EX-PRESIDENT TAFT'S VISIT

Mr. Taft's visit to the University will offer us an opportunity that cannot be disregarded. The former president of the United States has agreed to lecture here on The League of Nations, the subject that for this country overshadows completely all the other issues of the day. For many centuries, idealists have been giving their lives to ensure lasting peace, but none of them have succeeded. The new Covenant may be faulty, but it may, if properly drawn up, abolish the curse of war. If it is worth anything at all, it is inestimably valuable to every country and citizen of the world. On this topic every college student should be thoroughly well-informed; to be ignorant is to shirk one's responsibility. Most of us have tried to follow the Peace Conference in the newspapers; but we really know very little beyond the fact that there is some sort of an argument about the Saar Vallely and that Italy is not satisfied. A great number of Harvard men have never read the Covenant for the League of Nations and some never will. Although an absolutely ignorant person will be able to gain important knowledge from Mr. Taft's lecture, the benefit and enjoyment we derive from it will be proportioned to our knowledge. It will be to Harvard's credit if every undergraduate and member of the graduate schools will attend the lecture, with at least an elementary knowledge of the subject of discussion.

The audience, however, will be certain to hear the best-equipped authority in this country. Even more than his knowledge do we respect the dignity, loyalty and fair-mindedness of the former executive during the past seven year. In that period of bitter feeling and harsh criticism, he was unmoved by party or personal animosity and has been influenced only by his wide knowledge and upright character. With the aid of these faculties, he will explain to us the great problem of the day.