Lord Curzon, Chancellor of Oxford University, has been staying in
Oxford to familiarise himself with the duties of his office, as he generously conceives them, and on Monday after- noon he visited Ruskin College and made a short and excel- lent speech. The College, as he pointed out, was founded to bring "the democracy" to Oxford. Now that the working classes had votes they were our virtual rulers by force of numbers, and it was essential that they should have education adequate to their grave task. The University, be held, ought to open its doors wide to the working classes. The working classes, for their part, did not want to be drawn too intimately into the University. But contact always removed suspicion. He hoped that more students at Ruskin College would be able to take a course of two years instead of one year. We are very glad to record Lord Curzon's speech. We have said many times that the old Universities ought to welcome working men in every possible way, though we cannot admit the corollary proposed by some that rich men should be correspondingly discouraged. If the influence of the Universities is good, even rich men may be allowed the right of profiting by it.
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