COLLEGE POLITICAL CLUBS.

With the 1912 presidential campaign near at hand, the College, interest in politics has found expression in the organization of various political clubs which propose to support and expound the doctrines and political panacea of the several candidates and parties. They intend to bring leading men in the political struggle to Harvard to speak on the present issues. Their own members will be sent out to speak in public and to engage in the active work of the campaign. It is their purpose to arouse in the College a lively interest in the political history which is now being made.

We recommend membership in one of these clubs to every man in College. Not only is it profitable to the individual, but it is every man's duty to be at least passively interested in the political and economic development of the country. The clubs gladly welcome all men; even men who are still too young to vote, are urged to prepare themselves for the time when they will have the franchise. There is opportunity here for that exceptional good-fellowship which comes when men strive together to attain common ideals.

At the same time, this interest in the election is not only a good thing for us, but our influence can and should be a good thing for the country. It can be, for what college men can do to help reform has been shown in Wisconsin and in many other states. It should be, for at this time the country is passing through a crisis in its political development that calls for tact and intelligence.

Partly as a result of the past national political apathy, which has come with our industrial prosperity, many students who are, or who soon will be, ready to vote, are in a deplorable state of political ignorance. Many a college man knows less about labor problems, government control of corporations, the commission form of city government, woman suffrage, or any of the other great problems now confronting the country, than does a newly landed immigrant. Some have but a hazy idea of the very forms of government under which we live. Every student should find time from his "cultural" pursuits to give some attention to the contemporary political drama. Membership in the political clubs is to be encouraged both for the sake of education and for the sake of reform.