An Academician

The Institute of France elected Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. The vote was given "in recognition both of President Butler's intellectual leadership in America and of his friendship for France as expressed during and since the World War." The only other American member is Woodrow Wilson. Theodore Roosevelt also enjoyed the honor. It is the seat left vacant by the death of Viscount Bryce, which Dr. Butler now takes.

The Institute is composed of five bodies : the French Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. The first is the most famous, but all have interesting histories, beginning in the 17th Century when they were founded. The Institute, abolished during the French Revolution, was revived by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon designed the uniform to be worn by members, which consists of "a dark green claw-hammer coat covered with embroidered palm leaves, trousers of the same hue, a cocked hat with green feathers, a court sword."

President Butler, in addition to administering the largest of American universities and participating in the affairs of the Republican Party, makes frequent visits to Europe and has a wide acquaintance among educators and statesmen there.

Among the foreigners who have been elected to the Academy are Eleutherios Venizelos, Cardinal Mercier, Professor Masaryk and the late William E. Gladstone.