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The article presents matters related to American books. What first needs to be done is to explore the full the possibility of strengthening the neglected two-thirds of the existing institutions. The US Office of Education Lists some 1,855 institutions of "higher education" in this country. It is safe to say that half to, two-thirds of these could accept more students or would gladly do so if they had the financial means. Unfortunately, a good many are caught up in the vicious circle of poverty and mediocrity.

The article discusses Lord Beveridge's autobiography "Power and Influence." The goal which Beveridge set for Great Britain were the provision, as of right, of an income adequate to ensure the necessities of life to all in sickness, invalidity, disability, unemployment, widowhood, orphanhood and old age. For the great lesson Beveridge's book teaches is how much solid reform it has been possible for one man, armed only with knowledge, a disinterested but powerful and imaginative mind and strength of purpose, to bring about in an era in which the exercise of power has come to rest only with those who ally themselves with one or another of the great aggregations of interests.