14 Karat Messlahs

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The recent debate, on pacifism seems to have aroused considerable interest and comment and rightly so. But it is unfortunate that the question of doing away with the Military science department should have been brought up without warning at the end of the meeting, when many of the participants had left. In all fairness to those of us who believe that the best security for peace is preparation against the contingency of war and that the Reserve Officers Training Corps is the best way of making such preparation, any proposal to do away with that system should be made publicly and opportunity given for the supporters of that policy to prepare their defense.

The Military Science department at Harvard, as at other universities, is established for the purpose of training men to defend their country against external aggression. No better security for peace could be devised today than a nation of a hundred millions following peaceful pursuits but ready to take up arms if necessary and defend itself with the maximum of efficiency and the minimum of cost in lives and dollars. The Military Science department teaches preparedness, not militarism, and in this doctrine it has had the support of Presidents Roosevelt, Wilson, and Harding.

If the opponents of military training at Harvard are sincere in their convictions (and I have not the slightest doubt that they are) let them introduce their resolution in another debate, called for that express purpose, and let us get a true concensus of opinion in the University. C. P. MOREHOUSE '25.