THESES TO BE MARKED ON MERIT BASIS HEREAFTER

The Economics division of the department of History, Government, and Economics has instituted a policy of marking theses for honors on their merit alone, regardless of length, it was announced last night by Arthur H. Cole, Ph. D. '16, assistant professor of Economics.

In an interview with a CRIMSON reporter, Professor Cole explained that in the past, candidates for honors often wrote 100 to 150 typewritten pages. Believing that a long thesis would influence their rank favorably, they were tempted to put material from secondary sources in their theses, minimizing the amount of original work acquired from their own thinking or research.

"There is no reason why a Senior at Harvard should not be able to write a thesis which is of real value in his particular field. At the end of this year we intend to publish all the valuable theses in a book, to be called 'Harvard Studies in Economics.'

"We are following the initial steps taken by Professor Gay, Professor Taussig and Professor Young two years ago. Last year a good many theses written for two of these men on the New England economic situation were published, and the result is a real contribution to knowledge."