THE UNIVERSITY'S PART

The possibility of a diplomatic break with Germany which has existed for the past two years has suddenly become a a serious fact. Our government by submitting in the past to countless acts of violence against our citizens and national honor has tried in every conceivable manner, but in vain, to avert a rupture with the German nation. In the future our actions, whether hostile or not, will be clearly defined and will follow the strong policy inaugurated by the official dismissal of the German Ambassador.

In order to maintain an international position of dignity, the entire country's attention must be focused upon the problem of developing adequate military and naval forces in the miminum period of time. War may never come, but prepared we must be or disaster awaits us.

Harvard's part in the great problem is clear, and already President Lowell and the College authorities have begun preparations for the accomplishment of the University's part. As the two telegrams in today's issue state, a reserve officers' training unit will be established at once. Military Science and Tactics 1 will be the nucleus of the program of training, and additional instruction will probably be included in this single course, or further military courses will be introduced according to future arrangements with the War Department. All students who wish to join the training unit by taking Military Science 1 will be facilitated in every way by the College authorities. The course will count for a college degree and although at present no specific regulations about dropping other courses in order to take Military Science 1 can be made, the greatest possible encouragement will be given by the authorities in allowing students to change their plans of studies.

The creation of a volunteer force of raw recruits will necessitate a large number of officers, and these officers must be trained in schools similar to the unit established here. Members of the University, by joining this training unit, will be given the necessary instruction to fit them for commissions, and the advantages of such an intensive training over that obtained by enlisting in a volunteer force or in the militia are evident. Men who have an opportunity to be trained for officers should by all means render this more difficult service rather than enlist in the ranks.

Over a thousand men responded to the call of preparedness last year when the country was in no immediate danger. The Harvard Regiment placed the University in the forefront of the believers in an adequate defense for this country. Now in a time of national peril the numbers of the Harvard Regiment ought to be doubled, and a training unit of two thousand students should once again prove that Harvard recognizes her duty to the country and offers her services to the last man for the protection of the nation. The enrolment in this officers' unit will show that there are no Harvard slackers in 1917 even as there were none in 1861 and 1898.