BRITISH AND FOREIGN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 449, 6 March 1909, Page 10

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

CURRENT TOPICS. A Note of Warning. There is a very striking article in the •flndependent," -which argues that the substitution of tho school for the home and tho selfishness of lil'o is responsible for tho declining hirth-rato among tho shoulil-be mothers and fathers of tho race. "When Professor Willcox told us tho other day that if , present tendencies oontinue. thoro will bo no birth-rate at all in tho United States in the year 2000, wo smiled—most of us. Tho idea struck a norvo of taciturn humour rnther than onr brain centres of seriousness. That effect will not bo produced, we venture to think, upon, thoso who carefully rend Professor Cattail's article on 'The School and the- Family' in the 'Popular Scienco Monthly. , For a number of years Professor Cattell has-devoted patient- 'study to" U'6' correlation of modern educational mothods with tha falling birth-rato. y Some of.his conclusions' have-Do'on sobering, but nothing ■ that'he or anybody elso thus far has written on this subject haa sounded quite so stern a note of warning as this searching and merciless indictmant,doos. It ia but fair to mention that Professor-Cattell does not sot a high/value upon modern school'and college education as a preparation for life. The proposition that 'people are what they feel and do, much moro than what they know;' is to'him, as a specialist in psychology, , axiomatic and fundamental; and this is why, notwithstanding tho fact that ho is not only a University professor, but is also the editor of 'Scionoo' and of tho 'Popular Science Monthly, , and knows tho world of scientific msn'moro intimatoly probably than any other American of his genoration, he ranks the home and tho Chnrch immeasurably higher, than tho school'as trao educational institutions." ,Tho School v. The Family, Tho article proceeds :—"lndeed, ho . is . capable of writing. 'Civilisation may persist ■»nd.progress without the family; but human and,•pre-human societies havo been, so completely based on it that no ono can foresee tho results of its destruction. Mankind nil last only so long as children arc born and sared for; and no plausible substitute for the family has been proposed. It is in. any case evident that the premature weakening of tie family, will bring disaster. ; .-Tho school /by its nature weakens the family. . . The modern city is surely subversive* of the homo and'.the family. . ..Tho Sacraments of thoChnrch —baptism, confirmation, marriage, burial—are closely interwoven with family mfe. The school supersedes the Church as ;a socialising factor to the injury of tbe family. _. . Perhaps tho principal danger ■to onr civilisation is tho checking of instincts by rationalistic considerations.' It is from this psychological base-lino, that 'Professor Cattell snmys the present statcpf,- our Vklu-) cation and our domestic morals,' ;asid, draws the oonclusiori thatiwe must -again, and ..'soon. ~LThoso .••whbnfT. ho '•" ibffends— and, they will .- be : "' by —will say that'ho is a traitor to the rationalistic' spirit of modern, soieswi. li {&&, ta> is nothingp'f^the.kind. ■.-. Hβ says plainly',"hat «ur only salvation—now that wo have betrayed and .tramplod upon instinct—lies in going on to a larger and higher reasonableness. We must in the light of reason see our folly and wickedness,. and, as rational beings, alter our course. Professor Cattell suggests the development of a rural school, essentially like the home in:its r 'aims,and;methods, Taad fitted to educate youth .'for the,,.sane and wholesome, life off tho country places.." Ah Important Experiment. ' -The-threo families of Laplanders who-were Drought to Newfoundland-/by-Dr. Wilfrid. GronfelHb herd tho reindeer which' the doc-tor-missionary is training to take the place of the savage Eskimo for cently, !,i. Newfound&ridors trainedli'to do their work. Dr. Gffe'nfell's experiment is a yory noteworthy one , ,'alike from the scientific, the. 'economic,' : 'and the humanitarian point of ■ view. ■'Bis herd of domesticated reindeer -.;now: -numbers ■ more than 400, and all of the'animals : are of splen-' did size. By mating tame' Lapland does with the Newfoundland: wild "caribou 'avory. superior stock is obtamed, ; .'and : itis found that the deer take very'kindly, to.'sledge-hauling. In time. Dr. Grenfell hopes .to effect a: complete substitution; of; reindeer for the savage Eskimo; sledge dogs, of whose destruction of human Mo in .Labrador-'every successive season-brings gruesome -stories. . Only, this year a whole family was.sot' upon, torn- to pieces, and eaten bv these fierce brntcs.'The; tame reindeer by/whioh Dr. 'Grenfell is striv-' ing to .replace' these!dangerous animals: will give the Labradpdans.'-milk for thoir.'cliilr dren, food, raiment, and the best possiblemeans of transportation: :. Moreover, . the breeding of these -deer-utilise la.rge .tracts-'of: lands covered with moss,,which' would'other-' Wise be waste,areas;-the, reindeer-being the' only animal so far .-known which- can thrivo on moss pasturage.. ; ; :'.,. ...',.•. -■ Turkey's Three Troubles. Baron Von Dor Goltz is one of many distinguished Germans—including Moltke—who havo served at the headquarters of tho Army, Ho hns • written a -valuable article in the "Deutsche Rundschau" dealing with the changes in Turkey, and ho discusses the three ' difficulties ■ which Turkey has to overcome. "These," says the' Morning Post," discussing this article, 'are covered by the: threo words, peace, tmanr.e, and Arabia, . and each deserves ri word or two of explanation. If the Constitutional system is to havo a fair chance there must be no war to prevent progress., ihat is a matter beyond.the power of tho Turks themselves. It lies,-we venture to think, m the hands of Austria-Hungary and to some extent, therefore, of Germany, which has in the .policy .of Vienna-nearly as much influence as Baron' Aeronthal, who is ultra-German. Turkish finances havo long been in a doubtful condition because there was no general management, and no account-keeping. Turkey is made up of many rich lands, and with fair management will'be not; only solvent, but prosperous. but there is, and may. bo for a year or two, a lack of ready money. Given a few years of peace and a general management or finance ond Turkey will be financiallv prosperous. The problem of Arabia is more difficult. Half of Arabia has for years been in revolt; there is. an Arab Nationalist movement which has cost Turkey ten' thousand lives a year and many times that number of recruits. Tho Arabs are fanatical and do not understand tho changes in lurkey. Perhaps the right policy for tho ■Lurkish Government is to put off tho Arabian question as long as possible and to get nnanco and administration into order. Tho chief difficulty is .not' finance nor Arabia, but peace. Hie best policy for the. Sultan is that -formulated..by. Moltko more than half a century ago, beforo thero was anv Bulgaria, or any independent Rumania. The great strategist's idea, was'.that.'tho.'Sultan would never be secure till he was thoheau of a confederation which should include the small States formerly parts'of Turkev. that is. in,tho terms ;of to-day till he had" an al-liance-:.with Rumania;-'-Bulgaria, Greece, feervia and Montenegro. That is probably tho bultan's policy. - M. Clomonceaii's Position. The French' Senatorial elections took place on January 3 over one-third of France, and this leads the "Alancliestor Guardian" to discuss iU. UotnencciUi's position "If "it says, ' :Vl. Clemenceau has kept office for so long, the causes must bo, soiiglit mainly in his own tactical skill and in the difficulty of replacing him. 'iho advanced Radicals are nervoiis lost ho may gi vo place to a more reactionary successor; the Conservatives will not. assist in overthrowing him lest they replace a child's whip with a scorpion. U. is tho advanced Radicals who hold the fate of tho Cabinet in their hands riifl conviction is growing with them that aU. Uomeiicean s mHueiico may be educntin<» tho country for a Conservative ' Cabinet" and the elections to the Chamber, are not so very fur off. " Tho recent Radical Congress and the reconstitution. of tho machinery of the old 'bloc'—of course with the Socialists excluded—point to,tho organisation of the opposition against him, and, although prediction is hazardous, one would bo rash to give J[. Clemonceau's Ministry & much longer lease of lifo."