INHERITED POLITICS.

The coming presidential campaign brings to all college men a pressing question. Problems of broad national and international scope are before the country. This election, more than any other in the history of the United States, will demand the close attention and thought of ever American citizen. At present the average college student does little analyzing of questions of a political nature. A recent survey of Government 1 brought to light the significant fact that 95 per cent of the members of the course voted or intended to vote the ticket their fathers had voted before them. Their stand on political questions was an heritage rather than the result of their own thought. But because Grandfather succumbed to the appeal of Bryan's "Cross of Gold", should we support the Democratic party? Political platforms change. Free silver, and the protective tariff versus free trade are relegated to the shades of yesteryear.

There is no doubt but that partisan politics serve a very definite end in government, but a sharp party division has its drawbacks as well. We let the party leader do the thinking. We swallow campaign literature instead of digesting current thought. A college education, if it accomplishes anything, should teach us to formulate our judgments independently. The path of least resistance is to have our politics bequeathed to us, but the educated man thinks for himself.