Internal Evidence

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters but under special conditions, at the request of the writer, names will be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

It seems that a certain Mr. Hubbard, '03 was "displeased", "shocked", and "grieved" because the 1928 Ivy Oration "irreverently" parodied the Gettysburg Address. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Hubbard's mental derangement should have caused him so much anguish as to make him sizzle in repressed indignation for five months, to finally explode in your estimable columns.

I am sorry if there was anything offensive in that speech; I do not believe there was, and I will be glad to send Mr. Hubbard a copy if he desires to become acquainted with the contents.

The facts are these: A small portion of the Ivy Oration--the last paragraph--was a series of quotations from the Address, slightly modified to cover the existing situation. There was nothing startling about that. Everything from "Give me liberty or--" to the Book of Genesis has been subject to that sort of thing, with small damage to them or the feelings of sensitive listeners. The contention that I was trying to ridicule or undermine the memory of a great figure and a great occasion is unjust, and unwarranted by a single phrase, express or implied, in the Ivy Oration.

If Mr. Hubbard is accusing me of doing with Lincoln as Rupert Hughes did to Washington, he not only is far from the truth, but he is as ridiculous as one hastening to protect the Washington monument from being assaulted with a fly-swatter. If he can read into that speech an anarchistic attempt to destroy or bring under contempt an institution in our history and language, he has a surprisingly tabloid mind for one who would seem to be painfully Bostonian.

Nevertheless, I sympathize with his motives. While I was attempting to undermine the republic that afternoon I was greatly hampered by many boisterous gentlemen of Mr. Hubbard's day and age who were busily undermining the Constitution in ways with which Mr. Hubbard may be familiar. And I feel sure I have a supporter in the cameraman who was knocked out that afternoon by a flying tackle from the rear by one of Mr. Hubbard's buddies--perhaps another doughty upholder of the country's sacred institutions. Un-Menckenly yours   Edward F. Clark, Jr. '28