BEAU GET

The recent scholarship foundation provided by the French government is an event of twofold significance. In laying open to men completing their doctorates a path to the French national archives and libraries, France is making available, as to a privileged guest, a study of the highest attainments of European civilization. It is a measure comparable to the Rhodes Scholarships, in that it provides for men with the inclination and capability, but without the funds, an opportunity of becoming citizens of the whole cultural world, not merely graduates of one college. Provincialism is one of the besetting sins of America, despite her radios and telephones and press; and this fault is reflected daily in the vague notions of even college men regarding the affairs of Europe. Any measure is valuable that will make Americans realize that the problems of living have been worked out just as creditably across the Atlantic as here. Though only a few can benefit directly from the scholarship, broadening ideas are sure to filter back to the stay-at-homes.

The gift holds more than a purely scholastic significance. In the midst of international ill-fooling between countries who have never bothered, by and large, to know each other, this gift from France to America comes as a true gesture of goodwill, and as a hopeful sign of a more intimate and understanding relation to come.