AN "EVIL" REDUCED.

Previous to the Carlisle football game, a notice was published in the CRIMSON by the Student Council in reference to cutting on the days of the big games. It was stated that on the corresponding Saturday of last year 161 men were absent from their 12 o'clock appointments and on the day of the Dartmouth game last year there were 228 men cut the last hour in the morning. Here was one of the so-called evils of intercollegiate athletics, and in particular intercollegiate football, and it happened to be one of the first to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, comparisons of the records this year and last year are not as easy as they might be nor do they prove altogether satisfactory. Different situations existed in various ways in the two years; there was one more course held last year than this at that hour, the courses were not necessarily of the same size and so on, so that even making allowances for such differences will not give an accurate basis for final comparison. The figures show, however, that 79 men cut on the day of the Carlisle game and 110 on the day of the Dartmouth game which in itself is a very material and satisfactory decrease. Just what the actual per cent of decrease is cannot be accurately figured.

Per cents and figures are after all not the essential thing. If there was more attention to college duties on those two Saturdays than in the previous years and less distraction due to the intercollegiate contests, we have taken a step in advance. If a brief statement of the Student Council, setting forth the situation in concrete form, is instrumental in reducing the number of absences it has justified its position by just so much, both to the students and to the governing boards. Even in this regard, what does it matter in the long run whether or not this has been due to the specific recommendations of the Council? The fact that there has been a change for the better is the important thing and it is reasonable to believe that the Council, whose chief reason for existence is that it represents the gathering together and organization of the best interests of the undergraduates which heretofore have been scattered and thus ineffective in many ways, has been of assistance.