and well-directed professional ambition is about the most valuable passion, nowadays, that can be imparted to the average boy in college. It is like a love affair in the way it lights up and vitalizes for him what was previously dull and inert. It is like religion in the way it preserves him from dissipation and trifling. It is the greatest unused educational resource in the "liberal Arts" College.' I admit that this view of professional Courses is setting a high ideal for the Universities in such work. Yet high as it is, it simply gives the measure of their problem. An institution which underestimates its problem has failed already. However, the ideal is one which can be reached, for it has already been reached by such professional schools as the Law Schools at Harvard and Northwestern Universities. Thanks partly to their staff, partly to their methods of teaching, and partly to the ideals which they have held before themselves, these two schools have in recent years been doing the best intellectual work on this continent. As one of its brilliant graduates said of the Harvard Law School: The golden light of the University is not confined to the undergraduate department; it is shed over all the schools. He who has once seen it becomes other than he was, forevermore. I have said that the best part of our education is moral. It is the crowning glory of the Law School that it has kindled in many a heart an inextinguishable fire.' This may be said of any professional school which conceives and carries out its task in the grand manner. Department of Economics, W. C. CLARK. The National Railways. The new Liberal ministry has recently completed the first year of its administration. Not least important in its first year's record has been the selection of directors and a General Manager for the system of National Railways. Our railways afford our most serious national problem at the present time and the public has with rare exceptions refrained from criticism of the new management at this stage, preferring to permit a free and unembarrassed opportunity to place our railway affairs in order. The railway problem has a most pronounced bearing upon the entire question of economic reconstruction. The administration of our national railways will be most carefully observed by the public not primarily because of the more or less academic interest in the success or failure of public operation of an extensive public utility, but because of the very real relationship which it will have to the pockets of the Canadian taxpayers and consumers. The railways of the people of Canada have required contributions from the public exchequer which in a single year approached one hundred million dollars. The day is not far remote when the entire public expenditure of the Dominion was less than the amounts now being paid-in addition to passenger and freight ratesto keep our railways moving. This year we are told that the demands of the railways will convert a surplus of over thirty millions into a deficit of approximately the same amount. It is well that the Canadian taxpayer should realize that until these contributions are discontinued there is little prospect of any substantial reduction in the much criticized tax bill. The burden of the railways bears not only on our taxation but in a most direct manner on commodity prices through transportation charges. The transportation factor in our commodity prices is of the utmost importance and particularly to the farmer. The public is anxiously awaiting the day when it will be possible to effect a reduction in freight rates without transferring the burden to the public treasury and when all expenditures other than necessary capital outlays will be provided by the railway's earnings. The introduction of this happy era is a task which may well command the best thought and careful deliberation of the country. It is a public duty of first importance that nothing should be done which will embarrass the railway management in its tremendous undertaking. Much has been said of the necessity of keeping politics out of our public railway administration. It is expected of the government that the railway executive will be allowed perfect freedom in the selection and control of its administrative staff, in the location of its district and divisional headquarters, and in other matters of administration. In one sense, however, it will not be possible to exclude politics from the railway management. The railways are the property of the people of Canada, and so long as it is necessary to supplement its earnings by bequests from the public treasury Parliament will be expected to satisfy itself that such contributions in the circumstances are necessary. The public should not be disappointed if there is no early reduction in railway transportation charges. The financial condition of the Grand Trunk Railway System during the several years preceding its acquisition by the Canadian people did not permit the expenditure on equipment necessary to maintain the efficiency of the system. It will not be a surprise if the guarantee of the Canadian people will be required for very considerable expenditure for capital purposes and if a large part of the increased earnings of the railways will be absorbed by additional interest charges. Much attention will be directed to increasing the earnings of the public railways. Immigration with increased agricultural production is one obvious means to that end. There would probably be a feeling of greater assurance if the public were more fully informed as to what has actually been done to direct immigration of the proper kind to Canada. In the face of the competition of Australia which is offering substantial financial aid, the difficulties of securing the type of immigrant desired may be increased. The situation only points to the necessity for a well considered policy. From another point of view our problems of transportation and immigration are closely related. There is little pros pect of inducing settlers to undertake farming in our West unless it can be made a profitable occupation. During the past few years, at least in many sections of the west, the farmer has not received a return which permits an adequate profit from his operations. The reason for this condition again is high transportation charges as well on the commodities which the farmer must purchase as on the shipment of his wheat. Attention has frequently been directed-and more recently with added force to the alternative route to Liverpool via the Pacific and the Panama Canal. It has been estimated-though the correctness of the estimate is denied by Montreal-that the transportation charges from Edmonton to Liverpool by this route are ten cents less per bushel of wheat than by the rail route across the continent. The margin of a very few cents per bushel may mean the difference between profit and loss to the producer. Unless conditions are such as to permit a reasonable profit to the western farmer it is useless to expect a greater volume of transportation as a result of increased crop production. There is in the relationship of transportation to the western farmer a very serious problem urgently demanding solution alike from political and economic reasons. The Agrarian Party. Interest politically during the year has been mainly absorbed by the Agrarian groups both in the Provincial and Federal arenas. By the retirement of Mr. Crerar the public life of Canada has suffered a very real loss. Although he retains his seat in the House of Commons his absorption in the affairs of the Grain Growers will not permit the close attention to public affairs which his position as leader of the Progressive party demanded. During the first session of the new parliament Mr. Crerar carried out the duties of a very difficult and delicate position with consummate ability. His influence was always exercised in the direction of sanity and stability. Mr. Forke, his successor, may be satisfied if his efforts reap a similar reward of success. There are indication that the cleavage between the two wings of the Agrarian party is growing. In Ontario, in so far as the U. F. O. organization is concerned, Mr. Morrison's control has been strengthened. Mr. Morrison's theory of the nature of the responsibility of a member of Parliament is not new; it has never gained wide acceptance in Canada and it is doubtful if its appeal will be wide. Mr. Drury has gained most valuable experience from the necessity of conducting the administration of the Province and clearly sees the inevitable limitations of a narrow system of group government. If the party is to retain its position of dominance in Ontario it would seem that the policy of the broadening out must be adopted. Mr. Morrison would probably argue that it were better to lose control of the administration and be content with a smaller class group representing the agricultural interests. If logically followed this policy would add infinitely to the difficulties of conducting the government of the Province. The conditions of discontent and dissatisfaction which found expression in the Agrarian movement were very largely economic and the result of world-wide forces. The movement represented a desire to remedy these conditions by legislation within a comparatively small jurisdiction. The futility of such a programme has, in the main, been demonstrated and with this disillusionment the farmer is turning away from political action to the creation of new economic forces to correct or control those which have operated to his disadvantage. The farmer is beginning to realize that the only special virtue to be claimed by an Agrarian government is honest, economic and efficient administration. The same test must be applied to his own government as that which he would apply to the governments of the old parties. Four years have served to dispel much of the glamour and to introduce a more critical attitude. In this connexion the decision of two of the members of the Progressive party to support the Liberal administration is of interest. It would be unfair to suggest that these gentlemen were anticipating what they recognized as a general movement. It would at least seem to indicate a lack of cohesion within the party which may result in other readjustments. While the position of the government is strengthened by these accessions it still lacks a working majority. Its chief security, for a time at least, will probably be found in the |