Speed Thee, Little Wish

The Harvard Crimson assumes no responsibility for the sentiments expressed by correspondents, and reserves the right to exclude any communication whose publication may for any reason seem undesirable. Except by special arrangement, communications cannot be published anonymously.

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

The headlines of Saturday's CRIMSON blazon forth with the startling news that a ten-story hotel is to be erected on the site of the old St. Paul's Church, at the corner of Mt. Auburn and Holyoke Streets. Every Harvard man must receive such news with a grave apprehension for the future of the University. It must be the secret if perhaps unexpressed wish of all who are interested in Harvard to see the land between Massachusetts Avenue and the Charles become an integral part of the college, and built up according in some plan that will do justice to the beauty of the river site. Such a plan was printed in the Alumni Bulletin of November 20, 1924. A ten-story modern building in its midst would destroy the possibility of its ever being carried out.

Perhaps worse, however, would be the foreign element that such a building would introduce. The "Gold Coast", as the Boston papers call it, is the center of undergraduate life. A large public hotel, patronized by outsiders, would drop a jarring and unwanted element in to this district, that would be not only annoying but objectionable as well, for it may be safely presumed that the parictal rules could not be enforced in such a place.

Would not any price that the University had to pay for the property be better than to allow a hotel to go up on it? Once acquired, a much needed Sophomore and Junior dormitory could be built there. R. I. Strans '25

Perhaps worse, however, would be the foreign element that such a building would introduce. The "Gold Coast", as the Boston papers call it, is the center of undergraduate life. A large public hotel, patronized by outsiders, would drop a jarring and unwanted element in to this district, that would be not only annoying but objectionable as well, for it may be safely presumed that the parictal rules could not be enforced in such a place.

Would not any price that the University had to pay for the property be better than to allow a hotel to go up on it? Once acquired, a much needed Sophomore and Junior dormitory could be built there. R. I. Strans '25