ESSENCE OF EDUCATION LIES IN NEW THEORIES

"Parallel history of similar emergencies is what is needed", said Lincoln Steffens, journalist, author, student of revolutions, in a talk before members of the Liberal Club and their guests last night. "A knowledge of what has gone before under similar circumstances aids individuals in avoiding past mistakes."

Reference to his own experiences in Russia, Italy, and with the United States' bosses and rings, was made in the explanation of his subject, "How to get an education even in colleges. "Students must first find out what they want to know," he pointed out, "and get the answers not from faculties, but from life and the experimental method. Real education consists of stating unsolved problems, never trying again an old method that has failed, and continually improving by experiment new theories, trying them over and over again."

Finds Science in Government

Steffens stated, in developing his theory, that, "There is basis for a science in government and politics," beginning with the observation that in an emergency in every country of the world a strong man can seize power. The method is dictatorship and an organized minority. "The Bolshevik, minority," as Steffins said, "waiting amid the first mob democracy in Petrograd, waited for its splitting into minorities, and seized power at the psychological moment." Lenin stated in defense of that course of action, during an interview with Steffens, "It will be more significant in history if we try out the Marxian system than if we made a successful regime."