FACULTY'S ATTITUDE EXPLAINED BY LOWELL

The CRIMSON received the following letter from President Lowell late last night:

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Dear Sir:

Your editorial this morning criticizing the action of the Faculty in advising students to continue their college course until they reach the age required for the Government training camps expressed an opinion common among undergraduates; but you will permit me to say something in behalf of the Faculty view.

I respect and admire the spirit that makes the student who is under age desire to render immediate service in the war, especially where there is personal danger; and yet to do so may not be the greatest service he can render to the country. Men who are responsible for the conduct of the war, who see the question in the large, who are thinking of the human resources of the nation as a whole, seem to be generally of opinion that college students will be in the end more profitable if they continue their education until they are of age, and then use that education for the benefit of the army (or in civil life if the war is over). Officers high in the army have expressed themselves in this way. In a letter received within a few days, General Leonard Wood refers to "the policy which you and I have been driving at, which is a sound one. 'The boys are to finish their work at the college and not go until they are wanted and can be used to advantage.'"

The opinion of such a man surely deserves careful consideration by undergraduates and it would, I think, be concurred in by most older men who have thought much about the conduct of the war. At present there is no urgent demand for men under age. There are as many men on the draft lists as the War Department can call out and use in the immediate future; but if students are to follow the advice of the CRIMSON there will soon be a lack of educated young men coming of age.

I know that it is hard to stay at work here. It is harder to lie down under fire than charge at a greater risk. But if it is one's duty it must be done, and the soldier does not select his duty. He does what is considered best for the contingent as a whole. A. LAWRENCE LOWELL