A TRUST FOR LIBERALISM

Two notable features stand forth prominently in the recent announcement of the research fellowship established at Harvard in the name of Jacob Wertheim. "One of them is the nature of the fellowship and the other the reason stated by Mr. Maurice Wertheim for entrusting it to Harvard. Contrary to the ideas of those who merely skim headlines, the fellowship is not an outright gift to Harvard, but a trust to be administered by the University in favor of anyone indeed deserving of its benefits, whether or not a member of Harvard. As a reason for bestowing upon the University this unusual honor, Mr. Wertheim has stated "we chose Harvard to administer the fund particularly because we believe that it is and will continue to be the most liberal of American universities and will administer the fund in the same liberal manner that characterizes my father's views".

A fellowship of the nature of this one is a newcomer in educational circles, but the only thing about it which startles is that such a fellowship has not been established before. With the increasingly numerous strikes during the past twenty years, the rapid growth of laborers' and employers' unions, and the more and more apparent organizing of forces into two hostile armies, the need of some means of rapprochement has become clearly evident. Especially is it evident when at last the absolutely necessary combination of the two upon a single end has been recognized beyond a doubt. Although whether profit sharing will bring this to pass remains an open question, the promoting of research for the betterment of industrial relationships is valuable and estimable in the highest degree.

By committing this fellowship into Harvard's hands because of its liberalism, Mr. Wertheim has certainly filled its sails. Such a reputation is hardly won and, according to history, legend and poetry, even more hardly kept. The college has never prescribed any definite points of view; in fact it has encouraged more and more the presentation of opinions from every angle. While this does not make demagogues or fanatics, it does exercise, in the words of Henry Adams, "a negative force of greatest value" which smoothes out the "violent political bias of childhood". It forms men with broad minds and far sight, men who "see things straight and see them whole". To keep Harvard worthy of its reputation must be the care of its officers, its graduates and its undergraduates.