PRIMARILY FOR UNDERGRADUATES

A more complete record of the University's activities and progress than a file of the Harvard Graduates' Magazine could hardly be imagined. The March number of the Graduates' Magazine, which bears out this statement, is primarily a chronicle. It prints a minute record of all that has happened in the University's many fields, since its December issue. Not only does it give in concise style an account of every sort of undergraduate event and movement but it includes news from many classes, Harvard Clubs and professional school associations. Of especial interest to men now in College is the report of the secretary of the Class of 1914, which the Magazine prints. But the Magazine is not merely a quarterly newspaper. It covers the news field carefully, but it also has another function,--it is a commentator on University life, work and problems. The current number discusses some questions of great interest to undergraduates.

A symposium is conducted on the question of reducing the length of the University boat race from four miles to three. The opinions of rowing experts, including former crew captains, are given and the unanimous verdict is that the present four-mile course is better for the man and the sport.

Athletics, always overemphasized in the University, receive a lion's share of attention in the Magazine. In addition to a complete record of all University sports, and the symposium on rowing just referred to, there is a leading article on "Athletics in the Schools," by Dr. J. L. Morse '87, who makes a plea for better supervision of school athletes. He urges that school boys take athletics less seriously and participate i them less strenuously. Dr. Morse, although his conclusions about the harmful effects of athletic specialization are undoubtedly logical, will probably find that his words fall on deaf ears as long as a man of mediocre mentality and limited social graces can gain popularity and preferment in the University by virtue of a reputation for athletic ability gained in a preparatory school. He criticizes preparatory schools for angling for good athletes, (or trying to develop them at the expense of their mental and physical health). The same criticism applies with even greater force to the University. His article will be most approciated by that small body of undergraduates who honestly believe a good chemist or economist more valuable to his college than a good drop-kicker or pitcher.

J. L. Brener '96 pays a simple and beautiful tribute to the late Charles Sedgwick Minot, who at the time of his death in November, was a professor in the Medical School. It is appreciative without being bathetic, which makes it unique among tributes and obituaries printed by the Magazine and all other magazines.

In his article, "Mr. Higginson and the Boston Orchestra," which is a review of a book by M. A. DeWolfe Howe '87, "The Boston Symphony Orchestra; an historical sketch," Owen Wister '82 shows a much better sense of the fitness of things than he did in his stroy Philosophy 4, by which he is known, and I fear unfavorably, to most undergraduates. His style is intimate and lively and his enjoyment of the book in question, and of books and music in general so keen and so apparent that we can almost forgive him for his college story.

The Graduate who drops a page or two of interesting material from his Window in each number of the Magazine, has in this issue suggested a number of ques- tions in Harvard history that are probably very funny to those who understand the allusions. To those who do not, and it is highly probably that only a chosen few do, they are laborious and savor of the Lampoon at its worst. The Graduate blances up the "questions" with a vigorous little essay on the University's duty of making "practising" Americans of students of all races who come here.

Full details are given of the "Harvard Trip to California" and there is a sensible article on "The Clubs and the University," which does not refer to the local sotto voce organizations, but to the graduate Harvard Clubs. The writer, J. D. Phillips '97, advocates the setting aside of a day when various Alumni Associations and clubs shall come to Cambridge to visit the University at work. He wants the day to be academic in its nature and only casually athletic or social. Dean Hurlbut has an article on "Conduct and Scholarship of the Year" taken from his annual report. After noting the progress in scholarship, and the growth of serious interest in college work, and after arguing for a longer Christmas vacation, Dean Hurlbut concludes with the following tribute to the Student Council:--

A report on the year which failed to record the service of the Student Council, and especially of its leaders for the year, the representatives of the Class of 1914, would be not merely unjust, but sadly inadequate. Mondestly they made helpful suggestions; when called upon for service--and the calls were many--they gave thought and labor without stint, in one of the most trying cases of discipline of recent years, performing without flinching and with finest public spirit a necessary, but highly repellent, duty in our College community. Earnest, clear visioned, strong in the vigor of their youth, forgetful of self, they sought but a single end, the promotion of the welfare of Harvard College.

The current Magazine, then deserves more than the title "Graduates'," for it is of interest to undergraduates as well, and to all who are concerned with the work of the University