GRADUATE SCHOOLS' MEETING

The annual joint meeting of the members of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, of the Graduate School of Applied Science and the Graduate School of Business Administration was held last evening in the Faculty Room in University Hall. Professor C. H. Haskins, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, presided, and, after reviewing briefly the history of the graduate departments of the University, introduced as the chief speaker of the evening Professor Eduard Meyer, exchange professor from the University of Berlin.

Before entering upon the main part of his address, Professor Meyer sketched the growth of scholarship in America, especially at Harvard, from the German standpoint. From a comparatively minor position in scholastic rank one hundred years ago, Harvard has risen to the first place among American institutions and to one of the highest positions among the world's greatest universities.

The history of states formed the chief topic of the speaker's address. Emphasizing the importance of this as the dominant part of all history, Professor Meyer summarized the weaknesses and the various points of strength in the nations; that have occupied leading positions in the history of the world.

War was referred to as one of the great factors in the growth of nations and in the advancement of civilization. By competitive struggle alone are nations, as well as individuals, compelled to seek further means of strength and better commodities for their own use. War he assigned as the cause of the tremendous growth of the United States.

In closing he referred to the relation of the United States with Germany, saying that there was no rivalry existing which should lead to bloodshed; but intellectually and scientifically the keenest rivalry should be cultivated. Here also the strife of strong powers tends to the highest development.

Following Professor Meyer, Professor George F. Swain, professor of Civil Engineering in the Graduate School of Applied Science, outlined briefly the chief objects of the school with which he is connected. Since placing the school on a graduate basis, the Faculty intends to raise the standard of instruction to that of the leading polytechnic schools of the world, and to confer degrees only upon men who are capable of attacking successfully the hardest problems that arise in the profession.

President Lowell was the last speaker of the evening. He pointed to one of the chief defects in the graduate of American schools of applied science as that of timidity in attacking large problems. Students too often begin with low ideals and try to attain greater ones, whereas the reverse should be the rule to follow. In their studies, students are inclined to wait for their instructors to tell them how and why to do their work. "The true scholar," said President Lowell, "does not wait for a Professor to come along with a lantern and show him the way. He simply breaks right in without delay, and gets what he can."