We have described elsewhere the generous manifesto on War debts
which has been published by the Faculty of Political Science in Columbia University, but here we would point out that significant though it is it would be a mistake to suppose that it represents American opinion. It comes from men of academic distinction, not from politicians, and it is possible that the politicians will minimize its importance even if they do not resent the intervention of "Political Science" in what is " practical
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politics." Again, Columbia .represents eastern opinion in the United States, and it is notorious that that opinion is much more sympathetic to Europe and much better acquainted with. its problems than opinion further west. If the members of the Faculty should prove to have made any political misjudgments in their manifesto the critics will at once be after them. For instance, it might well be found impossible to review the War debts without reopening the reparations question, though the manifesto speaks of them as separate problems. And the American Government might complain that the .manifesto in spite of its excellent intentions had increased the difficulty of negotiating with European countries.
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