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actually to be practised, then perhaps their courage, or their fanaticism, would fail. At any rate, now, while they preach pacifism, they are preserved from the possible effects of it, they and their wives and children, by the armies of their unregenerate countrymen. They have not to make the dreadful choice. They can do nothing but preach; and, unless they are very sure of themselves, they should preach humbly. Let them remember, too, that, if this nation is to any extent guilty of the war, they can not escape from the guilt of it by saying that the war is wicked. They are a part of the nation in peace and in all its civil occupations, and they can not cease to be a part of it when it goes to war. War is not produced only because a few madmen or criminals plan it, nor even because some diplomatists bungle secretly.

If Europe at large is at all responsible for this war, then our whole society in its greediness and blindness and want of faith is responsible for it. Men are able to reconcile themselves to the bloody conflicts of war only because they have consented to the slower and more silent, but not less pitiless, conflicts of peace. The pacifist is shocked by war, but has he been shocked by those sins of peace that have made war possible? The militarist is, right when he says that war is part of the struggle for life. It is indeed a reductio ad absurdum of the struggle for life, showing us that when we regard ourselves as animals we become animals without animal wisdom and continence. But has the pacifist, more than the rest of us, tried to mitigate the struggle for life in peace; has he refused to profit by it? If not, he has no right to say that he is not playing the game of our society when it comes to war. We are all threatened by a common danger now, the danger of a doctrine which the Germans have carried farther than the rest of us, which for them is the doctrine of the whole nation in its dealings with other nations; but elsewhere too it has been the doctrine of individuals in their dealings with other individuals. Behind the sin of Germany is the sin of all the world, as it is behind the sin of the

criminal; but for that very reason Germany, like the criminal, must be restrained. If she is not she will turn all nations into criminals, as the criminal, if not restrained, would turn all men into criminals. The pacifist must not deny this in one case and accept it in the other. If he would let Germany do as she pleases, he must be ready to let the criminal do as he pleases. He can not, at one point, suddenly demand that the world should behave as if it were sinless and had not to deal with any consequences of sin. He himself is a sinner like the rest of us, and with us must face the crimes produced by our common sin, whether they be crimes of an individual or of a nation.

VII

CONTROL OF DEGREE CONFERRING INSTITUTIONS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA1

I

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON UNIVERSITIES
October 28, 1914

To the President of the Washington Board of Trade:

The Committee on Universities respectfully reports as follows:

THE ABOLITION OF SHAM COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN

THE DISTRICT

The general incorporation law, originally enacted by Congress for the District in 1870, permits "any five or more persons" to incorporate as a college or university, and as such "to confer upon such persons as may be considered worthy such academical or honorary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions," by merely filing a certificate of incorporation signed by them in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of the District. No restriction is placed upon this privilege, and this absence of restriction has led to the incorporation of many sham or "fake" colleges and universities, to the injury of the many excellent institutions of learning in the District and to the discredit of the District thruout the educational world. Your committee presents the following facts and suggestions on this subject:

1 The EDUCATIONAL REVIEW has from time to time been compelled to call attention to the very unfortunate effect produced, both in this country and abroad, by the existence in the District of Columbia, under protection of law, of sham universities and colleges. It is a pleasure to be able to reproduce two reports on this subject which have lately been presented to the Washington, D. C., Board of Trade by a committee of that body. The reports deal with what is a very serious public delinquency and evil.

THE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES OF RECOGNIZED STANDING IN THE DISTRICT

There are two ways by which colleges and universities may be incorporated in the District--by charter granted by Congress to a specific institution by means of a special act of Congress, or by the filing of articles of incorporation under the chapter of the general incorporation law relating to "institutions of learning."

The universities having special charters are: The George Washington University, chartered as the Columbian College in 1821; the Georgetown University, founded in 1879 and chartered as Georgetown College in 1844; Howard University, chartered in 1893; and the National University, chartered in 1896. To these should be added the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, chartered in 1893, which has power to establish a university as a part of the Cathedral Foundation.

Among the existing universities incorporated under the "institutions of learning" chapter of the general incorporation law, the most notable are: The Catholic University of America, incorporated in 1887; St. John's University (Episcopalian, located at Shanghai, China), incorporated in 1905; and Boone University (Episcopalian, located at Wuchang, China), incorporated in 1909.

Gonzaga College, chartered in 1858, is the only college in the District specially chartered by act of Congress. There are besides several colleges in the District incorporated under the general incorporation law as "institutions of learning" which are doing excellent work. The Columbian Institution for the Deaf, specially chartered by Congress in 1857, an excellent and most useful institution, has power by its charter to give collegiate instruction and degrees.

THE GENERAL INCORPORATION LAW RELATING TO EDUCATIONAL CORPORATIONS

The provisions in the general incorporation laws for the incorporation of colleges and universities are found in the

subchapter relating to "institutions of learning" (District Code, Chapter XVIII, Subchapter 1). The Court of Appeals of the District, in the case of Chicago Business College vs. Payne, 20 D. C. Appeals, 606, has defined "institutions of learning," as used in this subchapter as meaning those institutions thru which "instruction in the higher branches of human knowledge is generally disseminated" and "which owe their origin to private or public munificence and are established for the public good and not for private gain." Speaking of the general incorporation law (Chapter XVIII of the District Code), the court

says:

there is a

"In the general incorporation act classification of the organizations which may be incorporated thereunder comprising twelve different and distinct classes. The first in the enumeration is 'institutions of learning,' so specifically designated, and as to them Congress says that the property to be acquired by them shall be held 'solely for the purposes of education and not for individual benefit of the corporators or any contributor to the endowment thereof.' In the third class are grouped societies to be formed for 'benevolent, charitable, educational, literary, musical, scientific, religious or missionary purposes,' and it is implied in one of the sections that while organizations of this class may not necessarily be for individual profit, yet that they might also be jointstock corporations for private gain and for personal advantage. Thus Congress distinctly recognizes the difference between 'institutions of learning' and ordinary 'educational' establishments, and regards the former as being solely of a public character for public uses and purposes, while the latter may be organized for individual gain. It is true that the statute is one enacted for the District of Columbia alone, but the provision in it for 'institutions of learning' and for educational' societies under separate and distinct categories is evidently no more than a recognition of the distinction between the two classes prevalent everywhere thruout the United States."

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