LOOSE TALK

When two universities find that their athletic contests with each other develop, year after year, increasingly strained relations, it is time to find out what is wrong. No one who was in the Stadium on Saturday doubts that bad feeling exists: the booing in both cheering sections, and the abnormal tension throughout, far different from that caused by the excitement of a close game, no matter how important, is ample evidence.

Unquestionably a large part of this is the direct result of loose talk preceding the game by individuals of each college. Such innuendoes have continued, although not publicly; rumours with and without foundation have persisted everywhere; and, as might be expected, exaggeration has developed. It is essential to distinguish between such talk and well-considered reflection that will lead to a discovery of the true source of the irritation. And when such irritation is obvious, the only satisfactory solution is, as far as possible, to remove the cause.

If the two universities cannot amicably settle a difference comparatively as trivial as the present one, then, and only then, is it time for more drastic action. Harvard and Princeton have too much in common; their horizon is too large to be obscured by one small cloud.