AS WE ARE SEEN

In an attempt to see Harvard as others see her, the CRIMSON has picked up from divers sources a few jaundiced news items that illustrate Harvard's publicity problem.

The first story comes from the syndicated news letter of the Intercollegiate Prohibition Association. This sharpeyed organization has seized upon the figures which were printed in so many papers last year, estimating Harvard's drink bill at more than her book bill, and has drawn the obvious and mistaken conclusion that Harvard fails to realize the "retarding and deteriorating effect of alcohol." The estimate really allows each student about five cents a day for alcoholic beverages. But the point that the story best illustrates is the staying quality of a good college news item. It has already been with us a year.

The next clipping, from the New York Sun, is dated at New Haven and bemoans Yale's loss of a very prominent school athlete who has recently decided to go to Harvard, in spite of having taken Yale examinations. The story goes on to say that sudden changes in athletes' intentions are being regarded with suspicion. We do not see why athletes, more than others, should not change their minds. But the funny part of this item is that the man in question has never intended to go anywhere but to Harvard and would give up college rather than go elsewhere.

And then we learn from the Chicago Examiner that Harvard men, to save laundry bills, are wearing black accordeon-plaited dress shirts and black stocks. They will go several rounds, while their white cousins are good for but one dance or dinner. The author of this story is wasting the ingenuity of a great investor.

These are three distinct types of newspaper stories: the story founded on misinterpreted facts, the story built up by a prejudiced correspondent with a few names and a spiteful imagination, and the story made out of whole cloth by a clever reporter-prevaricator. They indicate the task that confronts the News Bureau.