DYING ISSUES.

We now have but little more than a week of lectures before the end of the term, and then after a short period of examinations the College year will be over. The questions which have been discussed during the term have been in a few instances favorably decided, but many of the live issues raised have been allowed practically to die out. What looked like a successful movement in the direction of a new Gymnasium has apparently entirely dropped from the attention of the undergraduates. We do not know whether the Corporation is considering the problem; we only hope that it is, for by a decision there we could get something definite done. But it was felt by many that the undergraduates should be the first to act, and that a generous subscription raised by them, although unable to pay for much of the building, would be the proper inspiration for the graduates. In spite of several expressions of this opinion, nothing has been accomplished by the undergraduate authorities, until it now seems too late for any mass-meeting or canvassing of the University. Why it is so easy at Harvard to arouse interest in a plan and so hard to get anything done, we do not venture to explain. All we can do is to try and keep the subject alive and to urge the members of the Junior class to make themselves famous next year by really starting the movement successfully.

There still remains, however, ample time for the settlement of two athletic questions of considerable importance. A good many weeks ago there was considerable discussion of the two-period rule, and steps were taken to bring the subject of its abolition to the attention of the Athletic Committee. We have not heard whether it is being held under consideration at the present time, but as very few meetings of the Committee remain before the end of the term, we risk the criticism of over-persistence by again urging the Committee to abolish this unfair regulation before the year is over. It has already done considerable harm and apparently no good, and it should be done away with before it has a chance to influence another athletic year.

Considerable doubt has been expressed about the advisability of extending athletic privileges to men who have graduated in three years and are enrolled in one of the graduate schools. However, the reasons given in opposition to the extension apply only to men in the Business, Medical and Law Schools, who might not be able to carry on their studies and play on University teams at the same time. Everyone seems in favor of allowing men in the Graduate School and candidates for the M. A. degree to take part in athletics. The CRIMSON believes that the members of every graduate department should be admitted on the theory that those who are not able to carry their work will probably not play, and those who can will not be harmed. But if such a change is impossible, the narrower one should certainly be put through at once. Why can we not have this rule also reformed before the class of 1910 is forced to suffer by it?