A MAN'S A MAN

Not many years ago newspapers, magazines and public opinion delighted in referring to Harvard as "The Rich Man's College," dubbing it in derision an exclusive finishing school for the scions of plutocratic families. A man of ordinary circumstances, they said, had as much chance of achieving distinction at Cambridge as the rich man has of making his way into heaven.

No doubt these charges were exaggerated, but they rested on a slight basis of truth. In those halcyon days, tradition assures us, there was a mighty respect paid the wealthy student, however little he deserved it as an individual. The man who could afford to appear at a football game in a fur coat was counted among the lords of the earth, and if he owned a fast horse he was a very prince of fellows. The ordinary man could make his way then as well as now, but undoubtedly wealth was inclined to monopolize the centre of the stage.

Although the millennium has not been reached, we do not believe that things have changed. The money line of distinction is no longer of great importance. Good fellowship is placed higher than a substantial check-book and an expensive motor car. Wealth still makes the path to popularity easier in certain circles, yet most of us at Harvard as well as most of us in America try to estimate men by their character rather than by their pocketbooks. We believe that "a man's a man for a' that."