DUES FOR THE UNION.

The Committee on the Union met last night. The first business taken up was that of additional names for memorial panels. The following names were chosen upon the suggestion of the memorial committee and of Major Higginson: John Quincy Adams 1787, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow h.1859, Oliver Wendell Holnes 1829, John Winthrop 1732, James Otis 1743, William Ellery Channing 1798, Nathaniel Bowditch h.1802, George Bancroft 1817, Samuel Adams 1740, Washington Allston 1800, Charles Bulfinch 1781, Francis James Child 1846, Jeffries Wyman 1833. The name of a soldier will be chosen and reported upon by the committee on memorials.

The matter of dues was then brought up. Professor Coolidge as chairman of the sub-committee on dues read the majority and minority reports of the committee. After a very lengthy discussion the majority report was adopted. It is in substance as follows:

In view of the great uncertainty of many of the most essential elements of determination in a question of this nature, such a report can at best be but very provisional. The following estimates have only the first year in view. After that, experience will determine the best way to settle the question of ways and means.

The committee feel positive that it is unsafe to calculate on a basis of annual expense of less than $30,000. The following detailed estimate adds up to a somewhat greater amount: ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES. Water,  $700.00 Coal (400 tons),  1,800.00 Operating Expense, of Electric Light Plant,  2,600.00 Wages of Engineer and Firemen,  2,600.00 Insurance,  600.00 Wages of Treasurer, Clerks and Bookkeeper, Doormen and Bellboys, Janitor, etc.,  12,000.00 (The expenses of this item at the Houston Club, where we can be reasonably sure all due economy is practiced, are almost $8,000.00. The Harvard Union must be more than fifty per cent larger than Houston Hall, and ought to have much more than fifty per cent more members.) Miscellaneous (including ground rent and taxes),  11,000.00   $31,000.00

ESTIMATED RECEIPTS

As sources of income, the Harvard Union can calculate on the rents paid by the Harvard Crimson, Monthly, and Advocate, the Athletic Association, the Barber, and transient visitors for bedrooms. Also a share in the profits of the billiard-rooms, cigar and news stands, etc. The amount of these last items is particularly uncertain, and the committee do not feel justified in making an estimate of more than six thousand dollars for the whole.

The Harvard Union has, therefore, to raise $25,000 a year. It does not seem safe to count on a membership for the first year of more than 2500 undergraduates. The Harvard Union must be self-supporting. It is evident therefore that we must be able to get ten dollars apiece as dues from the members. The committee, however, hope that the number of graduate and life members will be so large that it will not be necessary to ask for the whole of this amount. They suggest, accordingly, that there be an admission fee of $5.00 to be paid by all resident members of the Union, and that the trustees have the right to demand dues of the undergraduate members later in the year to an extent not exceeding $5.00. The committee recognize the difficulties and disadvantages of a later assessment; but they know of no other method by which the Union may feel sure of being able to obtain the requisite resources and yet leave the way open to escape the necessity of a fixed fee of ten dollars, which would undoubtedly bear hard on many of the poorer members. The larger the membership is, the lower will be the annual dues. In spite of the apparent unfairness, of exempting the graduates from this second payment, the committee recommend this in view of the much smaller use that most of them will make of the building, and also in view of the greater trouble and expense in collecting such dues from people outside of Cambridge. The committee recommend the following: (1) Graduates residing within twenty-five miles of Cambridge and students in the departments of the University located outside of Cambridge may become graduate members by an annual payment of five dollars; they shall not be subject to further dues, unless they wish to vote, in which case they must become active members. (2) Graduates residing more than twenty-five miles from Cambridge may become resident members by annual payment of three dollars.

In regard to life membership, the committee wish to recommend: First, that the dues of graduates (and officers of instruction and government) as life members be fixed at fifty dollars; those of students, at seventy-five dollars. It is to be remembered that the great majority of the graduate life members will make but very occasional use of their privileges. It is hoped, on the other hand, that the custom may become common for newly arrived students to obtain life membership at once. Second, that the money received from life memberships be applied to the permanent expenses of the Union, as, for instance, the reduction and eventual wiping out of the ground rent. Third, that in order to improve our financial position, and to get an idea of about how many life memberships we shall have at the start, arrangements should be made as soon as possible for creating life members without waiting for the completion of the building.

ESTIMATED RECEIPTS

As sources of income, the Harvard Union can calculate on the rents paid by the Harvard Crimson, Monthly, and Advocate, the Athletic Association, the Barber, and transient visitors for bedrooms. Also a share in the profits of the billiard-rooms, cigar and news stands, etc. The amount of these last items is particularly uncertain, and the committee do not feel justified in making an estimate of more than six thousand dollars for the whole.

The Harvard Union has, therefore, to raise $25,000 a year. It does not seem safe to count on a membership for the first year of more than 2500 undergraduates. The Harvard Union must be self-supporting. It is evident therefore that we must be able to get ten dollars apiece as dues from the members. The committee, however, hope that the number of graduate and life members will be so large that it will not be necessary to ask for the whole of this amount. They suggest, accordingly, that there be an admission fee of $5.00 to be paid by all resident members of the Union, and that the trustees have the right to demand dues of the undergraduate members later in the year to an extent not exceeding $5.00. The committee recognize the difficulties and disadvantages of a later assessment; but they know of no other method by which the Union may feel sure of being able to obtain the requisite resources and yet leave the way open to escape the necessity of a fixed fee of ten dollars, which would undoubtedly bear hard on many of the poorer members. The larger the membership is, the lower will be the annual dues. In spite of the apparent unfairness, of exempting the graduates from this second payment, the committee recommend this in view of the much smaller use that most of them will make of the building, and also in view of the greater trouble and expense in collecting such dues from people outside of Cambridge. The committee recommend the following: (1) Graduates residing within twenty-five miles of Cambridge and students in the departments of the University located outside of Cambridge may become graduate members by an annual payment of five dollars; they shall not be subject to further dues, unless they wish to vote, in which case they must become active members. (2) Graduates residing more than twenty-five miles from Cambridge may become resident members by annual payment of three dollars.

In regard to life membership, the committee wish to recommend: First, that the dues of graduates (and officers of instruction and government) as life members be fixed at fifty dollars; those of students, at seventy-five dollars. It is to be remembered that the great majority of the graduate life members will make but very occasional use of their privileges. It is hoped, on the other hand, that the custom may become common for newly arrived students to obtain life membership at once. Second, that the money received from life memberships be applied to the permanent expenses of the Union, as, for instance, the reduction and eventual wiping out of the ground rent. Third, that in order to improve our financial position, and to get an idea of about how many life memberships we shall have at the start, arrangements should be made as soon as possible for creating life members without waiting for the completion of the building.