A CHALLENGE

There has been a great deal of wordy talk of the undergraduate's political responsibilities, all of it true, but with little practical effect. The reason for this is that the undergraduate is ignorant of the initial step which will take him out of the sheltered university into practical political life. In England the Universities are the feeders for the civil service and for Parliament, and the undergraduate has the sanction of precedent and the encouragement of public opinion, which recognizes what he is trying to do and applauds him for it. Here, except in the diplomatic service, there is no such charted course.,

For the man who graduates this spring, particularly if his home is in or about New York City, there is a chance for practical and effective political action. In the mayoralty election in 1933 the chances for replacing Tammany control with decent government are greater than they have been for many years and may be for many years to come. The opportunity has arrived for the college man, with ideals of good government, to associate himself with a municipal reform which has prospects of success. Whether the reform will come from outside Tammany, with a fusion ticket, possibly headed by Mayor McKee, or from within the organization and possibly headed by Al Smith, it is still too early to say, but it is certain that a reform of some sort will be attempted.

Reform movements and reformers have fallen into ill repute because they are usually ineffective, and, if successful, temporary in their results. The reason for this, in most instances, is the lack of adequate and permanent organization. Political reformers are generally men whose chief concern is not politics, and who abandon the cause when they have attained their immediate object. If the present "younger generation" is going into politics "fifty thousand strong," as one of its members has claimed, there is in New York City today the opportunity for it to translate its academic enthusiasm into political reality. If, not fifty thousand men, but a hundred men, would apply themselves to the job which is presented to them there, with the intention of continuing the principles of the initial reform in a permanent organization, they would be taking the first step in the fulfillment of one of the responsibilities entailed in an education. New York is a great city and municipal government is the unit of national government; creating a permanent organization establishes the ladder by which other educated men can climb into practical life. Here is a challenge which cuts across the theories and easy talk of responsibilities of which one hears so much.