Answer Who Can

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:

So short-lived is the memory of a college community, that it often becomes profitable to check up on the actions of past generations. For this reason Mr. Wheeler's suggestion in this morning's CRIMSON has set me wondering what purpose the donors of Memorial Hall had originally in mind when that structure was planned. Mr. Batchelder has already pointed out in his "Bits of Harvard History" that the use of it as a dining hall was an after-thought, a coincidence of its being available at the moment when the old Thayer Commons was about to be pulled down.

What is Memorial Hall intended to be,--a vast, empty edifice used only for the annual meeting of the Alumni Association and occasional gatherings of unusually large proportions? Perhaps a note from some older graduate would clear up the present-day question of what to do with Memorial by telling us what would have been done with it if it had not been used as a dining hall. And that answer in turn--so subtle are the implications of every item in Harvard history--may perhaps shed some light on the further problem of a war memorial. Very truly yours,   David T. Pottinger '06.