Book Review: Scholarship for Canada
| Author | A. L. Burt |
| Published date | 01 April 1946 |
| Date | 01 April 1946 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070204600100209 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
international
Journal
Great
Britain,
or
by
a
systematic American
diminishment
of
her
ability
to
stand
on
her
own
feet
economically."
But
beyond
the interplay
of
material
and imperial appetites,
there
was
an
ethical like-mindedness
among
the
English-speaking
peoples
which
always
made
possible
an
ultimate
and
reasonable
solution and
bred
a
valuable
respect
for
one
another.
Professor
Brebner
might
have
said
more
specifically
con-
cerning
such
like-mindedness.
He
indicates
its
subtle
presence
behind
the
course
of
events;
he
would
not
have
erred
in discussing
at
more
length
its
essence.
His
history
is
much
more
materialistic than
those
who
know
him
would
expect.
Indeed this
is
a
weakness
of
the.
whole
series.
It
would
have
been
well
if
it
had
concentrated
somewhat
less
en the very
obvious
play
of
economic
interests
and
a
little
more
on
the
interweaving
of
ideas
and philosophies,
not
merely
between
the
two
countries
but
throughout
the
English-speaking
world
in
general.
The
Carnegie
Endowment
for
International
Peace
should
some
time
sponsor
a
study
of
the
whole
English-speaking community with
spe-
cial
reference
to
the
dynamic
ideas
whereby
its
members have
sought
to
live.
In
the
meantime,
scholars,
publicists, and politicians
can
read
with
enlightenment
the
admirable
volume
by
Professor Brebner.
University
of
Toronto,
February
1946.
A.
Brady
SCHOLARSHIP
FOR
CANADA.
The
Function
of
Graduate
Studies.
By
John
Bartlet
Brebner.
1945.
(Ottawa: Canadian
Social Science
Research
Council.
90
pp.
$1.00)
Canada
has been
most
prodigal
of
its
greatest
resource-its
brains
-and
Professor
Brebner
is
an:
illustration
of
-this prodigality.
From
Toronto
he went
to
Columbia
University
for graduate
work
that
would
advance
him
in
his profession,
and there
he found advancement
such
as
no
Canadian
institution
offered. He
is
only
one of
many
in
various
walks
of
life.
For
other
exports-the
surplus
produce
of
Canadian
mines,
forests, farms,
fisheries,
and
factories-the
country
gets re-
turns
that
increase its
wealth. What
has
it
got
in
exchange for
its
brains,
the
most valuable
of
all
Canadian
exports?
An
enhanced
price
for
the
ability
of
the
61ite
who
have
not
emigrated?
The
ab-
surdity
of
this
common
answer
stares out
of
another
question:
who
pays
this
price?
What
the
country
has
got
has
been
in
contemplating
the
truly
remarkable
success
Canhdian
expatriates
have
won
abroad-
a
feeling
of
pride--and
this
is
a
shame. "Such
pride,"
Brebner points
out,
"deepens
the
sense
of
moral
superiority
which
is
man's normal
response
and
adjustment
to
the
sense of
some
other
kind
of
inferiority.
The
truth
is
not
that
these
notables
were
superfluous
from
abundance
in
Canada,
but
that
they
felt
they had
to
go
elsewhere
to
realize
their
potentialities."
If
Canada
were
getting
a
real
return
for
this
ex-
port,
it
would
stimulate
the
development
of
a
better
product.
The
lack
of
such
a
return
has
the
opposite
effect.
This
raises
a
problem
that
has
long
worried
thinking
Canadians and
has now
become
urgent
by
reason
of
the
new and
almost
terrifying
challenges
facing
our
174
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