"RING IN THE NEW"

Not long ago, Lord Robert Cecil said that the future of the world depended on the young men. At least one hundred Harvard men have taken him seriously, and their tactics could hardly fail to win that gentleman's approval. The "Harvard Committee of the College Division of the League of Nations Non Partisan Association", must, if it lives up to its name, be a strong, if somewhat pompous, influence on the student political attitude.

Ordinarily, the undergraduate interest in or understanding of political problems finds its expression in pointed blasphemy directed at some particular "betenoir". Too much energy is spent in denunciation of outstanding individuals, and much too little in discussing the points of view those individuals represent.

"Non-partisan", it must be admitted, has a very seductive ring, especially after considering the success of certain elements in the west. But it under such a name students can actually be assembled to attack problems--not personalities--in a clear-minded unbiased, way the League of Nations will not have lived in vain and "non-partisan" will stand for more than a slogan with which to entice the politically sentimental.

As a matter of fact, nothing is more necessary to keep the League alive than youthful optimism. Its advocates may point out its past successes, it present organization, and its future possibilities with brilliance and vigor, but in general conservative age fails to be impressed. The older man relies largely on precedent and experience. The young man, with no experience to rely on, and small knowledge of precedent, is more willing to try anything once. Certainly the European nations have belied the imputation of age by their eagerness to try something which has the charm of novelty; America has shown the world that it is governed by precedent and conservatism.

The United States has up to the present, for better or for worse, refused to join the League. But it is significant that even in the biter days of 1920 the youth of the country as represented in the colleges and expressed in numerous straw-ballots, favored the ratification of the treaty and the covenant. It is significant also that now again the colleges are in the vanguard, pressing the issue before the country. Youthful sentimentality this may well be, but it is an undeniable tendency--a force to be reckoned with.