Alumni Desire Enlistments

"No greater service can be done towards making effective the movement for military training and preparedness than for the men who can to go to the Plattsburg Camps or on the Naval Training Cruise this summer.

"The duty to do this lies particularly with the men of Harvard University. They are the men who should set this example. If they do not, can it be wondered that other men in the country do not do their part?

"Thousands of older men--to whom the sacrifice of going is much greater, to whom it means separation from family, the loss of any other vacation and a lessening of the income on which they and their families must rely for support--are going. The duty on younger men, who need make no sacrifice, or at least, lesser ones, to go, is more urgent. Will they do their part?

"Much has been accomplished by the good work that the Harvard undergraduates and others have done in connection with the Harvard Regiment. This work, however, will lose its greatest and principal value, both now and for the future, unless it is followed up by practically all the members of that regiment, and also many others, enrolling for training this summer. This will perfect the work that has already been done. Its influence on the rest of the country will be even greater.

"Moreover, every one who goes to these Camps will find that it is the best use of part of his summer that he can make. He will be a greater gainer in health, widened interests, acquaintance, pleasant experiences, and all other ways, than can possibly be achieved in any other use of his vacation time.

"Every undergraduate and other member of the University should ask himself squarely the question: Have I any right not to go to one of these Camps? Except in exceptional instances, if he faces the issue squarely, there can only be one answer. The men who go will find themselves amply rewarded, in the sense of duty done and the experience they will have. The men who do not, except for unavoidable cause, should feel uncomfortable, and be made to feel so.

Plattsburg Best Kind of a Summer.

"It has been a great disappointment that so comparatively few of the Harvard Regiment and the other undergraduates have thus far enrolled for the Plattsburg Camps or for the Naval Training Cruise this summer.

"Men who can should go. There cannot be the slightest doubt about this. The older men, for whom it is far harder to go, and who are not, under ordinary circumstances, of military age, are going.

"Perhaps no one who has not himself been can realize the value of the experience which a man gets at Plattsburg. It is the best summer he can have. Not only do I believe it is an undergraduate's duty to go, if he can, but he is foolish not to take this opportunity. If he does not, he will regret it now, and probably all the rest of his life.

"I hope that when the record of this summer's camp is completed, there will not be missing from it a single man, except those who are in the militia, who can possibly arrange to go.