the Nineteenth Century, was steeped in the dominant Hegelianism. But already in his time the contradiction between the revolutionary character of the dialectic process and the reactionary character of the results obtained from it, had split the school into warring wings of Right and Left. Hegel had regarded the defeat of Prussia at Jena with equanimity and had been reproached with viewing Napoleon, the man on horseback, as the Absolute. Later, however, he went to the University of Berlin, and became a bulwark of the powers that be. By the one wing, the conservative side of Hegel's two-edged declaration that "all that is real is reasonable" was emphasized, Junkerdom and Lutheran orthodoxy given foundation, and the Prussian state regarded as the crowning manifestation of the Absolute. By the other-the Left Wing-the reality of these institutions was denied and their speedy passing by dialectic necessity foretold. In the stress of controversy with Church and State, these Hegelians of the Left were driven to the French thinkers of the Enlightenment for weapons. Their doctrines took on a more and more materialistic tinge, till finally, in the work of Feuerbach, "the dialectic of the Idea became itself merely the conscious reflex of the dialectical evolution of the real world, and therefore the dialectic of Hegel was turned up

side down, or rather it was placed upon its feet instead of on its head, where it was standing before."

It was to the Left Wing, or radical school dominated by Feuerbach, that both Marx and Engels turned when they came to formulate, as every true German must, a philosophy of history. The motive force behind all history was declared to be materialistic or economic. The question arises now, In what sense is "scientific socialism," 80called, really scientific? The gibe of Carlyle at the Holy Roman Empire, which he declared was neither Holy nor Roman nor Empire, comes to mind. Hegelian dialectic is not regarded as a scientific method of inquiry at the present day.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Universal panaceas and exclusive social philosophies come only from the half-baked or halfeducated. Marx was a university graduate whose life was warped and embittered by the persecutions of a reactionary government. The spirit of the generation in which Marx lived has been characterized as "the irreverent and revolutionary spirit of what was once known as Young Germany; the spirit of a race of disillusioned men, without belief in God or unsenuous good; a hypercritical,

1 Skelton, O. D., Socialism, p. 97.

cynical, and often scurrilous spirit. In passing into its latest or Germany stage, Socialism gained intellectually but lost morally!" If Marx had been able to continue his university career, the stimulus of university life and discussion and criticism by his colleagues would have led in all probability to a wider outlook and a more balanced and proportioned system of economics.

Das Kapital, Marx's chief claim to fame, is not, to the mind of the writer a great or enduring work in economics; it is founded on half-truth as to labor value; the economic interpretation of history is used in too narrow a sense in the idea of class struggle and an inevitable revolution or historical cataclysm; and, finally, it is throughout an exposition of Hegelian dialectic and not of modern scientific methods of historical study. A freak book and not a classic, is the verdict of many modern economists.

2 Flint, Socialism, pp. 136-137.

V

THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE

ANY articles both favorable and unfavor

MAN

able have been written concerning the National Nonpartisan League, of which Arthur C. Townley was the creator and head. The most important favorable book concerning the movement is the one by Herbert E. Gaston entitled The Nonpartisan League which is an authoritative, and, to a certain extent, unbiased, statement of the genesis and growth of the movement. Three years employment on the publications controlled by the league gave Mr. Gaston an intimate knowledge of the organization, and although the reader is assured of a "conscientious effort to make a faithful report of facts of essential interest," favorable conclusions are the rule.

A book written from the opposite standpoint is the one entitled The Non-Partisan League, by An

drew A. Bruce. Professor Bruce brings out in successive chapters the development of the League from its inception in 1915 to the present time. He shows that at first it was a movement ostensibly for the betterment of the condition of the farming classes; that it was a protest against unfair grain grading, trading in options, and control of grain and cattle markets by outside business interests; and that it developed into a socialistic political party founded on discontent and aiming at the advancement of the political and financial fortunes of its leaders and the destruction of the middleman, the industrial entrepreneur, and the so-called capitalistic classes.

A pamphlet entitled The New Day, issued under the auspices of the state of North Dakota, gives the text of the various laws enacted for the purpose of carrying out the program of the League.

These three books have been used in the preparation of this article, supplemented by first-hand knowledge gained during a two years' residence in North Dakota.

1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEAGUE

The Nonpartisan League is an association of farmers whose general purpose is to secure the election of government officials and the subsequent enactment of legislation "favorable to the estab