LAMPY INAUGURATES CLEAN HUMOR POLICY

Clean humor

This will be the outstanding feature of the Lampoon's policy in the future according to F. H. Nichols '24, president, who discussed the situation at some length with a CRIMSON reporter last night.

"To say that the Lampoon is about to reform is not quite the story, for I think that the Lampoon has always been the cleanest of college comics; there have been however, occasional lapses when it has strayed after false gods. In the future we shall endeavor to eliminate these periodical departures," said Nichols. He explained further that this is not being done with any idea of reform or with the thought that the Lampoon's mission is to take the lead in abolishing "smut" in college comics, but perhaps more in an attempt to be original.

Expects Graduate Support

"There is no reason to be dubious of the fact that this policy will be met with approval by University graduates, but there is reason to fear that it may not be favored of the average undergraduate, who sad to say, seems to enjoy immensely the type of humor displayed by the average college comic papers. In spite of the fact that the colleges of the country are supposed to be made up of the sharpest-witted and most intelligent men of the younger generation yet for years this same smutty brand of humor has been in vogue in the humorous publications.

"The less scrupulous college comics will be found in practically every student's room, while in the rooms of a college which harbors a publication striving to produce something new or original, one is more liable to find a magazine from some other college.

Editors of Life Advise Policy

"Our policy comes largely through the desire to take the advice of such literary lights as Charles Dana Gibson, president of Life, E. S. Martin '77, Life's Editorial writer and one of the first editors of the Lampoon, and Oliver Herford; all of whose suggestions would seem worthy of the weightiest considerations" explained Nichols. "These men seemed satisfied that the Lampoon had maintained a fairly clean standard of humor, but that frequently there had been noticeable deviations. They felt that the only way was to be thoroughly consistant in the policy and not to permit a half-way reform. Yet it is not so much a question of reform as one of raising the standard and presenting something old in a new way."

The nation-wide slump in morals is an aftermath of the War, in the opinion of the Lampoon's president. "We have seen it in theatres and in the publications" he said, "and the Lampoon wishes to take its place in the world, not just as another college magazine, but as a publication that will be recognized as one of the most decent as well as the most original comic magazines in the United States."

This policy has been carried out in the first issue of the season, the Freshman number. If the policy is consistently carried out, it may mark a new era in the publication of college comic papers since the Lampoon is not only the oldest and one of the most influential humorous publications in the United States, but also has one of its members J. McK. Kimball '24, as president of an association of college humorous magazines formed last spring