Gentlemen! Gentlemen!

At a special meeting of the East Boston Improvement Association held last night at the call of Richard C. Kirby, president.... the representative bitterly denounced the Harvard Crimson for the insulting reference which it made to East Boston in an editorial in its current issue.

He said in part: "While those of us who have been denied the opportunity of a college education are deeply appreciative of the high standard of training which Harvard has set for Massachusetts and the country, we nevertheless cannot but be offended at the supercilious and insulting references which too often emanate from the university. It was not so long a time ago that a prominent professor of Harvard made slighting and flippant references to another section of our city, and now the Harvard Crimson, whose editorial columns have so often of late displeased a vast number of the alumni, as well as the vast majority of the students of the college, has taken upon itself the task of making invidious comparisons with reference to housing conditions in East Boston."

"We admit it is true that all the social wealth of our great city does not reside in our district, and that handsomer houses do decorate other parts of our municipality and of our suburbs. That, however, does not diminish one iota the character of our inhabitants or their determination each to fulfill his part in improving the lives of his people and the homes in which they live.

"We reside in an ancient section of our city. We have contributed many prominent, men to the life of this country, all of whom came from the humble homes which the Harvard Crimson criticizes, and it appears to me ill-becoming those who represent a rich and socially powerful institution to cast aspersion upon the decent people of East Boston whose struggles and ambitions should have the support of the Harvard Crimson, and not its vicious criticism." Boston Post.