THE PHILIP •STOTT COLLEGE.
QUIETLY, unostentatiously, but effectively, another step has been taken towards giving manual workers opportunities for the practical study of economics. A summer school is being held at Overstone Park, near Northampton ; the students reside for a fortnight at a time, and we have been much more than interested—we have been moved—by reading accounts of how intensely the school has been appreciated. Sir Philip Stott, who bought the house, most generously gave it to be main- tained as a permanent centre for working men who want to study economics and Constitutional history.
We have from time to time made various suggestions as to the disposal and use of some of the noble country houses which, owing to their size and the cost of keeping them up, are all more or less in danger of passing out of private ownership. But we failed, we must confess, to hit upon the happy idea which occurred to Sir Philip Stott. However, the thing has now been done and done well, and we believe that it will have great results. We want to describe the life at the College in order that it may be more widely known than it already is and that the example may, if possible, be imitated.
The ignorance among- most manual workers about economic law and the structure of trade and commerce is abysmal. Most manual workers have no conception of the important part played by the entrepreneurs of trade. They-regard them merely as parasites. The bold venturer who starts a factory to produce some new article may as likely as not be hooted at as a profiteer if he succeeds ; and yet all the time he may be providing work for thousands--work which would not otherwise have existed. in his capacity as_au ordinary human being the manual worker may be quite willing to admit that great benefits have been conferred upon wage earners by the directors of industry, but in what may be called his trade union capacity he accepts a threadbare formula about " ex- ploitation." He regards what is really a partnership as a conflict. "Capital" is his enemy, and he must try to sweep it away. If he sweeps himself away, too, that will be only an unforeseen accident. He talks constantly of high profits as an illustration of the exploitation from which he suffers, and he has never informed himself of the low average rate of interest which is earned on capital. It has not entered into his philosophy that high profits are the occasional rewards of great risks.
When masses of men repeat such formulae as we have described as a substitute for thinking, they are, of course, an easy prey for the Communist or Socialist propagandists. These propagandists have had a good innings in many of the working-men's colleges where economics are regularly taught—economics of a particular kind. There is not even a pretence there of allowing a student to thrash out a subject for himself and simply drink in learning till he can come to a conclusion. He is instructed in a special doctrine as rigidly and as exclusively as a candidate is trained for the priesthood in a Jesuit college. He is turned out a Collectivist whose mission in the world is to make converts to Collectivism. We do not say that good may not be done even in such colleges as those, for you cannot put books into the hands of a man with brains and an independent spirit without incurring the risk that he will break away from tradi- tional teaching and form his own judgment. Fortunately, these times provide such a provocation to the manual worker to think as never was before. He is conscious of his dissatisfaction, or distress, and more and more as education spreads he asks for the reason. It may be objected that the Philip Stott College is in essence not different from the working-men's colleges approved of by the Trade Unions, because it also teaches economics of a particular brand—only a non-Communist and non- Socialist brand. Of course, every institution which gives a practical application to economics is open to the charge of political partisanship—that is inevitable. But when this has been admitted, there is an enormous difference between the spirit which constricts and narrowly directs and the spirit which offers learning as far as possible for its own sake and does not insist upon the acceptance of some dogma.
In the Democrat (price 2d.), an excellent little weekly paper which is " devoted to Constitutional Democracy," there have appeared during the past few weeks accounts of the opening fortnight at the Philip Stott College and many tributes, expressing pleasure and gratitude, from students. Dr. Arthur Shadwell, the well-known writer on industrial subjects, who was one of the lecturers, wrote in the Democrat :- " It has been a school, not only of serious study in difficult subjects, but of courtesy and kindness, of social equality, good fellowship and friendly intercourse. That is what has made it so extraordinarily enjoyable, whether in the lecture-room, on the playground, in the dining hall or at the evening entertainments. There has been no condescension or obtrusion of superiority, intel- lectual, official, social or athletic. The teachers have assumed no didactic airs, but have rather invited the learners to follow as fellow- seekers in the labyrinth of knowledge, and have encouraged them to think for themselves, and to propound problems for solution. The students have responded by following the expositions offered them with keen interest and close attention, and have readily appreciated every point made. Their appetite for knowledge has been whetted and they have sought advice which has been freely given."
Dr. Shadwell describes with genuine zest the popularity of the Durham coal-hewers, who were " to the fore in everything," and the good nature of the Scottish crafts- men, who, on. their own initiative, got up early one morning and constructed in secret a desk of noble proportions for the lecturer's table. Men do not " rag " unless they are light-hearted and are enjoying themselves, so evidence in proof of the enjoyment may be worth quoting. An imitation of a political open-air meeting was organized, and the meeting was addressed by a supposed candidate for Parliament. The chairman introduced the candidate in regulation form. The candidate, a miner, had pre- pared a serious speech, but he had not proceeded very far when he was interrupted by objectors, who had arranged a little surprise for him. They appeared in the guise of Red Flag " comrades " bent on breaking up the meeting. They argued with the chairman on every conceivable point of order, while the rest of the audience Shouted " Order ! " " Turn them out ! " and so on. Mean- while, the unfortunate speaker struggled on as best he could until at last the chairman forcibly hurled the leading interrupter, who also happened to be a miner, down the steps. After that the meeting settled down, as meetings often do, to a more constitutional form of question and answer in which the speaker was heckled with great spirit.
One of the students, after a fortnight at the College, wrote to the Democrat of the expectations with which he had gone there and of how those expectations were fulfilled.
" I was thrilled to think that before long we would be receiving a sound education at the hands of some of the best authorities on `Trade Union Law and Organization," Economics of Industry' and ' Political and Social History.' The problems of Socialism, Capitalism, Co-operation, Unemployment and Industrial Peace had meant a good deal to us in the past, but here was a life-time's opportunity to undergo the best instruction as constitutional democrats withoot a political bias on these matters. . . .
On arrival at Durham we came across other working-men and women students. Here we were—miners, and other colliery workers, labourers, clerks, engineers and moulders. Our destination was the Philip Stott College, Overstone Park, Northampton. We were all Georgics,' but you would not have thought it. We looked too happy to synchronize with the worn-out Socialist and Communist clap-trap of the down-trodden wage slave. . . .
Having entered so delightfully into these pleasant surroundings we were next to go through the Intelligence Department,' where the various problems of economics were placed before us in a popular manner. The greater part of us for the first time were given a real desire to fathom such a fascinating and instructive study. Dr. Shadwell and Professor Marriott put themselves out to give of their best, and succeeded in keeping what is termed one of the hardest sciences from approaching boredom. The discussions that take place after the lectures are excellent, and a good deal of learning is to be had from them. Points arise that one has not heard before, and there is an abundance of new reasoning which proves a source of enlightenment. It is apparent that the Socialist Labour Party and Communists are to come up against it in the near future. Working-men and women of all trades are being taught to espouse the claims of Constitutional Labour. The satellites of Lenin and revolution-mongers will be brought to account with sound argument. . .
One feels proud that such an epoch-making step has been taken to educate constitutional democracy to take its rightful place actively in national and world politics. It is the hour of the British worker, the man whose heart goes out to his country and its people. He has been trodden under foot by the adherents of extremism and unpatriotic propaganda too long."
Another student wrote
" Never in the course of my life have I been moved to the depth of emotion that I felt at the final winding-up of the lectures. I was really amazed at the wonderful expression of thought derived from solid material. Never before have I realized the great danger we are faced with in the revolutionary movement against the constitutional basis of this Empire of ours, or the real difference between true and false economics."
Another student described his fortnight as " Surely the most wonderful fortnight of my life ; crowded with happy memories. A mere moment in a life of nearly forty summers—yet the most intense and inspiring period of my existence."
Mr. John Farnsworth, the Director of Studies at the College, wrote : " By the beginning of the second week they are different men and women. You hear the difference in their conversation. Even as I write there have passed by the window at which I sit three of our men students with text-books under their arms. They want to know things, and are not satisfied until their wants are met. In a few words, that is the effect of the spirit of the Philip Stott College on the students."
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