A NATIONAL CRISIS.

The German note made public yesterday has placed the United States in a dangerous and difficult position as regards her relations to the belligerent powers of Europe. Not since the outbreak of the war has such spontaneous discussion about our country's next move been held among the undergraduates of Harvard. The large majority have suddenly realized this shameful ignorance of the vital questions of principle and policy that the leaders of the government are facing today. It is unfortunately the exceptional student who knows definitely whether Germany has the legal right to sink American ships should diplomatic relations be severed between the United States and that country. Only a very few have a clear idea of the historical facts which point to the reasons for the nation's present crisis. The habit of taking an intelligent interest in national questions must first be acquired by the young men in our colleges. Such a habit, which is all important for the progress of any nation, is at present nonexistent in America. Habits of any character are seldom formed in old or middle age, and national habits particularly develop during the youth of one generation to be inherited by all future generation. The undergraduates of Harvard and all other American colleges must lead the way in the forming of this new, and what the future will proclaim, most valuable of all American habits, that of taking an intelligent, active interest in America's national problems. Just as the citizens of the past century were engrossed in the welfare of their respective states, so we, the citizens of the twentieth century, must regard the United States as a unit in the great group of world nations.

Whether this last German note will mean diplomato break or not, is still to be settled. But one thing this crisis ought to bring home to all patriotic students in our colleges; the woeful ignorance of the national problems before this country today.