“‘The Goose-Step’ came in at last yesterday afternoon, and I fell on it last night. My very sincere congratulations. I have read on and on with constant joy in the adept marshalling of facts, the shrewd presentation of personalities, the lively and incessant humor. It is not only a fine piece of writing; it is also a sound piece of research. It presents a devastating, but, I believe, thoroughly fair and accurate picture of the American universities today. The faults of ‘The Brass Check’ and ‘The Profits of Religion’ are not in it. It is enormously more judicial and convincing than either of those books. You are here complaining of nothing. You simply offer the bald and horrible facts—but with liveliness, shrewdness, good humor. An appalling picture of a moral and mental debasement! Let every American read it and ponder it!”
A few questions considered in “The Goose-Step”: Do you know the extent to which the interlocking directors of railroads and steel and oil and coal and credit in the United States are also the interlocking trustees of American “higher” education? Do you think that our colleges and universities should be modeled on the lines of our government, or on the lines of our department-stores? Do you know that eighty-five percent of college and university professors are dissatisfied with being managed by floor-walkers? Do you know for how many different actions and opinions a professor may lose his job? Do you know how many professors have to do their own laundry? Do you know why American college presidents with few exceptions are men who do not tell the truth? Do you know to what extent “social position” takes precedence over scholarship in American academic life? Do you know to what extent our education has become a by-product of gladiatorial combats?
A few of the institutions dealt with:
The University of the House of Morgan; The University of Lee-Higginson; The University of U. G. I.; The Tiger’s Lair; The Bull-dog’s Den; The University of the Black Hand; The University of the Lumber Trust; The University of the Chimes; The Universities of the Anaconda; The University of the Latter Day Saints; The Mining Camp University; The Colleges of the Smelter Trust; The University of Wheat; The University of the Ore Trust; The University of Standard Oil; The University of Judge Gary; The University of the Grand Duchess; The University of Automobiles; The University of the Steel Trust; The University of Heaven; The University of Jabbergrab.
500 pages, cloth $2.00, paper $1.00, postpaid.
UPTON SINCLAIR, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
| Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: |
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| series of chonicle=> series of chronicle {pg 101} here we seen Sensibility=> here we see Sensibility {pg 160} be became poet laureate he became poet laureate {pg 173} Two laters later his=> Two years later his {pg 179} a crime aganist=> a crime against {pg 182} the old god, see too late=> the old god, sees too late {pg 214} enlightment ought to help them=> enlightenment ought to help them {pg 264} worse criminals that he=> worse criminals than he {pg 267} most efficient sytem=> most efficient system {pg 269} out of thir minds=> out of their minds {pg 287} be became the prophet=> he became the prophet {pg 292} to feel wraranted=> to feel warranted {pg 319} long and successfuly=> long and successfully {pg 348} live a single genration=> live a single generation {pg 351} him to suceed=> him to succeed {pg 354} presents a devasting=> presents a devastating {ad page} |