted to rooms and commons, paying for themselves (p. 60), but the number of them is limited to twenty.

As regards the purchasing value of the allowances Dr. Rashdall writes as follows (Universities, vol. ii, pp. 663-4): a Fellow's weekly 'commons in the second half of the fourteenth century at an English College varied (at ordinary times) from a shilling to eighteenpence. Meat was then at about ¼d per lb., butter and cheese at ½d per lb., while 6 Ib. of wheat could be bought for 4d. Beer good enough for a nobleman's Determination feast could be had at 12d the quart: but home-brewed small-beer must have cost far less than this. Thus 1½ lb. of bread, 1 lb. of meat, and ¼ lb. of butter and cheese per head could be provided for about 1d a day or 7d a week.'



[page 95]

APPENDIX II
ON THE COST OF LIVING IN COLLEGES

(Contributed)

WE may begin by recording the following statement which forms part of a printed circular issued from Keble College.

COLLEGE CHARGES

The College charges are £85 per annum (£82 10s to the College and £2 10s for University dues), paid terminally, and there is an entrance fee of £5. The terminal sum includes payment for tuition, board, fuel, and rent of furnished rooms, but not the University fees for matriculation, examinations, and degrees. Permission is given to incur within certain limits additional expenses in order to prevent such a system from being too rigid and uniform.

The College is intended by the economy of its management and the general character of its regulations to help and encourage those who wish to live simply.

The following points may be mentioned as tending, among others, to secure these objects:

1. The payment of the College charge in advance at the beginning of each term. This arrangement avoids the necessity for the payment of Caution Money at Matriculation.
2. The extension of the Hall system to Breakfast and Luncheon.
3. The provision of necessary furniture by the College.
This statement forms a good starting-point because the items left in doubt are as few as possible. No estimate can well be made either here or elsewhere in this report for
(a) Travelling expenses;
(b) Cost of living in Vacations (26 weeks);
(c) Clothes and laundry;
(d) Books;
(e) Pocket-money, including expenditure on beverages and tobacco,
for the reason that these items, will vary, with individual taste. But it is important that any one who is considering the cost of a year at the University should make an estimate of these


[page 96]

items for himself, and add it to the expenditure herein mentioned.

Beyond the above, the Keble charges are as nearly inclusive as they can be made. Something must be added for expenses on athletics, if any, and for the University fees for matriculation, examinations, and degrees. The matriculation fee is £3 10s, and a cap and gown will be required. It will be seen that there is an entrance fee at Keble of £5, and generally it must be remembered that there will be certain serious expenses at starting. We may take for example the following statement from the Information Paper concerning Non-Collegiate Students, where such expenses are kept as low as possible.

The fees and dues to be paid to the Censor at the Office before Matriculation are:

1. Matriculation fee to the University£3 10s 0d
2. Entrance fee to the Delegacy£2 10s 0d
3. Caution-Money (returned on removal of name)£2 0s 0d
4. Entrance fee to Library£0 10s 0d
5. Dues for the first Quarter£1 10s 0d
6. Lodging House Delegacy Fee£0 3s 6d
Total£10 3s 6d

Even here no mention is made of cap and gown.

Remembering then the initial expenses of from £10 to £20, the cost of living per annum at Keble is £85, plus the cost of athletics and the items (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), above. This is £34 10s more than the cost for a Non-Collegiate Student, as the following extract from the Information Paper will show.

The yearly expense of living for three Terms (Easter and Trinity Terms being counted together as one) may therefore be reckoned as follows:

Board and Lodging for 24 weeks at 30s a week£36 0s 0d
University and Delegacy Dues£6 10s 6d
Examination Fees (on the average)£2 14s 0d
Tuition£6 6s 0d
Total£51 10s 6d


[page 97]

This estimate does not include travelling, books, clothes, incidental expenses, or cost of living in Vacations.

At other Colleges, where there are not quite the same economical arrangements as at Keble, the cost would be a little more. I have estimated as nearly as possible the cost of living at New College with rigid economy, and find that it might be done for £100 a year, including subscriptions to clubs, laundry, lights, and firing, &c., and including the cost of dinner in Hall on the four nights a week required by regulations of the College, but assuming that on the other three nights a cheaper meal will suffice, and that the meals generally are of a frugal nature, but such as the College kitchen supplies.

I do not think that the estimate could be put much below £100 without sacrificing some of just those advantages which it is desired to obtain.

(Signed) H. H. TURNER.

APPENDIX III
GOVERNMENT GRANTS FOR TUTORIAL CLASSES

THE conditions of grants are contained in Regulations for Technical Schools, Schools of Art, and other forms of provision of further education in England and Wales (from August 1, 1908, to July 31, 1909). Price 2d. of Wyman & Sons, Ltd., either directly or through any Booksellers. (Cd. 4187.)

A Tutorial Class meeting on twenty-four occasions of two hours each and working at an approved course of study extending over not less than three years, may earn a grant of approximately 17s in respect of each student. No such grant will be paid until the most rigid tests have been applied. Until this year the grant was approximately 10s per student. This was earned by both Rochdale and Longton.


[page 98]

The following extracts are made from the Regulations:

FROM THE PREFATORY MEMORANDUM

By an alteration in Division I (b) (ii) of Section 32 the Board have recognized that organized work of a very high standard of advancement is now being attempted in sections of Evening education eligible for grants under this Division, other than the commercial courses to which the highest rate of grant has hitherto been restricted. The Board have, however, indicated by the condition that the standard of the work must correspond with that required for University Degrees in Honours, that it is only in the very highest type of classwork that there will be any likelihood of a grant being allowed at a rate in excess of that previously payable.

ORDINARY CONDITIONS OF GRANT

DIVISION I. LITERARY AND COMMERCIAL

Any generalized or special subject of literary or commercial education will be accepted if a suitable syllabus is submitted.

(a) The rate of grant payable will, as a rule, be from 2s 6d to 3s 6d.

(b) (i) The rate of grant may be increased up to 5s where advanced instruction is efficiently given by teachers recognized by the Board as specially qualified, and where the syllabus followed is one of the Specimen Advanced Syllabuses published by the Board, or a corresponding syllabus specially approved for the purpose by the Board. Where the work of the School includes such advanced work, a single rate of grant may be awarded for all the work under Division I, and in this case that rate will be determined in part by the standard of this advanced instruction, and by the relative amount of this work.

(ii) Where an approved course of organized instruction, including instruction in commercial subjects, is provided, the rate may be further increased up to 8s 6d. The course must not include instruction of the standard recognized under the Preparatory Division of this Section, and must, except in special cases, extend over not less than three years. The condition that the course must include instruction in commercial subjects may be waived if the course as actually carried out by the students is of a standard corresponding with that required for an Honours degree.

(iii) Managers desirous of claiming in accordance with the pro-


[page 99]

visions of the two preceding paragraphs must enter on the Form of application for recognition the particulars there specified as required in such cases.

(c) No lesson of less than one complete half-hour will be allowed to count as instruction in this Division.

Note. Applications for grant should be made through the Local Education Authority, or directly to the Board of Education, in the manner provided, but with the concurrence of the Local Education Authority.

APPENDIX IV
POWERS OF LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES UNDER THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1902

PART II, HIGHER EDUCATION: SECTION 2

IN RELATION TO UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

1. THE Local Education Authority shall consider the educational needs of their area, and take such steps as seem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of Education, to supply or aid the supply of education other than elementary, and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education, and for that purpose shall apply all or so much as they deem necessary of the residue under Section i of the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, and shall carry forward for the like purpose any balance thereof which may .remain unexpended, and may spend such further sums as they think fit; provided that the amount raised by the Council of a county for the purpose in any year out of rates under this Act shall not exceed the amount which would be produced by a rate of twopence in the pound, or such higher rate as the County Council, with the consent of the Local Government Board, may fix.
Under the above clause the Council of every County, and of every County Borough, is in possession of funds for the purpose of aiding any form of Higher Education, which naturally includes all types of University Extension work.

Power to aid Higher Education is also given to the Councils of non-County Boroughs and Urban Districts, but the amount


[page 100]

raised by them for the purpose must not exceed the amount which would be produced by a rate of 1d in the £.

It is further evident from the wording of the Act that the Education Authority may either proceed alone, or in co-operation with other bodies.

THE GENERAL PRACTICE OF LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES IN RELATION TO UNIVERSITY EXTENSION

Education Authorities of County and County Borough Councils have, in the past,

A. Supplied University Extension.

Two typical examples may be quoted.

1. The Essex County Council supplies the Course for the Urban District of Ilford.
2. The County Borough of Longton supplies a University Tutorial Class.
B. Aided the supply of University Extension.

1. The West Riding County Council has agreed to aid the supply of approved University Extension lectures in its area, to an extent not exceeding 50 per cent of the total cost, e. g. Wakefield, 1906-7. Total cost of lectures, £12 10s. The County Council made a grant of £6 5s, 1907-8. Total cost of lectures £23 18s. The County Council made a grant of £10. Todmorden, 1907-8. The County Council made a grant of £15.

2. County Borough of Portsmouth. The Council grants £100 per annum to the University Extension Committee.

Note. Numerous other instances can be supplied. We have no instance of an Urban District aiding the supply of University Extension under the concurrent powers conferred by the Act, although the Urban District Council at Abertillery levied a 1d rate for the purpose.

AID NOT RENDERED BY LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES

Several County Councils, and County Borough Councils, neither supply nor help to supply University Extension. Even within County Council areas there is not always equality of treatment such as prevails under the West


[page 101]

Riding County Council. The Essex County Council affords no financial aid to the Extension Centre at Grays.

Some County and County Borough Councils have declined to make grants in aid: e. g. a deputation representing three potential centres in Northamptonshire was received by the County Council, but aid was refused.

The Lancashire County Council supplies no aid to University Extension work. The Bury Borough Council refuses assistance to the Bury Centre.

The considerations which have deterred Local Authorities from assisting University Extension work may be classed under three heads:

1. Objections to the method of approach made by the local centre.
2. The unwillingness of County Councils to incur expenditure other than what is absolutely necessary.
3. The view that University Extension is a type of Education which ought to be supported entirely by those who take advantage of it.
GENERAL AID

Some Education Authorities have granted rooms free of charge for University Extension work: e. g. The Birkenhead Education Authority has paid subscriptions to bodies promoting University Extension lectures, and the Sheffield Education Committee pays £2 2s annually to the Sheffield W.E.A.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is certain that the type of University Extension Class approved by resolution at the first meeting of the Committee would merit the support of Education Authorities generally. The report of the Committee should provide a basis for national action, and so prevent irregularity in the action of the local centres. It would be wise if all such advances to Local Education Authorities were made under the advice of a central body, though the actual negotiations would be left exclusively to the local body.


[page 102]

RELATION OF CLASSES TO LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES

The relation of the Classes proposed by the Committee to the Education Authority would be as follows:

1. Where the Education Authority undertakes the supply they would be regarded as working under the direction of that body.

2. Where the Education Authorities supply aid they would generally be regarded as working under the direction of workmen's organizations.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Under section 23(2) of the Act, Local Education Authorities are empowered to pay or assist in paying the fees of students ordinarily resident within their own areas at Schools or Colleges or Hostels within or without their area.

The West Riding County Council maintains two scholars at Ruskin College.

Note. This is a matter of primary importance in connexion with the maintenance at Oxford of selected scholars.

LONDON ACT

The powers of the London County Council are similar to the powers of County Councils elsewhere. The development and encouragement of University Extension is engaging the attention of the Extension Board of London University.

The Polytechnics support sparsely attended University Extension Courses approximating in size to the Classes approved by the full Committee, e. g. At Battersea, the average attendance at two courses was 8. At the South Western Polytechnic, at three classes, the attendances were 29, 11, 11, respectively.

A room upon the school premises at Battersea has been granted to the Tutorial Classes, constructed on lines identical with those recommended by the full Committee.

The attitude of the London County Council is generally sympathetic, e. g. Report of the University Extension Board of London University, 1906-7, page 4.


[page 103]

A plan of co-operation has been arranged with the London County Council, by which students at evening lectures of the County Council will be encouraged to pass on into University Extension Courses, and it is particularly hoped that many of them will undertake the advanced course of study in the Humanities. The plan comes into operation at the beginning of the current session, and there is reason to expect not only that in this way unnecessary overlapping may be avoided, but also that pupils passing out of the County Council Schools into the evening lectures may be induced to carry on their studies more continuously, and to a higher level.

APPENDIX V
CONDITIONS OF GRANT IN AID OF TUTORIAL CLASSES FROM THE GILCHRIST EDUCATIONAL TRUST

THE Gilchrist Trustees have expressed their readiness to consider applications on behalf of a limited number of Classes in the Session 1908-9 (arranged under the scheme drawn up by the Committee on Oxford and Workpeople) under the following conditions:

(1) The Course of Study shall be for a period of not less than two years.

(2) During the year each class shall meet at least twenty- four times for two hours on each occasion, and the work of the year shall be divided into two terms, or sections, each including not less than twelve Class Meetings.

(3) The number of students in each class shall not exceed thirty in number.

(4) A University teacher will be specially appointed for each class who will it is hoped teach for a portion of the year in the University itself.

(5) A capitation grant of 10s per head shall be made on account of students who are bona fide working men or women, up to the maximum number of twenty, who make each attendance (subject to the remission by the lecturer of not more than two attendances in case of serious illness) and who write each essay required by the University Extension Delegacy during each term or section of twelve meetings of two hours each: the maximum grant for the Session for each centre not to exceed £20.


[page 104]

Applications for Gilchrist Grants must be made to the Secretaries of the Standing Committee of the University Extension Delegacy, and must be made provisionally in October (in 1908 not later than the middle of December), accompanied by a list of the students with their actual occupations. The Delegacy will transmit the applications to the Gilchrist Trustees.

Note. Each class will ascertain from local sources the possibility of assistance from Educational Trusts operating in their districts; such as the Ogden Trust, the head quarters of which is in Manchester. The aid of the Standing Committee of the Delegacy will be supplied at once if required.

APPENDIX VI
REPORTS ON TUTORIAL CLASSES

(1)
LONGTON UNIVERSITY TUTORIAL CLASS

REPORT

Attendance

THE course of twelve lectures on the Economic History of the Seventeenth Century closed on April 14.

At the commencement forty students were enrolled, but of these, two withdrew after the first two lectures, in the one case owing to deficiency in train-service making it difficult to reach the class, and the other through somewhat severe illness, thus leaving thirty-eight. The average attendance was thirty-one, and thirty-two of the students qualified for the Board of Education grant. One student fell away through indifference, one had reluctantly to leave the class after the sixth lecture owing to his work taking him into Shropshire, while a severe epidemic of influenza caused several others of the members to be absent when otherwise they would not have been so. The average attendance of thirty-one must be considered very satisfactory, especially when it is remembered that the subject is a somewhat difficult one.


[page 105]

Work and Progress

With very few exceptions, the students, men and women alike, showed a keen and intelligent interest in the subject of the class, and seemed to realize its importance, and a satis- factory number of papers were written; and the lecturer reported that great improvement showed itself in the essays as time went on, and that some really excellent papers were written. The discussion in the class proved very educative, and gradually reached a very much higher tone as the class progressed. From careful inquiry it appeared that every student of the class was reading up the subject, and some read hard although they did not write papers. A larger supply of books would probably have meant more work. Twenty -six students have entered for the examination which has been fixed for May 22.

The Lecturer

The lecturer was the right man in the right place, and is evidently experienced in dealing with audiences of working-people. He was lucid, and eminently fair-minded in his treatment of the subject, and possessed the faculty of being able to capture and to hold the interest of his class. Above all he showed himself to be an enthusiast in the work, and no trouble was too much for him.

Composition of the Class

This was an ideal University class, being representative of all sections of what are known as the middle and working classes. In the class were a gardener, a plumber, a potter's thrower, a potter's decorator, a basket-maker, a miner, a mechanic, a baker, several clerks, a librarian, a grocer, a miller's agent, a railway agent, a clothier, insurance collectors, and elementary school teachers; and it is claimed that the mixing of the different classes of people in this way was in itself very educative. The elementary school teachers especially seem to have derived much benefit from the subject, as they state it has broadened their conception of English history, and shown them a side of which, generally speaking, they knew but little. Many of the elementary school teachers possess no other opportunities of Higher Education than those offered by local University Extension, and their horizon is often bounded by the limits of the elementary school, due in most cases to 'financial inefficiency'; and, considering


[page 106]

the importance of the teacher's place in the community, there is no doubt that a work of far-reaching importance can be accomplished among elementary school teachers by classes of this description.

Summer Meeting Scholarships

The Mayor of Longton has generously given a sum of £5 to provide a scholarship, tenable at the Cambridge Summer Meeting of Extension Students, 1908. Mr. A. Mansbridge, the Secretary of the Workers' Educational Association, has also kindly promised to consider an application from an artisan student for a Summer Meeting Scholarship of the value of £2 10s, while Mr. R. H. Tawney, the lecturer, is kindly interesting himself in obtaining from private sources two further scholarships of £5 each, to be awarded to students at the class. It is probable, therefore, that some half-dozen students from Longton will attend the Cambridge Summer Meeting.

Suggestions

From the experience now gained of Tutorial Classes, it is suggested that in future the members should be limited to, say, twenty-five, as if this number is exceeded it makes it difficult for the lecturer to get in touch with the students, and to give them that individual attention necessary. Further, it is suggested that two hours is slightly too long for the period of meeting. It is somewhat of a strain to some after a hard day's work. An hour and a half would probably be more suitable.

Conclusion

Finally, considering the comparatively small size of the town, and remembering how extremely difficult it is to get the working man to attend classes of this kind very often because he feels they are beyond his capacities the class must be considered to have well justified itself, and to have shown that there is a great future before University Extension work if developed on these lines.

Future of the Class

It seems very probable that if satisfactory arrangements can be made with the University Delegacy, the Committee would be prepared to continue the class in the autumn, as about twenty-five of the present students have notified their wish to continue the course.

With another course of lectures arranged for the Michael-


[page 107]

mas Term, the continuation of the Tutorial Class and the organization of University Extension work will be a matter of no little difficulty and anxiety to the Education Committee; but with encouragement they will probably be willing to go on with the work.

(2)
ROCHDALE UNIVERSITY TUTORIAL CLASS

PROVISIONAL REPORT

Attendances

The course of twelve lectures on the Economic History of the Seventeenth Century should have closed on April 11, but the illness of the lecturer rendered it necessary to postpone the last lecture until Saturday, May 2.

At the commencement, forty-three (including four ladies) students were enrolled, but of these, three have withdrawn; one on account of duties of employment, one by doctor's orders, and the other by changed circumstances, preventing attendance, thus leaving forty. The average attendance was thirty- nine. All the students, except one, have qualified for the Board of Education grant.

There has been no absence from the class but what has been accounted for, as illness or as an unavoidable cause. Some of the attendances have not been counted, because of the students having to leave before the end of the two hours' lesson. The attendance, therefore, may be considered for all practical purposes as 100 per cent.

Work and Progress

The papers written - and it is expected that every student will write each essay - have been of great excellence. There have been several visitors to the class, and all, like Mr. A. E. Zimmern, of New College, were impressed by the high level of the discussion and the remarkable acumen displayed in the asking of questions.

It may also be added that three classes have been run by the students in connexion with the Tutorial Class, and the same satisfactory feature in the attendance characterizes these classes also.

The Lecturer

The lecturer won the affection and confidence of his class from the outset, and has retained it all along. Mr. Zimmern


[page 108]

states that 'his method of exposition was academic in the best sense of the term'.

Composition of the Class

As was intended at the outset, the class consists almost exclusively of artisans. It is a satisfactory feature that there are among the students those who are most active in the work of their organizations, political and otherwise, or are officials of their Trade Unions.

Summer Meeting Scholarships

Several of the students will, aided by scholarships, attend the Cambridge Summer Meeting of Extension Students, 1908.

Suggestions

No further suggestions can be offered; except that the number of students, forty, makes too much work for the lecturer. The difficulty of individual attention has been surmounted to some extent by the lecturer, because of his willingness to stay in the locality, and to visit the students in their homes. The formation of a club for purely educational purposes has also made it possible for the teacher to meet students, and has added something of the collegiate spirit to the class work.

Future of the Class

The connexion will be maintained by the students who, it will be remembered, have pledged attendance for two years, right through the summer, and a full course of twenty-six lectures will be arranged in accordance with the original plan. It is, however, probable that it will be necessary to seek the establishment of a second class for first-year students.

Note. The services of the local Secretaries, who are not mentioned above, should be specially acknowledged. The success of the class at Rochdale has been due in great measure to the organizing skill and devotion of Mr. L. V. Gill, and a similar debt of gratitude is due in connexion with the Longton class to Mr. E. S. Cartwright. The Scholarships referred to above were duly used for the Summer Meeting at Cambridge, which was attended this year by a number of workpeople.

It should also be mentioned that the Rochdale Education Guild has started a Club where its members can meet for discussion, and has formed the nucleus of a Library.


[page 109]

APPENDIX VII
COURSES OF STUDY

THE appended courses have been drawn up under the direction of the Sub-Committee on Curricula. They are in no way intended to be binding on either teachers or learners; but it was thought that it might be useful both to intending students and others interested in this Report to indicate upon what general lines the class teaching would proceed. The courses are devised so far as possible upon a common scale, and are in most cases divided into two parts, the first a compulsory portion, calculated to take four months' reading at an hour a day, and the second comprising a number of optional subjects, any two of which may be taken during the remaining eight months.

We wish to express our cordial thanks to the following gentlemen who have helped us in various ways in connexion with the courses: Mr. E. Barker, Mr. W. E. Bullock, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, Mr. L. V. Gill, Mr. G. W. Gough, Mr. J. St. G. Heath, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, Mr. Tom Jones, Mr. R. V. Lennard, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., Professor Walter Raleigh, Mr. R. H. Tawney, Mr. R. J. E. Tiddy, and Mr. Graham Wallas.

Special acknowledgement is due to Mr. H. V. Storey, who very kindly undertook the considerable task of pricing the books recommended. All prices given for books are the lowest net prices for new copies from the ordinary bookseller. An asterisk is prefixed to the more important books. The letters 'o. p.' after a book mean 'out of print'. As will be understood, the lists of books are given for purposes of selection by the teacher as well as for the guidance of students.


[page 110]

ECONOMICS

I

THE Course should begin with a concrete examination of existing economic conditions (which may be called 'Descriptive Economics') rather than with general theory. The best method of approaching this subject is through economic history. A good method to adopt, after a preliminary general sketch of political and economic conditions, is to take one by one the chief characteristics of modern economic life, such as: the system of production on a large scale; the position of agriculture; the system of land tenure; the Factory Acts; the fiscal system; the banking system; the co-operative movement; trade unionism, &c., &c. and to trace the development of each separately. This is the plan pursued in Cunningham and McArthur's Outlines of English Industrial History. The teacher should not confine himself to the economic history of the nineteenth century, as by doing so he deprives the students of materials for valuable comparison and contrasts e. g. between modern and mediaeval agriculture, modern fiscal policy and mercantilist ideas, trade unions and craft gilds, sixteenth-century and modern ideas as to the relief of distress. It is not necessary to enter in detail into political history. But in order to make economic history intelligible, it is necessary to describe the main organs of government, methods of administration, and the position of classes in the periods under consideration. It is desirable, further, that students should make the acquaintance of the more celebrated books dealing with past economic problems, e. g. More's Utopia and Hale's Commonweal of England, Ed. Lamond (3/9), in the sixteenth century; Mun's England's Treasure by Foreign Trade (3/-) in the seventeenth century; and, of course, parts of the Wealth of Nations.

From this point the course should proceed to those portions of an ordinary textbook which deal with descriptive economics. For example, if Marshall's Economics of Industry is adopted as a textbook, Book II and Book IV, containing about one


[page 111]

third of the volume, could now be read. (The subjects dealt with in these two books are as follows: Some Fundamental Notions; Wealth; Production; Consumption; Labour; Necessaries; Capital; Income; The Fertility of Land; The Growth of Population; The Health and Strength of the Population; Industrial Training; The Growth of Wealth; Industrial Organization.) This may be supplemented and illustrated in detail by books describing the economic organization of different countries, e. g. Shadwell's Industrial Efficiency (2 vols., 26/-); Brassey and Chapman's Work and Wages, Part I (7/6); II (10/6); J. A. Hobson's Evolution of Modern Capitalism (4/6); Macrosty's Trusts and the State (o. p.), or his later book on The Trust Movement in British Industry (9/-); Ely's Monopolies and Trusts (5/-); Macgregor's Industrial Combination (7/6).

Now that the class is in the middle of an economic text-book, the transition to economic theory is easy. If many members of the class have socialistic views, it would be well to preface this part of the subject by reading Marx's Capital (4/-). The first nine chapters of Book I contain the essence of the whole. The style is rather difficult, but a simplified statement is to be found in Hyndman's Economics of Socialism (3/-). The teacher who adopts this course must, however, be very sure that the, criticism of Marx, implicit in the ordinary textbook, is equally carefully explained. The best direct statement of this criticism is in Böhm-Bawerk's Capital and Interest (o. p., pub. 14/-) (chapter on Exploitation Theories), and in the same writer's Karl Marx and the Close of his System (o. p., pub. 6/-). If this plan is adopted the next part of the text-book, which the teacher will find himself forced to take up, will be that dealing with the theory of value, as the difference between Marx and the orthodox economists depends on the difference of their treatment of this problem.

The method adopted above is to finish the work in 'Descriptive Economics' and Economic History before proceeding to Economic Theory. The teacher, may, however find it better to enter rather earlier into Economic Theory, so that the study of this subject may for a considerable time


[page 112]

run side by side with that of History and Existing Conditions. It is a considerable relief to the student to be able to turn from the one to the other.

1. Textbooks on Economic History:

Townsend Warner: Landmarks of English Industrial History (3/9).
Cheyney: Industrial and Social History of England (6/-).
Cunningham and McArthur: Outlines of English Industrial History (3/6).
Clive Day: History of Commerce (7/6).
Traill: Social England (6 vols. at 14/- each).
Fuller Works on Economic History:
Cunningham: English Industry and Commerce (vol. i, 12/6; vol. ii, 10/-; vol. iii, 7/6).
Ashley: Introduction to Economical History (2 vols., 11/8).
Rogers: Six Centuries of Work and Wages (4/-).
Toynbee: The Industrial Revolution (2/6).
Some Books in Special Historical Subjects:

Land:

Nasse: The Land Community of the Middle Ages (1871, o.p.).
Vinogradoff: Villeinage in England (Oxford Press, 16/-).
Slater: The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields (10/6).
Seebohm: The Village Community (9/5).
Foreign Commerce:
Hewins: English Trade and Finance in the Sixteenth Century (1/11).
Schmoller: The Mercantile System (3/-).
Leone Levi: British Commerce and Economic Progress (1880).
Gilds and Labour Conditions:
Unwin: Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Oxford Press, 7/6).
Brentano: English Gilds and Trade Unions.
S. and B. Webb: History of Trade Unionism (7/6).

[page 113]

Poor Law and Relief of Distress:

Leonard: Early History of the English Poor (7/6).
Nicholls: History of the Poor Law, 3 vols. (15/-). Vols. sold separately: vols. i and ii, 10/6; vol. iii, 7/6.
2. General Books (in addition to those mentioned above):
Marshall: Economics of Industry (12/6).
Ely: Evolution of Industrial Society (5/-).
Marx: Capital, vol. i (4/-).
Hyndman: Economics of Socialism (3/-).
Böhm-Bawerk: Capital and Interest (o. p.).
Ruskin: Unto this last (1/- and 1/6).
J. B. Clark: Essentials of Economic Theory as applied to modern problems of industry and public policy (8/6).
II

From here forward the class might follow the order of whatever textbook is adopted. The question of what this textbook is to be arises. Marshall's is undoubtedly the most authoritative and sympathetic. It is, however, not easy for beginners. But by this time the class will have had a good deal of training and ought to be able to follow it if properly guided. The teacher may, however, find it necessary to begin with a simpler work, but he should at any rate eventually take the class through Marshall, as he does much to show working men that a scientific economist can be a human being. Gide's Principles of Political Economy or Seager's Introduction to Economics can be used for those parts of the subject which Marshall's work has not yet reached. Portions of the writings of the older economists would also naturally be read. From the first, however, the student should be taught to realize that economic phenomena are not isolated facts, and must be explained by reference to economic motives.

Books for this part of the course:

Seager: Introduction to Economics (8/6).
Seligman: Principles of Economics (10/6).
Gide: Principles of Political Economy (5/8).
Marshall: Economics of Industry (2/8).
Webb: Industrial Democracy, Part III (12/- for whole work).

[page 114]

The rest of the time will be occupied with the application of economics to social questions. An opportunity is here offered of studying Statistics and Statistical Method as an introduction to this part of the subject. Statistical Method is best explained in Part I of Bowley's Elements of Statistics (10/6). This should be illustrated by a survey of the statistical work of Sir Robert Giffen, Mr. Booth, Mr. Rowntree, and Mr. Chiozza Money. The class should also be made familiar with the more important blue books, especially with those issued by the Board of Trade.

The field of applied economics is so wide that the Class can only cover a small part of it. If, however, it is neglected, the knowledge acquired up to this time may seem to be nothing but an ingenious mechanism of little practical use. We suggest some of the subjects which perplex those who work for social welfare.

A

Socialism.
Municipal Trading.

B

Trade Unionism.
Co-operation.

C

Sweating.

The Legal Minimum Wage. The theory is best given in Webb's Industrial Democracy, the practice in Report to the Home Office on the Wages Boards and Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Acts of Australia and New Zealand (No. 4167, 1/10).

Compulsory Arbitration. The Case for the Factory Acts, edited by Mrs. Humphry Ward (1/11).

Factory Legislation. Hutchins and Harrison: History of Factory Legislation (10/6).

D

Unemployment. W. H. Beveridge: Unemployment (in the press, 7/6).

Old Age Pensions. Charles Booth: Old Age Pensions (2/-).


[page 115]

Welfare of Children. G. Newman: Infantile Mortality (7/6).

The Poor Law System. Aschrott: The English Poor Law System (10/6).

E

Problems of Taxation.

F

Proposals for Land Reform. Shaw Lefevre: English and Irish Land Systems (o. p.).

G

The Fiscal Question.

Further books dealing with many of these questions will be found in the syllabus on Political Science, or in that on Recent English History.




[page 116]

RECENT ENGLISH LITERATURE (1785-1900)

THE Course is divided into two parts, one compulsory, the other optional. It is intended that the Compulsory Subject should be completed in four months. Of the Optional Subjects any two may be chosen, and these together should occupy eight months.

I. COMPULSORY SUBJECT. The French Revolution and English Poetry.

The following selections from the writers of the period are prescribed:

(1) Southey's Joan of Arc.
(2) Coleridge's Religious Musings and France.
(3) Wordsworth's Prelude.
(4) Byron's Childe Harold.
(5) Shelley's Hellas and Prometheus Unbound.
Books required:
Southey: Routledge's Excelsior Library (1/6).
Coleridge: Dykes Campbell (5/8).
Wordsworth: N. C. Smith, 3 vols. (15/-), or Oxford Poets Series (2/8), or Florin Poets (1/6).
Byron: Oxford Poets (2/8 or 1/6).
Shelley: Oxford Poets (2/8 or 1/6).
The lives of these poets may be studied in the volumes of the English Men of Letters, Series I (1/2 or 9d) and II (2/-).

These contain also some criticism of the several authors' work.

The following will be found useful for the Literary History of the period, and for the criticism of the authors prescribed:

Dowden: The French Revolution and English Literature (out of print, published at 7/6).
Herford: The Age of Wordsworth (3/6).
Hazlitt: The Spirit of the Age (World's Classics, 1/-).

[page 117]

For Wordsworth:

Coleridge: Biographia Literaria (Everyman's Library, 1/-. Annotated edition, J. Shawcross, 8/-).
Matthew Arnold: Essays in Criticism, second series (4/-), and Selections in Everyman's and Universal Library (1/-).
W. Raleigh: Wordsworth (4/6).
N. C. Smith's Introduction in his edition of Wordsworth (see above).
For Shelley:
Matthew Arnold: Essays in Criticism, second series.
Articles in Dowden's Transcripts and Studies (4/6).
N.B. These books are in no way suggested as a substitute for the study of the authors prescribed. They should, as a rule, not be used till some familiarity with the text of the selections has been acquired, and they should be employed chiefly to supplement the results of the student's own reading, and as works of reference.

II. OPTIONAL SUBJECTS.

It is suggested that one Verse Subject and one Prose Subject should be selected from the following:

A. Verse.

(1) Cowper and Crabbe.

Cowper: Poems, Bailey (10/6) or Oxford Poets Series (1/6); Letters, World's Classics, Selection (1/-), Golden Treasury ed. (2/6); Life, &c., Goldwin Smith, English Men of Letters, Series 1.

Crabbe: Cambridge English Classics, 3 vols. (13/6; Oxford Poets (2/8); Life, &c., Ainger, English Men of Letters, Series 1.

(2) Chatterton and Blake.

Chatterton: Muses Library, 2 vols. (1/- each) with Biography; Life, &c., Masson (4/6).

Blake: J. Sampson (10/6) or Rossetti (2/6); Selection, with Introduction by W. Raleigh (2/6); Criticism, &c., A. C. Swinburne (6/-).

These two subjects, though they do not wholly fall within


[page 118]

the prescribed period, are selected as representative of the forerunners of the Romantic Revival, in which wider movement the influence of the French Revolution played an important part.

(3) Wordsworth and Coleridge.

(4) Byron and Shelley.

These two subjects are intended for those who wish to continue their study of these poets during their 'Optional' course.

(5) Keats and Tennyson.

Keats: E. de Sélincourt (Critical Introduction) (7/6) or Buxton Forman ed. (7/6); Life, &c., S. Colvin, English Men of Letters, Series I.

Tennyson: Complete Edition (5/8); Oxford Poets (1/6 containing all but the latest poems); Eversley Edition, 8 vols. (4/- each) with Tennyson's notes; Life, &c., Lyall, English Men of Letters, Series II; A. G. Bradley, Tennyson's In Memoriam (4/6); Memoirs of Tennyson (6/-).

(6) Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning.
Matthew Arnold: Poems (5/8); Essays in Criticism, first and second series (8/-); Life, &c., H. Paul, English Men of Letters, Series II.

R. Browning: Complete Edition, 2 vols. (11/3), a full selection is in the Oxford Poets Series (1/6); Life, &c., Chesterton, English Men of Letters, Series II; Herford, Modern Writers Series (1/11).

B. Prose.

(1) A selection from the works of any two of the following novelists: Jane Austen, Scott, Disraeli, Dickens, Thackeray, the Brontes, George Eliot, Meredith, Thomas Hardy.

Jane Austen: New Century Library, 2 vols. (4/-); Life, &c., Austen Leigh's Memoirs (4/-); Goldwin Smith, Great Writers Series (1/2).

Scott: Everyman's Library, Waverley Novels (1/- each); Life, &c., Lockhart, Abridged Life of Scott (2/8); Hutton, English Men of Letters, Series I.


[page 119]

Disraeli: Pocket Edition (1/- each); Life, &c., Froude (2/6), Sichel (2/6).
Dickens: Everyman's Library (1/- each); Life, &c., Ward, English Men of Letters, Series I; Chesterton (4/6).
Thackeray: Pocket Edition (1/- each); Life, &c., Whibley, Modern English Writers Series (1/11); Trollope, English Men of Letters, Series I.
Brontës: World's Classics (1/- each); Life, &c., Mrs. Gaskell (1/2).
G. Eliot: Popular Edition (complete) (3/6 each vol.). A selection of the Novels, Pocket Edition (1/- each); Life, &c., Leslie Stephen, English Men of Letters, Series II.
Meredith: Pocket Edition (2/6 each); Criticism, Henderson (4/6).
Hardy: Pocket Edition (2/6 each); Criticism, Macdonnell, Contemporary Writers Series (2/8); and The Art of Thomas Hardy, by Lionel Johnson (o. p.)
(2) A selection from the prose of any two of the following: Carlyle, Ruskin, Emerson, Matthew Arnold.
Carlyle: People's Edition (9d. each); Life, &c., Nichol, English Men of Letters, Series I.
Ruskin: Complete Edition, George Allen (1/-, 1/6: some volumes 2/6 each); selected volumes in Everyman's Library (1/- each); Life, &c., Harrison, English Men of Letters, Series II.
Emerson: Works, Eversley Series, 6 vols. (4/- each); Essays in World's Classics (1/-); Life, &c., R. Garnett, Great Writers Series (1/2).
Matthew Arnold: Eversley Edition, 5 vols. (4/- each); Everyman's Library (1/-); Criticism (see above).

[page 120]

RECENT ENGLISH HISTORY
(1815-1908)

THE object of this course is to enable a student who is interested in the problems at present discussed in English politics to acquire the basis of recent historical fact on which the solution of those problems must largely depend.

The course will therefore in the first place appeal to the memory, and will aim at leaving in the mind of the student a list of historical events remembered in their proper chronological order. But, since events cannot easily be remembered unless they are thought about, and since, even if they are remembered, they are of no use unless they are thought about, the second aim of the course will be to indicate lines of thought on the inter-relation of these events as causes and effects.

The course is intended to cover twelve months' reading, and is divided into two parts; the first (which is compulsory and is intended to occupy four months out of the twelve) consisting of the main outline of English parliamentary politics during the period; and the second consisting of any two out of a number of optional subjects (each of the two being intended to occupy four out of the remaining eight months).

In dealing with the main events influencing the politics of a single country during less than one century, the student will find it possible to learn by heart an actual list of dates into which he can fit the facts acquired in his wider reading, and by means of which he can instantly realize the chronological relation of the different narratives as he reads them. The material for such a list is admirably given in Acland and Ransome, Outline of English Political History (Longmans, 4/6). But the student should prepare his own list for himself on a large sheet of paper. He will find it convenient to


[page 121]

arrange the dates to be remembered on parallel columns, e.g. -

(1) Reigns and Prime Ministers.
(2) Changes in the constitution of the central government.
(3) Changes in local government.
(4) Events in colonial history.
(5) Events in foreign history.
The ruled lines indicating decades should run across all the columns. The student should fill the columns gradually during the year, only putting in events of which he is actually reading, and should read through the list either daily or at least once a week.

Throughout the course the student will often find it both helpful and interesting to look up biographical facts as to the main actors. For this purpose the Dictionary of National Biography can be consulted at any good public library. The student should make, as he reads, a list of the names to be so looked up. Chambers's Biographical Dictionary (1 vol., 7/11 ) is a short but extremely well-arranged book of reference which may sometimes be used for the same purpose.

COMPULSORY SUBJECT
English Political History (1815-1908)

The student will be expected to acquire an effective knowledge of vol. xi of Longman's Political History of England (Brodrick and Fotheringham, 7/6), from ch. viii to the end of the volume, and of the whole of vol. xii of the same History (Sidney Low and L. C. Sanders, 7/6).

He will find that he remembers the events there described more easily if he also reads the period in other histories. He may take for this purpose vols. i and ii of Harriet Martineau's History (covering the period 1816-33) (2/8 each), vols. iii and iv of Spencer Walpole's History of England (1832- 56) (4/6 each), vols. ii, iii, iv, and v of Herbert Paul's Modern England (1855-95) (8/6 each), or Justin M'Carthy's one volume


[page 122]

Short History of our own Times (1837-1902) (6/-). But any such additional reading will not be considered essential, and may depend on his opportunities of access to a public library The student may find it convenient to arrange the facts of the compulsory subject in relation to -

(a) the three 'Reform Bills' of 1832, 1867, and 1884, with their causes and effects;
(b) the reconstruction of English local government by the Acts of 1834, 1835, and, later, of 1870, 1888, 1894, and 1902;
(c) the adoption of the principle of Colonial self-government in 1839, the taking over of the government of India by England in 1859, and the rise of Imperial feeling as a factor in home politics from 1874.
OPTIONAL SUBJECTS

(1) Cabinet Government in England (1815-1908)

This subject is suggested to those students who wish to spend two-thirds of their year rather than one-third on the 'general history of the period'. The books chosen are mainly biographies illustrating the events of the compulsory subject as they were seen by the little groups of statesmen who made up the official governments and oppositions of the day.

Books recommended: Greville, Journal, 8 vols., each 2/8; Life of Earl Russell (Spencer Walpole), 2 vols., 9/-; Life of Lord Melbourne (Torrens), 2 vols., 2/-; Life of Peel (C. S. Parker, 3 vols., £1 16/-,); Life of Palmerston (E. Ashley, 2 vols., 1878, 12/-); Life of Gladstone (J. Morley, 2 vols., 5/-); Letters of Queen Victoria, 3 vols., 6/-. The small volumes in the 'Queen's Prime Minister' series on Aberdeen and Derby may also be consulted (each 2/6).

The books recommended for this course are expensive and large, and no student should attempt it unless he has access to a library, and can give a great part of every day during the


[page 123]

four months to the work of reading. During the course he should read and compare Walter Bagehot's English Constitution (2/9) and Sidney Low's Governance of England (3/6).

(2) The reconstruction of English Local Government (1834-1902)

An outline of the general history of the reconstruction is given by E. Jenks, Outline of English Local Government (2nd edition, 1907, 1/11), and by W. Blake Odgers, Local Government (2nd edition, 1907, 2/8).

For particular problems read T. Fowle, The Poor Law (Macmillan, 1906, 1/11), The Report of the Poor Law Commission, 1834 (reprinted 1905, 1/8), and The Report of the Poor Law Commission of 1905 when it appears; G. Balfour, The Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland (2nd edition, 7/6); Sir H. Craik, The State in its Relation to Education (1896, 1/11); Sir J. Simon, English Sanitary Institutions (1897, 13/6); J. F. Sykes, Public Health and Housing (1901, 5/-); A. Shaw, Municipal Government in Great Britain (1895, 4/6).

For Local Government up to 1835 the chief authority is Webb (Sidney and Beatrice), English Local Government, 3 vols., vol. i, 16/-, vols. ii and iii, 25/- by far the greater part of which, however, deals with events before 1800.

(3) The social action of the Central State

(i. e. the direct interference of the State by Factory Acts and other forms of legislation and administration with social conditions, as distinguished from its action in developing organs of local government for the same purpose),

Books recommended: B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, A History of Factory Legislation (1903, 10/6); R. W. Cooke-Taylor, The Factory System and the Factory Acts (Methuen, 1894, i/ii); The Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury as Social Reformer (Hodder, 1897, 1/11). Those who have access to a good library should also read The History of the


[page 124]

Factory Movement (1802-47) by 'Alfred' (i.e., S. Kydd); The Reports of Sadler's House of Commons Committee, 1832, and of The Royal Commission on the Factory System (1833); and P. Gaskell, Artisans and Machinery (1836).

(4) The political organization and action of the English working classes from 1815

Books recommended (the dates given in square brackets represent the approximate periods treated of): Samuel Bamford, Passages in the Life of a Radical [1815-40], (2 vols., Unwin, 1893, 5/3); William Lovett, Life and Struggles [1825-50]; A. Somerville, Autobiography of a Working Man [1816-40] (o. p.); Memoir of James Watson [1825-45] (o.p.); Life of Francis Place [1792-1850] by Graham Wallas (9/-); R. G. Gammage, The Chartist Movement [1836-50] (1894, 15/-). See also facts in Webb's History of Trade Unionism and The Life of Robert Owen [1800-50] by F. Podmore (24/-).

Much of the best historical material on the subject is still only to be found in the files of old newspapers, e. g. The Poor Man's Guardian [1830-34] and The Northern Star [1837-46].

This subject should only be taken by students who have access to one of the great libraries, and who have some aptitude for 'research' work among rather formless materials.

(5) The Non-political organization of the working classes for social and industrial purposes

This subject is mainly covered by the Trade Union, Co-operative and Friendly Society movements. For the history of Trade Unionism by far the most important is S. and B. Webb, The History of Trade Unionism (7/6). The book contains an elaborate bibliography which will guide those who wish to read any period of the history of Trade Unionism in greater detail. Most of the author's material is now in the library of the London School of Economics (Clare Market, W.C.).

For the history of Co-operation, G. J. Holyoake's rambling


[page 125]

and rather inaccurate History of Co-operation (Unwin, 1905, 21/-, earlier and better edition, 2 vols., 1885, o.p.) contains much valuable material. Industrial Co-operation, by Miss Catherine Webb (Co-op. Union, 2/6) is a good textbook, and Miss Beatrice Potter (Mrs. Sidney Webb) gives a useful history and discussion of distributive co-operation in her Co-operative Movement in Great Britain (1899, 1/11). In connexion with profit-sharing and other forms of co-operative production, the student should read D. Schloss, Methods of Industrial Remuneration (1898, 5/8).

For Friendly Societies he should read J. F. Wilkinson, Mutual Thrift (1892, [? o. p.]), which contains a list of authorities, and J. M. Baernreither, English Associations of Working Men (1891, 7/11).

(6) Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation

(as developed both by voluntary organizations and by State action)

The student should not give four months to the history of this question unless he is prepared to go into it in detail. Useful textbooks on the subject are A. C. Pigou, Principles and Methods of Industrial Peace (1905, 3/6); N. P. Gilman, Methods of Industrial Peace (1904, 7/6); D. Knoop, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration (1905, 7/6); and ch. 3 of vol. i. of S. and B. Webb, Industrial Democracy (new ed., 12/-). He should also read the history of compulsory arbitration in New Zealand in W. P. Reeves's State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand (2 vols., 1902, 24/-, o. p.), and should ascertain the facts of that movement up to date. For this purpose he might write to the Agent-General for New Zealand (London), asking for references to recent Acts of the New Zealand Parliament and other authorities, books, &c., at the date of his writing.


[page 126]

(7) Finance and Taxation

(including the Free Trade controversy, 1838-46, and the Fiscal controversy, 1903-8, but excluding local taxation)

The student may begin by reading John Morley's Life of Richard Cobden (2 vols., 8/-), which he should compare with Sydney Buxton, Finance and Politics, 1783-1885 (2 vols., 1888, 19/6), and W. Cunningham, The Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement (Cambridge Press, 1904, 2/6). He should then read the relevant parts of the proceedings of the Colonial Conference at Ottawa, 1894 (Blue Book, C. 7553), and those of the Imperial Conference, 1907 (Cd. 3523, 5/-).

On the general question of Public Finance he should read C. F. Bastable, Public Finance (1895, 12/6) and the later volumes of Stephen Dowell, History of Taxation in England (4 vols., 1892, Longmans, o. p.), if he can get access to them at a library.

(8) British Colonies and Dependencies from 1815

The student should begin by acquiring a general knowledge of the geography of the British Empire, including the population of each colony or dependency, its status, and the date and occasion of its acquisition. He will want an atlas for this purpose, and he may also use The Statesman's Year Book (Scott Keltic, annual, 10/6), or The Colonial Office List (Waterlow, annual, 12/6), or Hazell's Annual, 3/6; W. P. Greswell's The British Colonies and their Industries (1/6) may also be found useful.

He should then read W. P. Greswell's textbook, The Growth and Administration of the British Colonies, 1837-97 (1898, 1/11) and Professor H. E. Egerton's Short History of British Colonial Policy (7/6).

For India he should begin with Sir A. Lyall's Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in India (5/-). He


[page 127]

may then read either Sir John Strachey's India (1903, 10/-), or Sir George Chesney's Indian Polity (1894, 15/9), and the admirable historical introduction to Sir C. P. Ilbert's The Government of India (Clarendon Press, 1907, 10/6). The history of the Native States is given in C. L. Tapper's Our Indian Protectorate (Longmans, [o. p.]).

All students of British Imperial History should obtain Leaflet No. 8 of the Historical Association; Sec., Miss M. Curran, 6 South Square, Gray's Inn, London, W.C. (price 6d), which contains an annotated bibliography of works on the subject.

(9) The Labour-Socialist Movement in England 1880-1908

With Special Reference to the Period 1884-9

This subject should only be taken by students who have access to a good library, who can give a great part of their time to the work, and who can expand the rather fragmentary historical material by the direct testimony of men or women who have taken part in the events to be studied. To any such student the course will offer a good opportunity for collecting and arranging recent facts which have not yet been made the subject of formal history. He will find that the clearness and value of such work depends largely upon exact chronology. The day and month, as well as the year, of all events should therefore be recorded, and a detailed chronological plan in parallel columns should be constructed. Care should be taken to preserve accurate references for all notes. The only good general treatment of the subjects that have so far appeared in print are Webb's Socialism in England (1/11), which only deals with the first half of the period, Hobhouse's Labour Movement (1/-), and Brougham Villiers, The Socialist Movement in England (10/6).

The General Election of 1880 should be made the starting point of the actual historical arrangement. The compulsory course will have given the student a general knowledge of the political situation of the Liberal Party before the election,


[page 128]

and of Gladstone's difficulties in Egypt, Ireland, &c., from 1880 to 1885. Acland and Ransome's Outline will enable the student to prepare a chronological column showing the main events in central politics during those five years.

He should also get a general idea of the position of thought among the working classes in 1880. For this he will need to understand the trend of English working-class history during the previous thirty years, the dying away of Chartism and the earlier Christian Socialism after 1851, the growth of the Co-operative Movement with its Owenite traditions, the failure of the ' International ' to affect English working-class opinion after 1873, and the political history of Trade Unionism from 1867 onwards. (For this last see Webb, History of Trade Unionism.)

The gradual spread of the movement after 1880 was due to a variety of causes. The chief were:

(i) The successful working of Trade Unionism, the Friendly Society movement, and other forms of industrial organization on a representative basis.
(ii) Developments in central politics, especially the disappointment of Radicals after the General Election of 1880.
(iii) The spread of education, and the growth of an intellectual movement among the working classes.
(iv) The influence of the Continental Socialist movement.
Two periods may be marked:

(i) 1884-1889: the theoretical Socialist Movement (mainly in London).

This movement may be traced more immediately to the influence of Henry George's Progress and Poverty (1879) and his lecturing visits to England and Ireland in 1881, 1883 and 1884, combined with the contact of Karl Marx (through Mr. Hyndman and others) with English Radical thought, not long before his death on March 14, 1883. The Democratic Federation was founded in 1881, became the Social Democratic Federation in 1884, and its organ Justice was started in the same year. For the early history of the Fabian


[page 129]

Society see Fabian Tract No. 41, and Memorials of Thomas Davidson, the Wandering Scholar, by W. Knight, 1907 (7/6). See also Mackail's Life of William Morris (2 vols. 10/-). The growing influence of Socialism on working-class opinion may be traced in the resolutions passed by successive meetings of the Trades Union Congress, 1884-9.

This period ended with the London Dock Strike of 1889, which was the first outer manifestation of the importance of the movement.

(ii) 1889-1908. The leading feature of this period is the growth of the Labour Movement, culminating in its organization as a definite political party.

All students will find it convenient to obtain the two tracts, What to Read (6d) and More Books to Read (1d) from the Fabian Society, 3 Clements Inn, Strand, London, W.C., and in particular to read carefully the description of bibliographical material on p. iii. of What to Read.





[page 130]

MODERN WORLD HISTORY

THE object of this course is to give the student a clear idea of the chief factors in Modern History - their origin and meaning. It can best be pursued by reading one or two elementary books with attention. Rose, Napoleonic Era; Alison Phillips, European History, 1815-78; Goldwin Smith, The History of America; Rose, The Development of the European Nations, ch. 13 to 20 cover all the political ground. A good notion of the intellectual movements indicated in the last section may be gained from Cambridge Modern History, vol. x, c. 22, and Paul, History of England, i, ch. 13; iii, ch. 11.

It is always well to dissolve History into problems. After reading ten, twenty, or sixty years of History ask yourself, What were the problems of that time, the problems of foreign policy, of home policy? Why were they settled thus? Should they have been settled otherwise? Try to form opinions rather than to remember facts. If you form judgements you cannot help remembering the salient facts upon which your judgements are formed. Think at stated intervals. Go over what you have read in your mind. Do not attempt too much. It is best to make certain of a firm clear outline.

The following syllabus is drawn up for a year's course of reading. It consists of a compulsory portion (Part I), which the student should be able to master in four months, and of a number of special topics, any two of which may be taken to complete the full year's course.

Part I (compulsory). General Modern History. Books recommended: Rose, Napoleonic Era (3/6); Alison Phillips, European History, 1815-78; Goldwin Smith, The History of America (6/5); Rose, The Development of the European Nations, ch. 13-20 (18/-); Cambridge Modern History,


[page 131]

vol x, ch. 22 (16/-); Paul, History of Modern England, i, ch. 19; ii, ch. 13; iii, ch. 11 (each 8/6).

Part II. Special topics, any two of which may be taken as part of a year's course.

I. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

1. Its causes, political, intellectual, social. Attempts to reform the old Monarchy. Reasons for failure. Condition of France in 1789.
2. The work of the Constituent Assembly, its composition: difficulties: merits and defects of the constitution of 1791.
3. The work of the Legislative. Character of the Girondin Party. Their idealism. Typical Girondins. The War Policy.
4. Causes of the outbreak of the Great War. Its significance (a) for France; (b) for Europe.
5. The Convention. Why did the Monarchy go under? The influence of the Jacobin Club. Typical Jacobins. The organization of the Terror. Was it necessary? Permanent influence of the Convention. Its legal and educational schemes. The Thermidorian Reaction.
6. The Directory. Why so many Coup d'Etats? The War Policy. The Directory and Bonaparte. The Directory and France. Causes of its overthrow. Significance of Brumaire.
7. General characteristics of the French Revolution. Its attitude to Property. Its attitude to the Church. Its attitude to the Corporations. Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism.
8. Influence of the Revolution on the chief European countries.
Books recommended: Lecky, History of England, vol. vi, ch. 18 (5/-); Morse Stephens, French Revolution, vols. i and ii (13/6 each); Carlyle, French Revolution (ed. Fletcher) (13/6), plain edition, 2 vols., 2/- (Everyman Series); Cambridge Modern History, vol. viii (16/-).


[page 132]

II. THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, 1750-1880.

1. Causes of the War of Independence.
2. The making of the Federal Constitution.
3. Contrasted political ideals. Hamilton and Jefferson.
4. The growth of American power up to 1850. Conquest of Mexico. The Westward movement. Economic developments. Immigration.
5. America and Europe. (a) Economic reaction in Europe, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bremen, &c. (b) The Munro Doctrine. (c) The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1880.
Books recommended: Lecky, History of England, vol. iv, ch. 11, 12; vol. v, ch. 14, 15 (each 5/-); Oliver, F. S., Alexander Hamilton (12/6); The Federalist (10/6); Cambridge Modern History, vol. vii (16/-); Cairnes, The Slave Power (7/11).

III. NAPOLEON AND EUROPE.

i. Early Life of Napoleon. The needs of France in 1799. The Civil Work of the Consulate,

ii. Reasons for the prolongation of the War.

(a) Causes of the breach of the Peace of Amiens.
(b) The Continental Blockade and its consequences.
(c) The Russian Alliance.
(d) The Peninsular War.
(e) The Downfall of the Empire.
iii. General Survey of Napoleon's Place in History.
1. Merits and defects of his government in France.
2. His direct influence on Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Poland.
3. His indirect influence. Revival of Prussia. Growth of the Pan-German Sentiment. Extension of Russian influence in Europe.
4. Estimate of the share taken by the leading European Nations in his overthrow.

[page 133]

5. Contrast between Bonapartism, Bourbonism, and the Revolution.
Books recommended: Seeley, Napoleon (3/9); Fisher, Bonapartism (3/-); Rose, Napoleon (2 vols., 10/-); Cambridge Modern History, vol. ix (16/-).

IV. THE EUROPEAN REACTION, 1815-30.

1. The work of the Congress of Vienna.
2. The reconstruction of Germany; different ideas; why the result was so unsatisfactory.
3. Alexander I and the Holy Alliance.
4. The movements of 1820.
5. English diplomacy and the Holy Alliance.
6. The War of the Greek Independence. Position of Turkey: position of Russia: the revolt in the Principalities: the revolt in the Morea: causes of Greek success.
7. The United Netherlands and the Belgian Revolution.
8. The fall of Charles X.
9. Ireland and the Movement for Catholic Emancipation.
10. The Polish Revolt of 1830.
Books recommended: Cambridge Modern History, vol. x (16/-); Alison Phillips, War of Greek Independence (5/8) Skrine, Expansion of Russia, 1815-1900 (4/6); Guizot, Memoirs, Temperley, Life of Canning (7/6); Marriott, Life of Canning (2/6); Lecky, Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland (2 vols., 25/-).

V. ENGLAND AND THE WORLD, 1815-50.

1. Position of England after the Napoleonic losses: (a) industrial structure; (b) political traditions; (c) maritime and military power; (d) oversea possessions.
2. The downfall of the agricultural aristocracy. Parliamentary Reform. The Free Trade Movement. Growth of Political Radicalism.
3. England and South America.

[page 134]

4. England in Australia and South Africa.
5. England in India, the Red Sea, and the Far East.
6. Reasons why England is the chief representative of Europe over the seas.
7. Schools of thought with regard to Colonial Government.
Books recommended: Seeley, The Expansion of England (4/-); Martineau, History of England (3/9); Spencer Walpole, History of England (6 vols., 2;/-); Fortescue, Life of Lord Dundonald (1/11), or Lord Dundonald, Autobiography of a Sailor (o. p.); Morley, Life of Cobden (2 vols., 8/-); Jenks, History of the Australasian Colonies (4/6); Historical Geography of S. and E. Africa (7/2); Egerton, English Colonial Policy (7/6); Parker, Life and Letters of Sir Robert Peel (3 vols., 36/-); Sir A. Lyall, British Dominion in India (5/-); Sir W. Hunter, The Indian Empire (4 vols., 24/-).

VI. EUROPE FROM 1830 TO 1848.

1. The Government of Louis Philippe. Foreign policy. The Entente with England. The Egyptian Question in 1840. Rise of Bonapartism. The Reform Movement. The February Revolution.
2. Growth of a National Liberal Movement in Germany. The Zollverein. The South German Constitutions. The Radical element. The German Revolution of 1848. Its strength. The difficulties in the way of success. Causes of failure.
3. The National Movement in Italy. The Carbonari.
Their weakness. Mazzini. The Giovanne Italia, Piedmont. Carlo Alberto. Pius IX and Gioberti. The Movements of 1848, Monarchical, Papal, Republican. Causes of failure.
4. The Austrian Convulsion. The racial problem in the Austrian Dominions. Different position of Bohemia and Hungary. The Bohemian National Movement. The Hungarian National Movements. The Hun-

[page 135]

garians and the Croats. Reasons for the Austrian success. The reaction. Why it could not be permanently continued.
Books recommended: Lowes-Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in Modern France (2/8); Cambridge Modern History, vol. x (16/-); Headlam, Life of Bismarck (3/9); Bolton King, History of Italian Unity (2 vols., 24/-); Trevelyan, Garibaldi's Defence of the Roman Republic (6/6); Hungary: its History and Revolution (Bohn Series), 2/8); Seignobos, History of Contemporary Europe (10/-).

VII. THE BREAK-UP OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM AND THE FORMATION OF THE GREAT NATIONALITIES.

The rise of Napoleon III, his character and aims.
The Crimean War. Its causes and conduct. Why it led to the liberation of Italy. Napoleon III. Cavour.
The War of 1852 and the Truce of Villa Franca.
The work of Garibaldi.
Problems before the New Italian Kingdom.
The early history of Bismarck.
Reforms in the Prussian Army.
The Danish Question and the Austrian War.
Results of the Prussian victory (1) on the state of Austria; (2) on Germany; (3) on France.
Internal difficulties of Napoleon: the Liberal Empire.
External difficulties: the search for alliances. Causes of the rupture. The Hohenzollern candidature. Who was responsible? The War of 1870. Reasons for Prussian success. Political results of the War. The German Empire. The Third Republic.
Books recommended: Lowes-Dickinson, Revolution and Reaction in France (2/8); Fisher, Bonapartism (3/6); Kinglake, Crimean War (6 vols., each 2/8); Bolton King, History of Italian Unity (2 vols., 24/-); Stillman, Union of Italy (4/6); Headlam, Life of Bismarck (3/9); Bismarck's Thoughts and Recollections; Lord Acton, Historical Essays;


[page 136]

essays on Cavour and Causes of the Franco-Prussian War (10/-); Lowell, Governments and Parties in Europe (2 vols., 15/9).

VIII. EUROPE AND THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, 1850-70.

Contrast between the Southern and Northern States.
The Question of Slavery.
The Question of State Rights.
Causes of the War between the North and the South.
The attitude of Europe.
Reasons for the Northern victory.
The Racial Problem in the States.
The influence of the War on Industry, Commerce, and Trade Policy.
The Dominion of Canada Act.
Leading Contrasts between Canadian and American Government.
The good and bad features of American democracy.
Books recommended: Cambridge Modern History, vol. vii (16/-); Morse, Life of Abraham Lincoln (2 vols., 9/-); Haggard, Life of Abraham Lincoln; Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies - Canada, Part I (4/6); Bryce, American Commonwealth (2 vols., each 9/5); Cairnes, The Slave Power (7/11).

IX. THE OCCUPATION OF THE WASTE SPACES AND THE COMPETITION FOR COLONIAL POWER.

The expansion of Russia in Asia. Characteristics. The Russo-Japanese War.
The French Colonial Movement, Algeria, Annam, Cambodia, Congo, &c.
The French Colonial Movement and the Partition of Africa.
The English in Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa.
Books recommended: Skrine, The Expansion of Russia (4/6); Scott-Keltie, The Partition of Africa (12/-); Milner,


[page 137]

England in Egypt (4/6); Mary Kingsley, The Story of West Africa, West African Studies (5/8); Sir H. Johnston, A History of the Colonization of Africa (4/6); British Central Africa (18/-); Lady Lugard, A Tropical Dependency (18/-); Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies (6 vols., about 22/-); Japan (article in Quarterly Review, 1907); Ian Hamilton, Notes from a Staff Officer's Scrapbook (2 vols., 36/-); Hobson, Imperialism (2/6); Alleyne Ireland, Studies in Tropical Administration (7/6).

X. PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.

The Revival of Roman Catholicism. Chateaubriand, de Bonald. Lamennais. Newman. Manning. The Vatican Council of 1870.
The High Church Movement in England.
Auguste Comte and Positivism.
The growth of Biblical criticism.
Utilitarianism and Darwinism.
Antisemitism and the Dreyfus case.
The romantic movement in poetry.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement in England.
Books recommended: Nielsen, The History of the Papacy in the Nineteenth Century; Purcell, Life of Cardinal Manning (2 vols., 30/-); Lamennais, Essay on Indifference, The Words of a Believer (1/6); Church, Oxford Movement (4/-); Harriett Martineau, The Positivist Philosophy of A. Comte (3 vols., 11/3); The Positivist New Calendar of Great Men (7/6); A. R. Wallace, Darwinism (5/8); Leslie Stephen, The Utilitarians (3 vols., 30/-); Conybeare, The Dreyfus Case (2/8); Dr. Barry, Essays (one on Antisemitism); Holman Hunt, Preraphaelitism and the Preraphaelite Brotherhood (2 vols., 42/-); J. W. Mackail, Life of William Morris (2 vols., 10/-); J. Estlin Carpenter, The Bible in the Nineteenth Century (10/6); T. K. Cheyne, Founders of Old Testament Criticism (5/8); H. S. Nash, A History of the Higher Criticism of the New Testament (3/6); A. V. Dicey, Law and Public Opinion in the Nineteenth Century (10/6).


[page 138]

XI. THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT IN EUROPE AND ENGLAND.

The Industrial Revolution and its effects on Working-class Life.
The Freemasons.
The Carbonari.
Young Europe and Young Italy.
The Early Socialists: Saint Simon, Fourier, Proudhon, L. Blanc, in France.
Robert Owen and the Chartists.
Communism.
Christian Socialism in England.
Karl Marx and the Internationale.
Lassalle and the German Socialist Party.
Bakounin and the Anarchist Parties.
The Formation of National Socialist Parties.
The Growth of Trade Unionism in England.
Revisionism and Syndicalism.
Books recommended: Toynbee, Industrial Revolution (2/6); Bolton King, Life of Mazzini (4/6); Th. Frost, The Secret Societies of the European Revolution (2 vols., 1876); A. Menger (translated, with historical introduction by Professor Foxwell), The Right to the Whole Produce of Labour (6/-); Kirkup, History of Socialism (5/8); Webb, History of Trade Unionism (7/6); Ensor, Modern Socialism (second edition, 1907) (5/-); F. W. Hirst, The Manchester School; L. T. Hobhouse, The Labour Movement (1/-); Graham Wallas, Life of Francis Place (9/-); Podmore, Life of Robert Owen (2 vols., 24/-); Rae, Contemporary Socialism (5/-); Russell, German Social Democracy (o. p.); Hunter, Socialists at Work (6/6); Articles in the Dictionary of National Biography on the Chartist leaders, e.g. Owen, Lovett, O'Connor, O'Brien, Jones, Frost. There is a good general account of the European Movement in Seignobos's History of Contemporary Europe, ch. 24 (English translation, 10/-), with a bibliography. Jaurès's Histoire Socialiste, 1789-1900 (10 vols., 90 francs), is the standard book on the Socialist Movement in France.


[page 139]

GENERAL ENGLISH HISTORY

THE great advantage of a continuous course in English History, from the earliest times to the present day, is that it affords a lesson in the history of civilization and in the gradual processes of nation-building, such as cannot be given by an historical survey limited to a single century.

Again, a course dealing with distant history helps to promote a more scientific and unbiassed consideration of social and political problems than would be possible if the problems dealt with were those of times so recent that teacher and students alike would find it difficult to rid themselves of prejudice. If problems long ago settled are first understood and the historical imagination is enlisted to enable students to sympathize with, or at least understand, the position of both sides in the political conflict of ages past, it will be easier to approach modern problems in a more scientific and unpre- judiced spirit.

Nor are these the only advantages of such a course. English History is so wide that its study enables individuals to follow up their own particular interests. Thus one man may be more interested in economic history, another in the history of the constitution, a third in the history of manners, and so on. A course on English History should enable each of these to 'study what he most affects'. Many subjects - such as Political Economy and Political Science - only appeal to those already interested in social questions; but it is unfortunately the fact that, in the country at least, many workers are not particularly interested in these questions. To these last a course on English History would chiefly appeal through its connexion with local history, and because it gave them not only the story of their fathers' deeds, but told them also of the past history of places and buildings with which they were familiar. All through the course it ought to be possible to touch both spheres of interest. Thus, in studying the history of England before the Norman Conquest, it should be possible, on the one


[page 140]

hand, to illustrate, from English examples, the general processes by which tribes of savages become a nation - those general processes which have been discussed by such writers as Maine, Bagehot, and Tarde. On the other hand, this period of history might be made more real and interesting to students less accustomed to abstract problems, by descriptions of local antiquities - such as barrows, camps, and Roman 'villas' - and by occasional visits to neighbouring sites of historical interest or to neighbouring museums. Again, in studying the history of the seventeenth century, some would be most interested in the conflict of the rival political theories - the theory of Divine Right and the theory of a Social Contract - while others would find the strategy of the Civil War and its events in familiar places the more attractive part of the subject.

The chief difficulty in devising a course on English History attends the preliminary course which seems advisable. To lead students to study the more advanced problems before they had acquired a sense of chronology and some acquaintance with the skeleton of historical facts and the sequence of the chief episodes, would be undesirable; but on the other hand, this preliminary study is liable to be dry and uninteresting, and the available textbooks are either mere school-books or are out of date. Perhaps it would be best for this preliminary course to be as brief as possible - say six or eight weeks - and for the students to rely mainly on their teacher for giving them this preliminary bird's-eye view. If a textbook is used, perhaps the best would be

*York Powell and Tout: History of England (5/8, or in 3 parts, each 1/11),
and this might be supplemented by one or more of the following:
S. R. Gardiner: Student's History of England (a dull and accurate summary) (9./-, or in 3 parts, each 3/-).
J. R. Green: Short History of the English People (a brilliant narrative, but, in great part, out of date) (6/5).
Fletcher: Introductory History of England (not yet completed) (vols. i and ii to 1660, each 3/9).

[page 141]

Taswell-Langmead: Constitutional History (selected chapters for later period only) (12/6).
*Townsend-Warner: Landmarks of English Industrial History (3/9).
After the preliminary studies it would be well to select certain definite periods and problems. The following are suggested for successive consideration:

1. The Britons and the Romans:

*Hodgkin: Political History to 1066 (7/6), with (for more advanced study) -
Holmes: The Invasions of Julius Caesar (21/-).
*Haverfield: Romanization of Roman Britain (2/6).
*2. The Old English and their Conquest of Britain, with the social and economic changes it involved:
*Hodgkin: (as before), with (for more advanced study) -
Chadwick: Origin of English Nation (7/6).
Vinogradoff: Growth of the Manor (7/11).
Green: Making of England (attractive, but to be used with caution) (2 vols., 8/-).
3. The Coming of Christianity and the Influence of the Church before the Norman Conquest:
*Hunt: History of the English Church to 1066 (5/8).
Bede: Ecclesiastical History (Bohn Library, 3/9).
4. The Danish Invasions and their effect on English Society:
*Hodgkin: (as before), and (for more advanced study) -
Vinogradoff: (as before).
Plummer: Alfred the Great (5/-).
5. Anglo-Saxon Laws and Institutions: the Development of English Society:
Medley: Constitutional History (10/6), supplemented by -
Chadwick: Anglo-Saxon Institutions (8/-), and (for more advanced study) -
Maitland: Domesday and Beyond (11/3) and Township and Borough (7/6).
Vinogradoff: (as before).
In this section, the class would probably be obliged to rely to some extent on quotations from legal texts made by the


[page 142]

lecturer, and might profitably compare the facts thus noted with the generalizations in certain chapters of Maine's Ancient Law and in Jenks' History of Politics.

*6. The Norman Conquest: Its Characters and Effects:

*Davis: England under the Normans and Angevins (10/6), with (for more advanced study) -
Traill: Social England (selected chapters) (6 vols., each 14/-).
Ballard: The Domesday Inquest (7/6).
Ballard: Domesday Boroughs (6/6).
Pollock and Maitland: History of English Law (selections from vol. i) (2 vols., £1/11/6).
Vinogradoff: English Society in the Eleventh Century (16/-), and, perhaps -
Parker: Introduction to Gothic Architecture (3/9) (selected chapters).
Clarke: Mediaeval Military Architecture (18/-) (selections).
Bradley: The Making of English (3/5).
7. Church and State in the Days of the Normans and Angevins:
*Church: St. Anselm (4/-).
Davis: (as before), with (for more advanced study) -
Maitland: Canon Law in the Church of England (5/8).
*8. The Governmental System of Henry II:
*Davis: (as before), with
Pollock and Maitland: History of English Law (selections) (see above).
*9. Constitutional Developments of the Thirteenth Century: the Growth of Parliament:
*Davis (as before).

Tout: Political History from 1216 to 1377 (7/6), with -
Maitland: Lectures on Constitutional History (9/5).

*10. The Black Death: Social and Economical Changes: the Revolution of 1381:
Townsend-Warner: Landmarks (3/9).
Traill: Social England (selections) (as above).
Tout: (as before).

[page 143]

Oman: Political History, 1377 to 1485 (7/6) (selections), with (for more advanced study) -
Cunningham: Growth of English Industry and Commerce (Early and Middle Ages, 12/6).
Gasquet: The Black Death (7/6).
Oman: The Rebellion of 1381 (8/6).
*11. English Society in the Fourteenth Century: Wyclif and the Lollards:
Trevelyan: England in the Age of Wyclif (11/3), with (for more advanced study) -
*Chaucer: Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (from 1/-; edited by Morris and Skeat, 1/11).
*Langland: Piers Plowman (Skeat's edition, 3/5).
Lane-Poole: Illustrations of Mediaeval Thought (chapter on Wyclif).
12. English Society and Politics in the Fifteenth Century:
Oman: Political History (see above).
Green: Town Life in the Fifteenth Century (2 vols., 20/-).
Thorold Rogers: Six Centuries of Work and Wages (4/-, o. p.).
Denton: The Fifteenth Century (15/-).
13. The Tudor Monarchy: the Reformation: the Inclosures:
Fisher: Political History, 1485 to 1547 (7/6).
Pollard: Henry VIII (8/6). Political History, 1547-1603 (7/6) (when published).
Creighton: Elizabeth (5/-).
Child: Church and State under the Tudors (o. p., only second-hand).
Maitland: The Reformation Settlement (chapter in Cambridge Modern History, vol. ii, ch. 16 (16/-).
Cheyney: Social Changes in England during the Sixteenth Century (Philadelphia).
Unwin: Industrial Organization (7/6).
14. The Sixteenth Century: its Discoveries and its Literature:
*Raleigh: English Voyagers (4/6).
More: Utopia (various editions from 1/-; edited by Lumby, 2/8; edited by Churton Collins, 2/8).
Symonds: Shakespeare's Predecessors (5/8).

[page 144]

Dowden: Shakespeare's Mind and Art (9/-).
*Courthope: History of English Poetry (5 vols., each 10/-).
Froude: Lectures on the English Seamen (2/8).
*15. The Puritans:
*Trevelyan: England under the Stuarts (10/6).
Gardiner: Select Documents (7/11).
Raleigh: Milton (4/6).
Macaulay: Essay on Bunyan (from 1/-).
*16. The Great Rebellion:
*Trevelyan: (as before).
Gardiner: (as before).
*Firth: Cromwell (3/9), with (for more advanced study) -
Gooch: English Democratic Ideas of the Seventeenth Century (3/9).
Jenks: Constitutional Experiments (1/11).
Pollard: Factors in English History (7/6).
Gardiner: History of England from 1603-56 (18 vols., each 5/-).
*17. The Restoration and the Revolution of 1688:
Firth: Chapter in Cambridge Modern History, vol. iv, ch. 19 (16/-).
*Trevelyan: (as before).
*Taswell-Langmead: (as before), and (for more advanced study) -
Macaulay: History of England (3 vols., 3/- and upwards).
Ranke: History of England (o. p.).
Locke: Treatise on Civil Government (1/-, &c.).
Filmer: Patriarcha (1/-).
Butler: Hudibras (Cambridge, 4/6, various other editions).
Dryden: Poems (edited by Christie and Firth, 2/8, various other editions).
Grant Robertson: Select Documents (10/6).
18. The Colonies and the Mercantile System:
*Egerton: Colonial Policy (7/6).
Cunningham: English History and Commerce (see above).
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations (2/8, 3/-, &c.).

[page 145]

19. Local Government from the Seventeenth Century onwards:

Redlich and Hirst: Local Government in England (2 vols., 21/-; remainder price, about 10/6).
B. and S. Webb: English Local Government (3 vols., £2/1/-).
*20. Party Politics and the Growth of Cabinet Government in the Eighteenth Century:
Morley: Walpole (1/11).
*Green: Chatham (3/9).
Morley: Burke (2/-).
*Acton: Essay on Hanoverian Settlement, Lectures in European History (10/-).
Anson: Law and Custom of the Constitution (vol. i, Parliament, o. p.; vol. ii, The Crown, part i, 10/6; part ii in preparation), with (for more advanced study) -
Lecky: History of England (7 vols., each 5/-).
Von Ruville: Chatham (30/-).
Mahan: Sea Power, Influence of, upon History (7/11).
Thomas: Leading Cases of Constitutional Law (5/-).
*21. The History of Poor Relief:
*Fowle: Poor Law (1/11), with (for more advanced study) -
Leonard: History of Poor Relief (7/6).
Aschrott: The English Poor Law System (translated with preface by H. Sidgwick) (10/6; o.p.).
Cunningham: English Industry and Commerce, vi. 6; viii. 6; ix. 12; Modern Times (part i, 10/-; part ii, 7/6).
Quarterly Review, No. 106 (1834).
Local Government Board Reports.
Statutes of the Realm.
*22. England and the Revolutionary Spirit.
*Gooch: Cambridge Modern History, vol. viii, ch. 25
Paine: Rights of Man (from 6d).
Godwin: Political Justice (1/11).
*Burke: Reflections on the French Revolutionism (from 6d.; edited by Payne, 3/9).
Selections from the poems of Crabbe, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge (many editions and prices).

[page 146]

The History of England during the nineteenth century has already been dealt with in another syllabus. Yet even with this omission the present syllabus of course suggests far more study than could be crammed into a single or even several seasons, and careful selection would have to be exercised. But it is in no way intended to be binding or restrictive: it is merely designed to show how a course on English History can at once satisfy a variety of interests and at the same time both exhibit important problems in political and legal philosophy and illustrate the gradual progress of the race.

An asterisk has been prefixed to the more important periods or books.





[page 147]

POLITICAL SCIENCE

THE object of this course is to give the student some insight into the problems which lie at the root of many of the controversies of modern politics.

The course consists of (a) an obligatory portion calculated at four months' reading at one hour per day, together with (b) a number of special topics, any two of which may be taken to complete the year's course. (It is as a rule desirable that one of these should be theoretical and the other concrete and practical in character).

Apart from the special books suggested, much may be learnt from newspapers and review articles when the student has acquired the habit of sifting what is of permanent from what is of merely passing interest.

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS:

The Working Constitution of the United Kingdom, including the Colonies and Dependencies -

*Low: The Governance of England (3/6).
A. L. Lowell: The Government of England (2 vols., 17/-).
Odgers: Local Government (2/8).
Maitland: Justice and Police (o. p., pub. 2/6).
W. P. Greswell: The Growth and Administration of the British Colonies, 1837-97 (1/11).
*Egerton: The Origin and Growth of the English Colonies and of their system of Government (an introduction to Lucas's Historical Geography of the British Colonies) (1/11).
OPTIONAL SUBJECTS:

I. The History and Criticism of Political Ideas, including: Either (a) Political Theory from Hobbes to Bentham.

Original Treatises -
Hobbes: Leviathan (1/-, Cambridge ed. 4/6).
Locke: (Second) Treatise on Civil Government (1/-).
*Rousseau: Contrat Social (Tozer's translation) (1/11).

[page 148]

*Burke: Selections (ed. Payne, 3 vols., 5/-, 5/-, 4/6; Complete Works, World's Classics, 6 vols., 6/-).
Paine: Rights of Man (from 6d.).
Godwin: Political Justice (1/11).
Bentham: Fragment on Government (Montagu's edition) (5/8).
The following books are also recommended:
*Stephen: English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (21/-); Hobbes (2/-).
Sidgwick: Development of European Polity (10/-)
Morley: Rousseau (2 vols., 8/-); Burke (English Men of Letters Series) (2/-).
Pollock: History of the Science of Politics (1/11).
Graham: English Political Philosophy (10/6).
Together with some standard history dealing with period of (a) English Revolution of 1688, (b) French Revolution of 1789.

Or (b) Political Theory from Bentham to Green.

Original Treatises -
*Bentham: Fragment on Government (Montagu's edition), see above.; Theory of Legislation (Dumont) (2/8).
*Austin: Jurisprudence (Jethro Brown) (10/6).
J. Mill: Considerations on Representative Government (1/-, 1/6, &c.).
J. S. Mill: Essay on Liberty (6d, 1/-, &c.); Representative Government (1/-, &c.).
Spencer: Man versus the State (1/-).
Maine: Selected portions of Ancient Law (1/-, 2/6; ed. Pollock, 5/-); Selected portions of Early History of Institutions (6/9).
T. H. Green: Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract (Works, vol. iii) (15/9); Principles of Political Obligation (3/9).
The following books are also recommended:
J. S. Mill: Essays on Bentham and Coleridge (Dissertations and Discussions) (3 vols., 3/-); Autobiography (6d, 3/6).
Stephen: English Utilitarians (selected chapters) (3 vols., 30/-).

[page 149]

Wallas: Life of Place (9/-) (see Recent English History syllabus above).
Huxley: Methods and Results (4/-).
Ritchie: Principles of State Interference (1/11); Darwinism and Politics (1/11).
McCunn: Six Radical Thinkers (6/-). (The Thinkers are Bentham, J. S. Mill, Cobden, Mazzini, Carlyle, and T. H. Green.)
Dicey: Law and Public Opinion in England (10/6).
Pollock and Graham (as above).
(For more special work, Halévy's Studies in the English Utilitarians may be recommended 3 vols. in French).

Or (c) Political Ideals and Utopias.

Original Treatises -
*Plato: Republic (from 1/-), with Aristotle's criticism in the Politics (3/6).
*More: Utopia (1/-, 1/6; ed. Churton Collins, 2/8; ed. Lumby, 2/8).
Utopian Socialists (St. Simon, Fourier, Owen, &c.): Kirkup's History of Socialism (5/8).
Morris: News from Nowhere (1/2).
*Wells: A Modern Utopia (5/8); New Worlds for Old (4/6).
The following books are also recommended:
Lewis: Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics (1852, 2 vols., 28/-, o. p.).
Nettleship: Lectures on the Republic of Plato (8/6).
Barker: Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle (10/6).
J. S. Mill: Autobiography (6d., 3/6), with Political Economy (Book II) (2/8).
Ensor: Modern Socialism (5/-). (A selection from the writings of leading Socialists.)
Whittaker: The Liberal State (2/6).
Hobson: Ruskin as a Social Reformer (2/6).
For more advanced study -
Wallace: Studies, Scientific and Social (2 vols., 13/6).
Caird: Social Philosophy of Comte (5/-).
II. The Function of the State and Theory of Government, including:

Either (a) the Principles and Functions of Government, (1) internal, (2) external.


[page 150]

(1) Bentham: Theory of Legislation (Dumont) (2/8).
*J. S. Mill: Political Economy (Book V) (2/8).
Spencer: Man versus the State (1/-).
T. H. Green: Liberal Legislation and Freedom of Contract (Works, vol. iii) (see above).
Flint: Socialism (6/-).
Ritchie: Principles of State Interference (see above); Studies in Political and Social Ethics (3/5); Darwinism and Politics (see above).
Sidgwick: Elements of Politics (ch. 3-14) (4/-); Political Economy (last part) (14/-).
Jevons: State in Relation to Labour (1/11).
Hobson: The Social Problem (2/6).
*Webb: Problems of Modern Industry (5/-), and Industrial Democracy (12/-) (selected chapters).
Ward, Mrs.: Case for the Factory Acts (1/11i).
Woodrow Wilson: The State (5/8).
(2) Sidgwick: Elements of Politics (ch. 15-18) (see above).
Ritchie: Studies in Political and Social Ethics (see above).
Hobhouse: Democracy and Reaction (1/-).
For more advanced study -
Green: Principles of Political Obligation (3/9).
B. Bosanquet: Philosophical Theory of the State (10/-).
Or (6) Problems of Government, including a selection from the following topics:

(1) Relations between Legislature, Executive and Judiciary -

*Bagehot: English Constitution (2/8).
Dicey: Law of the Constitution (see above).
Jenks: History of Politics (1/-).
(2) Second Chambers -
Mill: Representative Government (1/-, &c.).
Alston: Modern Constitutions (2/6).
(3) Relations between Central and Local Government -
Lowell: Government and Parties in Continental Europe (2 vols., 15/9); Government of England (2 vols., 15/-).
Bryce: American Commonwealth (see above).

[page 151]

*Ashley: Local Government in England (1/-).
Redlich and Hirst: Local Government in England (2 vols., 21/-, nearly o. p.).
(4) Federal (and other composite) States -
Dicey: Law of the Constitution (see above).
Jenks: History of Politics (see above).
Bryce: Studies in History and Jurisprudence (2 vols., 25/-).
(5) Control of the People over Government (Referendum, Initiative, &c.) -
Deploige: Referendum in Switzerland (5/8).
Lloyd: The Swiss Democracy (6/-).
Lowell: Government and Parties of Continental Europe (Switzerland) (see above).
Bryce: American Commonwealth (see above).
(6) The State in Relation to Voluntary Associations (Churches, Industrial Combinations, &c.) -
Gierke: Political Theories of the Middle Age (with Maitland's Preface) (7/6).
Coleridge: Church and State (in collected prose works).
*Webb: Problems of Modern Industry, History of Trade Unionism, &c. (see above).
*Baker (6/6), or Clarke (1/-), or Jenks (5/-), or Macrosty (9/-), on The State and Monopolies.
(7) The State in Relation to Trade and Industry.

(8) Public Finance and Administration.

(9) Government of Colonies and Dependencies. - See Recent English History course.

III. The Theory and Practice of Democracy -

(a) Theory:

Rousseau and Burke (see above).
Bentham and Mill (see above).
*Mazzini: Thoughts on Democracy in Europe (Works, 6 vols., each 3/5).
W. Whitman: Democratic Vistas (1/-, &c.).
Raleigh: Elementary Politics (1/-).
Ritchie: Studies in Political and Social Ethics (see above).
McCunn: Ethics of Citizenship (2/6).
Addams: Democracy and Social Ethics (5/-).

[page 152]

(b) Practice:

De Tocqueville: Democracy in America (French Text, 3 vols., 15/-; Reeves's Trans., 2 vols., 12/-).
Bryce: American Commonwealth (especially Part iv) (see above).
Maine: Popular Government (5/8).
Lecky: Democracy and Liberty (2 vols., 10/-).
Godkin: Problems of Democracy (5/8); Unforeseen Tendencies in Democracy (6/-).

Webb: Industrial Democracy (see above).
Lowell: Government and Parties in Continental Europe (Switzerland) (see above).
Adams and Cunningham: The Swiss Confederation (10/6) (cf. sub. II, b. 5).
*Reeves: State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand (2 vols., 24/-).
Ostrogorski: Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (2 vols., 25/-; remainder price, 10/-, nearly o. p.).

IV. Analysis of Political Conceptions, treated Historically and Critically -

(1) The Law of Nature -

Hobbes, Locke, Burke, Bentham, and Maine.
(2) The Theory of Law and Sovereignty -
Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Austin, Bentham, Maine, and Dicey.
(3) The Theory of Rights ('natural', moral, legal, and political) -
Rousseau, Burke, Paine, Bentham (see above).
Ritchie: Studies in Social and Political Ethics (see above); Natural Rights (10/6).
McCunn: Ethics of Citizenship (see above).
Green: Principles of Political Obligation (see above).
Menger: Right to the Whole Produce of Labour (6/-).
(4) The Idea of Property -
Laveleye: Primitive Property (last chapter) (o. p.).
Ritchie: Darwin and Hegel (Locke's Theory of Property) (5/8).
Hobhouse: Morals in Evolution (2 vols., 21/-).
Wells: New Worlds for Old (see above).

[page 153]

(5) The Idea of Liberty -

Mill: Essay on Liberty (1/-).
Fitzjames Stephen: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (10/6).
Seeley: Lectures on Political Science (4/-).
Ritchie, McCunn, and Green (as above).
General Textbooks -
*Lewis: Use and Abuse of Political Terms (ed. Raleigh) (2/8).
Raleigh: Elementary Politics (see above).
V. Comparative Politics and Institutions:
Lowell: Government and Parties in Continental Europe (see above).
Bryce: American Commonwealth (see above).
*Dicey: Law of the Constitution (see above).
VI. Sociological Problems, considered under their political aspects, such as:

(1) The Nature and Conditions of Social Evolution -

L. T. Hobhouse: Morals in Evolution (21/-).
Westermarck: The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas (vol. i, 14/-; vol. ii in the press).
(2) The Problem of War and Arbitration -
The Arbiter in Council (Anonymous) (10/-).
F. E. Smith: International Law (1/-).
(3) The Problem of Race (conflict of races, relation between civilized and uncivilized communities), &c. -
Deniker: The Races of Man (4/6).
Olivier: White Capital and Coloured Labour (1/-).
(4) The State and the Family -
Helen Bosanquet: The Family (8/6).
(5) The State and the Professions.

(6) The State and Education.

(7) The State and Religion.

(8) The State and Public Health. - See Recent English History course.

VII. Political Psychology:

E. A. Ross: Social Psychology (6/6). Wallas: Human Nature in Politics (4/6).
McDougall: Social Psychology (5/-).
Le Bon: The Crowd (4/6).

[page 154]

Also recommended:

Jane Addams: Democracy and Social Ethics (5/-); Newer Ideals of Peace (5/-).
The chapters on 'Instinct' and 'Habit' in W. James's Principles of Psychology (2 vols., 25/-).
Ribot: Psychology of the Emotions (translated in Contemporary Science Series) (4/6).






[page 155]

APPENDIX VIII
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY STUDY

IN this section it is desired to assist adult, workpeople who have limited time and opportunity for study, but wish to begin to read and think for themselves, and perhaps later to become members of a tutorial class.

The natural course to pursue would be to recommend sound elementary books on such subjects as economics, history, political science, &c., and an attempt is made to do so in the systematic courses given above, where the more useful books are marked with an asterisk. But it is necessary to state two things emphatically at the outset:

1. There is a very great need for new elementary books on these subjects. There exists a vast mass of textbook literature, which is being added to every month. But, from the point of view of this committee, these books suffer from three defects:

(a) They are generally written for children or young persons rather than for adults.

(b) They are generally not written for workpeople, or by persons who are in touch with workpeople.

(c) Very few of them deal with the subjects or branches of subjects in which workpeople are more specially interested. Most of the recognized 'school' subjects, such as languages, geography, divinity, grammar, mathematics, do not come within the purview of this committee.

For these reasons the committee passed a resolution (see p. 87) recommending the preparation of textbooks for working-class students on a number of subjects, and it is to be hoped that the proposed standing committee will take this matter energetically in hand. There is a certain amount of foreign experience to guide it in the work.


[page 156]

2. A second point which must be made clear is that textbooks alone will not be sufficient for beginners in such difficult and complex subjects as political science and economics. In learning mathematics or a branch of natural science, such as geology or botany, a student may make great progress alone with a textbook; but in all studies dealing with human nature textbooks are certain to be inadequate guides. Textbook knowledge should be supplemented by conversation and discussion, and illuminated by the play of general ideas. The free intercourse of mind with mind, which is evoked by the study of such subjects, is one of the chief merits of the tutorial class, and one of the chief deprivations of isolated students and beginners. In order to assist in such discussion, we append a number of brief notes or suggestions compiled by two members of the committee on political subjects of current interest, not with the object of dogmatizing, but in order to illustrate the manner in which such subjects can be approached in the light of general ideas, and to suggest questions which may lead on to further study and reflection.

THE STUDY OF POLITICS OR POLITICAL SCIENCE

1. What kind of study is it?

By politics is not meant simply 'party' or 'practical' politics, which is concerned with 'programmes' and 'tactics', and how and when to put political ideas into practice, but politics as contemporary history.

There is a difference between contemporary history and past history. The former is, with a view to action, studied not (as a rule) by pure scholars who love knowledge for its own sake, but by men who regard knowledge as a means to an end.

Still it is a study to be undertaken in the spirit of the scholar, not of the propagandist. Sentiment and emotion are indispensable as the inspiration of political study; but they are harmful and disturbing as its accompaniment. The dispassionate spirit and specialized skill of the scientist is


[page 157]

as necessary for thinking out political problems as for solving problems of electricity and engineering.

2. What is the subject of political study?

Not a fixed object or group of objects, as in natural science, but a multiform and changing object - Society.

Society is not a mechanism: it is simply the men, women, and children of the community as they act and react on one another: that is, in their social relations.

The political student studies human nature, then, but not individual men and women (like a biographer), nor a group of men and women in their feelings towards one another (like a novelist or dramatist), but men and women in their thoughts about politics and in their outward actions and relations, as 'political animals'.

This is a very difficult study, as 'political human nature' is constantly changing. It is impossible to lay down general laws, which are universally true, for a changing subject. The political student aims at discovering, not laws, but tendencies, which are true on the whole, but may often be falsified, as, for instance, by unforeseen events such as an earthquake or a bad harvest or an epidemic, or by the peculiarities of national temperament.

3. What are political students trying to bring about? What is the goal of political study?

It is best expressed in the watchword of the early Revolutionists - Liberty.

By Liberty is meant -

(i) Economic liberty:

A man is not free when he is hungry and naked; or when he procures food, shelter, and clothing only by an unhealthy or degrading occupation.

Under modern conditions economic liberty for the many can only be secured through social organization, curtailing some men's licence for other men's liberty.

(ii) Spiritual liberty:

A man is not free when he cannot think, speak, and write as he will, and act upon his opinions if he so desires.

Spiritual liberty for the many means freedom from


[page 158]

authority; but it can only be secured by curtailing some men's licence to act (e. g. criminals or lunatics), or even, in rare cases, to speak and write, for other men's liberty.

The goal of the political student, then, is to remove obstacles to economic and spiritual liberty, and to provide opportunities for men and women and children to develop the good that is in them.

Where liberty begins, politics end.

The goal of political study is not:

(i) to change human nature;
(ii) to introduce any definite political or social or ethical system;
(iii) to secure liberty to any particular class or
(iv) any particular nation;
though any or all of these may turn out, through study, to be necessary steps or consequences.

The following are among some of the general questions arising for discussion out of the above:

1. Where ought the lines to be drawn between study, action (legislation, &c.), and propaganda? Which is the most valuable?

2. Ought knowledge to be pursued for its own sake, or only with a view to action?

3. Can politicians be both scientific and sentimental?

4. If the politicians who govern us ought to be as skilled in their trade as the engineers who build our bridges, why do we not use the same method for finding out the best man in each case? Why do we not either choose our bridge-builders by a democratic vote or our rulers by a committee of experts?

5. Does not an ignorant fanatic achieve more in politics than a skilled political thinker? Is not the use of the intellect in politics enervating?

6. Have politics any concern with private conduct and domestic life?

7. Have politics anything to teach us about a general law of human progress?


[page 159]

8. Is self-governing democracy a necessary part of all successful social organization?

9. What right has the State to inflict punishment or otherwise to limit a man's freedom?

10. Can a wage-earner be considered economically free? Define economic liberty.

11. How can spiritual liberty be reconciled with any fixed system of religion or morality?

GOVERNMENT AND DEMOCRACY

An impartial visitor from another planet, reflecting on our problems of government, would make three observations:

(i) That our world is, and has always been, very badly governed. We are only just beginning to recognize how much a wise government can achieve.

(ii) That governing is not a very difficult art; it requires much less technical skill and training than engineering or medicine. This can be observed by watching the government of any small community or group of men: e. g. a club, a cricket eleven out fielding, a District or Parish Council. Most men submit readily to authority wisely exercised.

(iii) That the natural way of managing government is to put the best man or group of men in command.

The modern idea of government seems the direct contrary of this last. Practically all civilized nations are under a democratic system of government: that is, they are ostensibly governed not by the few, but by the many: not by the knowledge of the few, but by the opinions of the many.

How is this difference to be explained?

Some light may be thrown upon it by tracing the history of the idea of democracy.

The idea of democracy took its origin among the ancient Greeks, who were the first people to discuss questions of government, and amongst whom government by the people, instead of being, as it is with us, a very artificial system,


[page 160]

seemed the only natural one. This was due to several causes:

1. The climate, which caused them to spend most of their time in the open air. While 'the Englishman's home is his castle', the Greek was the 'real man in the street'. Public life took up as much of his time as private indoor life does of ours.

2. The low scale of production, coupled with the employment of slaves, gave the citizens far less to do in the economic sphere. Hence they had leisure to devote to government.

3. Governmental problems were so simple compared with ours that the need for experts was not felt. Mistakes of policy could be corrected without heavy penalties; for instance, as credit was not sufficiently developed to enable states to raise war loans, an unwise war came to an end when the money in the Treasury was exhausted.

Hence the Greeks, living together in small cities as a body of friends and equals, where most men knew one another by sight, evolved the idea of democracy.

This idea is really twofold, but its two aspects are generally confused:

(i) Fellowship democracy: democracy meaning a sense of brotherhood and equality diffused through the community, as through a harmonious school or club or village. This has not anything to do with government. A band of anarchists who disapproved of all government might still be democratic in this sense.

(ii) Self-governing democracy: democracy meaning that every member of the community has a share in its government. This does not (as a rule) exist in schools, but would be represented by the general meeting of any club or Trade Union.

After the decay of ancient Greek civilization the double idea of democracy slumbered for many centuries, at least in the political sphere. When it was revived in the North of Europe it had to adapt itself to altered conditions, such as -

(i) A 'stay-at-home' climate, with public business conducted, under uncomfortable conditions, indoors.


[page 161]

(ii) Large nations, instead of small cities, as the units of national government, and increased complexity of problems of government.

Hence with us democracy is an artificial system, and requires justification.

Several theories have been invented to justify it.

(i) That every man is born into the world with a right to take part in the government of his country.

But this school have to admit that a man may forfeit this right. If so, who is to decide? What right has any one, or any majority, to take away a man's human birthright? This theory now finds few logical upholders.

(ii) That, though there is no natural right, it is expedient that every man should have a part in government.

This theory has been defended on two opposite grounds:

(a) 'Individualistic': men, it is said, always act from selfish motives; therefore if each is set free to pursue what is best for himself, the result will be to secure what is best for all.

Note that on this selfish theory of human nature fellowship democracy is impossible.

In accordance with this theory the franchise was extended and many grievances redressed. But it is not a true theory, for experience has shown that most men do not act in politics as individuals but in groups, whether actuated by selfish or unselfish motives.

(b) 'Socialistic': this school of thought claims that the responsibility of sharing in government creates fellowship democracy and so simplifies the problems of government. Government has failed in the past owing to the selfishness of the governors and the acquiescence of the governed: self-governing democracy will create unselfishness and public spirit.

But the Socialistic theory of democracy has also proved not wholly true. Why?

1. Experience shows that a self-governing democracy has peculiar temptations to selfishness: e.g.

(a) through the struggle of class against class;

(6) through the responsibility unexpectedly thrust upon


[page 162]

the democracies of Western Europe of governing large and wealthy oversea dependencies.

2. Because even if unselfish, modern democracies are often unable to act rightly owing to

(a) The difficulty of securing accurate information, accentuated by an untrustworthy Press. (In the Greek democracies information was given by word of mouth.)

(b) Lack of time. The modern citizen has mostly only a few moments in a crowded day for his citizenship.

3. Modern self-governing democracy works entirely through representatives. But a real representative system, by which one man becomes the mouthpiece of some hundreds or thousands of others is, humanly speaking, impossible: and would be undesirable, if it were possible. The modern representative is not a reflection of his constituents but a man with certain qualifications, of which the chief are:

(a) Leisure (unless he is paid for his services).

(b) The qualities of a 'good candidate' (which are not necessarily those of a good governor).

Hence, though the trend of events seems to be setting in favour of fellowship democracy, self-governing democracy seems, at the present moment, to be losing ground.

For instance:

the Cabinet is gaining at the expense of the House of Commons:
the permanent Civil Servant at the expense of his temporary chief:
the municipal official at the expense of the local representative:
the Trades Union Secretary at the expense of the General Meeting.
In other words, self-governing democracy may be un- necessary if we can secure without it a government that is (i) unselfish, (2) wise and well-informed.

Can we? Probably not, for government, in order to be unselfish and well-informed, must be in touch with those whom it governs: unelected governors may have all the other


[page 163]

scientific knowledge necessary to good legislation and administration but will lack knowledge of the people.

For the management of things expert knowledge alone is necessary: but for the government of men a democratic system appears to be indispensable.

Hence there is a real necessity for a directly elected element in government, and for a division of labour between the representatives of the two kinds of knowledge.

The government of the future seems likely to be a calculated combination of scientific efficiency with popular control.

This control could be exercised in numerous ways, amongst others by

(i) Criticism: not only in Parliament but in the Press and at public meetings.

(ii) Publicity: the acts of the executive and its reasons for action should be laid before the public.

(iii) Consultation: by the principle of co-option citizens representative of important groups and organizations can be chosen to serve on public bodies. (This assumes a condition of fellowship democracy.)

(iv) By the constant pressure of a majority of elected representatives upon their administrative chiefs by their power of passing a vote of no confidence.

The above theoretical sketch is not put forward as an explanation of the causes of the development of democratic government. These must be sought through study of the political and economic conditions of ancient and modern societies. But ideas and theories are always in intimate relation with these conditions and are a useful guide towards their understanding.

The following are among some of the general questions arising for discussion out of the above:

1. How can men best be trained to become governors?

2. What are the qualities of a good leader?

3. Is climate the most important cause in determining social habits?


[page 164]

4. Is a slave-system a necessity to secure a high standard of culture and civilization among the free?

5. Is a nation or city justified in raising a loan at the expense of posterity?

6. Is fellowship democracy possible under modern conditions of specialization?

7. Is it true to call the Middle Ages a really democratic age? Is the Catholic Church a democratic institution?

8. Has a man any natural rights?

9. Do men act from purely self-regarding motives?

10. How would the various modern theories of democracy apply to women?

11 . What attitude ought a modern democracy to take up as to the government of its dependencies?

12. Should members of Parliament regard themselves as delegates or hold themselves free to act independently?

13. What are the differences between a 'good candidate' and a good member?

14. Do permanent officials generally enjoy the confidence of those whose affairs they administer?

15. On what system should permanent officials be selected for their posts?

1 6. How can a governor best keep in touch with the people he governs?

17. What are the limits of publicity and secrecy in government deliberations?

18. Is co-option of representatives of voluntary organizations a democratic principle?

19. Are ad hoc bodies better than mixed committees?

WAR

War is generally regarded as a blot on modern civilization. It is in contradiction with civilized man's instincts. (Hence all armies go out with doctors and nurses who tend the wounded of either side.)

If so, can war be abolished?

Three questions arise:


[page 165]

1. Why do we condemn war?

(a) Because of the suffering it involves, both among combatants and non-combatants.

(b) Because of the brutality it involves, by causing men to kill one another.

(c) Because of the destruction of wealth it involves and consequent effects on trade and employment and national prosperity.

2. Is modern warfare different in these three respects from the warfare of earlier ages?

Yes. Warfare is now a science; it used to be a sport. Next to hunting, it is the oldest form of sport. Hence:

(a) In early warfare fewer men were killed; it is very hard to kill a man in armour. A battle was often like a football scrimmage, followed by a pursuit. Men could be killed in the pursuit, but armies generally preferred looting the camp to killing the fugitives.

(b) Fighting was an excitement, entered upon in hot blood. There was very little scientific and calculated killing. Modern fighting is best done in cold blood.

(c) War was a means of increasing wealth: prisoners were used as slaves or, among cannibals, as food: treasure was carried off. A modern nation which goes to war for profit calculates to make its profit not in the war but after the war.

Hence modern scientific warfare is a new phenomenon, at once more destructive and more intellectual than fighting in the days before fire-arms were introduced.

3. What purposes does modern warfare serve?

Two purposes:

(i) As a means of gain.

(ii) As an ultimate way of settling national differences.

Taking (i) first, war may be undertaken as a means of gain either by ruling individuals or by democratic States.

(a) By individuals:

Powerful individuals or groups of individuals (kings or ministers from ambition or for popularity, financiers, contractors and others for commercial motives) may drive an


[page 166]

undemocratically governed nation into war. Most European wars in the eighteenth century were due to personal or dynastic considerations. But this policy received a check when the peoples of Western Europe rose against Napoleon, and should gradually pass away with the increase in the power and knowledge of democracies.

(b) By States:

Modern nations may go to war to win:

(i) Territory:

But one democratic nation cannot annex and govern another democratic nation for long against its will. For instance, Sweden could not annex and hold Norway (and so avoided a war in 1905 in spite of great provocation), nor Germany France (and so was content with an indemnity in 1871), nor Turkey Bulgaria. The stronger the national spirit of a people the less worth while it is to annex it. Hence wars for territory may be expected to cease when, as in many parts of Europe at present, the frontiers between States correspond to real differences of civilization and national life.

(ii) Modern nations may go to war for commercial gain:

(a) To secure markets for their manufactured goods: in old days nations occupied new territory to fetch treasure home; modern nations often do so to bring their own treasures and find buyers for them. They occupy a country containing uncivilized people with many needs, and induce them (generally in return for their labour) to satisfy these out of home manufactures. This benefits sections of the nation, for it enriches the home manufacturers and increases home production.

But this process is not likely to continue indefinitely, for

(1) There are very few such 'virgin markets' left, and even these cannot be occupied without international complications.

(2) It is not the best way of increasing home production and employment. It might be, if there were no people at home with similar needs; but in that case there would be no desire to increase production.


[page 167]

(b) Nations may go to war to exploit the undeveloped resources of new countries. For instance, a manufacturing country may be driven to use political means to secure its food and raw material, and this may lead to war. But a powerful manufacturing country is likely to secure this more safely by negotiation than by war.

War as an ultimate way of settling national differences:

It will always remain the 'ultimate' way, as duelling and horsewhipping remain between individuals. But civilized nations are less and less likely to resort to it, and have developed checks to ensure this.

Such checks are:

(a) Arbitration.

The principle of arbitration is that a nation is as unfit as an individual to be judge in its own case. When this is recognized by the establishment of .a permanent international court for settling international questions many difficulties will be regularly settled without ill-feeling (as civil cases between individuals), and a body of international law, with precedents, will gradually grow up. The decisions of such a court may never be binding- on nations; but few nations would care to dispute them. Moreover they will give time for reflection, and so prevent hasty action.

(b) The increase of international communication and mutual understanding.

The cheapening of travel, the rise in wages, and the improvement of education may gradually make it uncommon for English people not to have been outside England and to speak no language but their own. Every excursion train to Paris or the Rhine is an additional safeguard against a war with France or Germany. International marriages will probably always be rare: but international friendships need not be so.

(c) International movements. These are

(i) Specifically peace or anti-militarist:

Such a movement, if international, may turn the scale against war at a critical moment.

(ii) Political: e.g. the Liberal and Nationalist movement in


[page 168]

the nineteenth century and the Socialist movement today. A working-class international movement is a particular security against war, because

(a) the interests of the worker are always in favour of peace. Like most employers, he is sure of an immediate loss; but his ultimate gain is even more problematical.

(b) The common soldiers are drawn from the working class; and governments may hesitate to risk a war against the feelings of the class from which their fighters are drawn.

(iii) Scientific or learned:

Learning and science are international and internationally organized. This is drawing together an international body of enlightened opinion which could make itself heard in time of crisis. Few modern states would care to enter upon a War with all the 'intellectuals' opposed to them.

But in spite of these tendencies and checks two causes of war remain:

(i) Ultimate incompatibilities of temper between nations (religious, racial, or temperamental) which may induce nations to go to war against their own interest.

(ii) Unfixed frontiers between nations and, especially, between widely distinct races.

A powerful nation wishes to spread its civilization and influence as widely as possible: and it can do so till it is checked by an opposing civilization. Fluctuating frontiers generally mean sparsely populated or undeveloped countries, and the struggle for the tutelage of them is a struggle between civilizations. Many nations think (and may continue to think) war in such a cause justifiable. The best safeguard is to make it unprofitable.

The following are some of the general questions arising for discussion out of the above:

1. What is the difference between war and murder?

2. Is it true to say that women are no use in war?

3. What effects does war have on the character of those engaged in fighting?


[page 169]

4. Is it right to condemn an institution because it causes pain?

5. Is the destruction of property good or bad for trade?

6. Is a sport to be condemned as exercising a bad influence because it involves danger to life?

7. What interests in a civilized community stand to benefit peculiarly by the outbreak of war?

8. Are fresh markets necessary to national prosperity?

9. What uncivilized parts of the world are not yet under the tutelage of a civilized power?

10. Ought manufacturing nations to aim at possessing the sources of their food-supply and raw material?

11. Is it true to say that physical force is the 'ultimate basis' of society?

12. Ought nations to submit questions affecting the national honour to arbitration?

13. Are international marriages desirable?

14. Are the attacks of the anti-militarists on patriotic sentiment justifiable? If not, ought they to be repressed by law?

15. Can an international political movement be effectively organized?

16. Is a universal secondary language, such as Esperanto, likely to be generally adopted for international intercourse?

Is there any other way of remedying the difficulty of international intercourse?

17. Is it justifiable for a nation to go to war, against its own material interests, to extend its civilization?

18. What are the most important debatable frontiers still left between races and nations?

19. Which are the most important factors in bringing about mutual incompatibilities of temper between nations: differences of race, of religion, or of civilization and standards of life?

THE ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge in the modern world has to contend against two enemies:

(i) Opinion: 'the wish is father to the thought': most


[page 170]

men are indolent enough to prefer believing to knowing, and this natural tendency has been strengthened by the democratic system by which the opinions of the voter decide the destinies of the country.

Opinion is very often, though not always, dictated by sentiment.

(ii) Interest: men who possess or control knowledge may find it profitable to conceal or distort it.

The problem of the organization of knowledge is that of dissociating it from opinion and private interest. There is vastly more knowledge available in the world today than in any previous age. (The Encyclopaedia Britannica contains a hundredfold more knowledge than similar compilations by ancient Greeks or Romans.)

This knowledge is sought:

(i) For its own sake, and to find out new knowledge.

This use is made of it by research students at Universities and Academies, and only indirectly affects society.

(ii) For action.

Owing to the complication of modern life more knowledge is needed for action than ever before, both in private and in public life.

For instance in private life, men need to know enough to use the facilities provided for them, trains, telegraphs, bicycles, maps, books. A journey from point to point in London would baffle a Julius Caesar come to life again.

In public life, statesmen need exact knowledge (statistics, &c.) of a sort unknown to previous ages.

Modern life is based on a foundation of knowledge, most of it stored up in books, which is a common inheritance, and those who do not possess it are cut off from the common atmosphere of their time.

How is this knowledge to be passed on from old to young from one generation to the next?

This question forms the subject of many 'educational theories'.

(i) The simplest way is by compulsion and drudgery. Thus boys are sometimes taught swimming by being thrown into


[page 171]

the water, and a new language by being made to learn the rules of its grammar by heart.

This is not teaching at all. When the boy learns it is because he teaches himself.

(ii) As a reaction from this arose the laissez-faire theory, that a child should be allowed to develop in his own way by the natural growth of his faculties. This theory believes in teaching by guidance and example, but not by compulsion.

But it ignores the artificial character of modern knowledge. No child can 'discover' how to read and write (as he might discover how to play ball or row) by the 'natural growth of his faculties', It may be true that children in growing up go through all the early stages of our race, but these stages can be hastened.

Hence the laissez-faire theory of education has been gradually abandoned and superseded by the idea of State-controlled education.

(iii) State-controlled education, which was first systematized in Prussia in 1817, expresses two ideas:

(a) That knowledge should be universally diffused, and hence compulsorily imparted.

Till the nineteenth century hardly any one could read or write: book-learning was for the few. The people got their knowledge by word of mouth or through works of art (e.g. Italian art familiarized people who could not read the Bible with the Bible stories). Hence the greater national importance of art in previous ages.

(b) That knowledge should be impartial: i.e. given with no ulterior motive: neither imparted in schools run for private profit nor given for non-educational (i.e. professional or propagandist) purposes.

In previous ages knowledge was generally given to those who could pay for it, and its vendors had to suit the taste of their customers: or it was given to priests or lawyers or soldiers or doctors for professional purposes. The only State-Education among the ancient Greeks was military in character. Hence restrictions were put upon knowledge which was regarded as unsuitable or dangerous, and even the


[page 172]

Universities have been slow to abolish tests of orthodox opinion.

The theory of State-controlled education regards knowledge as a public possession (like air or sunshine), and its effective bestowal as a public concern.

The English State-controlled system of education may be regarded as defective and unsatisfactory, for four main reasons:

1. It was created and is still too largely used for one class only, and that the poorest class, which was unable to provide for its own education. Just as the public workhouse was founded as the paupers' workshop, so the public school house was founded as a school for the poor man's child. But if knowledge is a public concern, the State should not confine its attention to controlling the education of one class only. A national system of education concerns all classes.

2. It is imparted too exclusively through books. Books are store-houses of knowledge, but they are necessarily out of touch with life. Hence a system of education working (as it must) through books is open to the temptation to impart dead facts rather than knowledge of living interest. This can be corrected by drawing teachers and students of different conditions and classes together and promoting sympathy between them. A school should not be regarded as a barracks or a prison, but as a meeting-place of friends with common interests in study.

3. It is too short; systematic education should, if possible, take each student as far as he can get. Some will be taken further than others; but the present leaving age would certainly, under an improved system, be regarded as too low.

4. It is too cheap.

The imparting of knowledge is a skilled trade which requires expensive tools and good remuneration. The early traditions of our system have made men slow to recognize this.

State-controlled education does not necessarily mean State-managed or even State-supported education. It means that the State can inspect and report on every school; but, above


[page 173]

all, that every teacher feels that (by whomsoever he is employed) he is doing public work for the nation.

Educational institutions with endowments which do not require State support may be valuable through their traditions of learning and discussion and their freedom to make experiments. Professional schools are of course necessary, in addition to purely educational schools, in order to train men to earn their livelihood in some specialized occupation.

But the education of the young is only part of the wider question of organizing the production and distribution of knowledge.

The men who produce knowledge are the men with ideas: poets, artists, scientists, inventors, scholars. Under modern conditions it is difficult for a man to earn his livelihood by producing knowledge. Men are no longer burned or imprisoned for new ideas; but they are sometimes starved, and more often discouraged.

New ideas need organization and endowment; for instance, there is particular need for endowment of research in departments like medicine, where it may be possible to extirpate many diseases.

The distribution of knowledge opens up wide questions, for practically every brain-worker is a knowledge-carrier: architect, journalist, clergyman, Civil Servant, lawyer, actor, publisher, advertiser.

Many ways could be conceived in which the idea of knowledge as a public possession could be applied to these professions.

E. g. by State publishing of valuable books, maps, music, &c., by publicly managed theatres or operas, by public control of town-planning and building, public hoardings for accurate news instead of private advertisements, &c., &c.

All plans for the organization of knowledge presuppose a population physically fit to profit by it. This raises wider questions, connected with the problem of poverty, which are beyond the scope of this section.


[page 174]

The following are some of the general questions arising for discussion out of the above:

1. What is the difference between knowledge and opinion? Are there any regions of thought where there is no difference?

2. In what main directions are we wiser than the ancient Greeks and Romans?

3. Has the increase of knowledge altered human nature or the human intellect?

4. Is it a true educational maxim that 'example is better than precept'?

5. To what extent should children be allowed to form their own habits?

6. What is the educational value of art?

7. Is it bad that some schools should be run for private profit?

8. Should the elementary school be made the school of all classes?

9. Is it true that 'a good book is a better companion than a good friend'?

10. How long ought children who will have to earn their living as wage-earners to remain at school?

11. If education is run too cheaply where ought the extra money to come from?

12. Ought the State to manage education from the elementary school to the University?

13. What policy should the State adopt towards old educational endowments?

14. Compare the advantages of public and private patronage of new ideas.

15. Is competition the best stimulus for new ideas?

16. Is there any Trades Unionism among 'professional men' (brain-workers)? Is competition in this sphere in any way restricted?

17. How can the State organization of impartial knowledge be reconciled with party government? Would not the party in power inculcate its own opinions?

A. E. ZIMMERN.
J. M. MACTAVISH.