THE UNIVERSITY MUST NOT BE A SOCIAL LUXURY FOR THE FEW SAYS PROF. FELIX FRANKFURTER AT FORUM

That in the settlement of the labor problems lies the duty and opportunity of the University, "as a radiating center of protest against dogma and as an inspiration to the scientific investigation of the problems of the day," was the thought expressed by Professor Felix Frankfurter '06, of the Law School, speaking at the University Forum held in the Parish House of the First Unitarian Church last evening.

"All the labor problems," said Professor Frankfurter, "reduce themselves into two fundamentals; in the first place there is the attitude of mind of the worker towards his work and that of the employer and the public towards the worker. It is a too common notion that the worker is a hired hand depending on the good nature or the self interest of the employer. Opposed to this notion is the conception of co-operation, co-operation not only in money making, but in invention and in enterprise. There must be a frank acceptance of this change of status of the present day worker and the obligation that follows such a change.

"Need Good Will and Clear Thinking."

"The second disturbing cause in the labor situation is the lack of scientific organization in industry. We need expertness in stating the problems and in seeking their solution. Good will is indispensable, but it is not sufficient. There must be united to it candid, courageous and inventive thinking.

"In every industry we are confronted with chaos and ignorance at the vital points that affect human relations. The problems is one of social engineering. The most harrassing of all industrial evils for example is the irregularity of employment. But we must not view it as a visitation of God but as a challenge to science. The questions of hours, again, is not a question to be decided by haranguing but by scientific treatment. But as President Eliot recently observed, on this vital question we have absolutely no scientific data.

The Place of the University.

"Here then, in the settlement of these problems of industry, is the duty of the University. In the first place it must be an institution dedicated to systematic and organized thought constantly generating an atmosphere of disinterested thinking. The University should constantly remind us that familiarity of comfort is not the only test of a theory; it must make us ever mindful of the fallibility of the familiar. It must teach us that simply because we are accustomed to social conceptions, we ought not to be unwilling to constantly test and question these theories to see if they stand the ultimate test of permanent serviceability. The University, therefore, must insist on tolerance and sober discussion; must fight against omniscience and arrogance.

"In the second place the University should encourage the scientific research of the pressing problems of the day. Without science and organized thought they cannot be solved.

"The effective way of accomplishing both these ends must be to establish more intimate and organic contact with the outside world. The University must not be a social luxury for the few; it must seek to integrate its own life with the efforts towards adult education in the outside world."