Sense and Sensibility

The Harvard CRIMSON, daily undergraduate paper, had an editorial the other day complaining about the unkempt condition of the college grounds, and about the houses rented to the students which it stated would be better fitted for the surroundings of East Boston. Obviously the article was not meant as a reflection on the people living in East Boston. It was merely an effort to improve conditions under which the students are living, and the reference to the East Boston district may or may not have been pat.

Promptly Congressman Douglass from Washington comes to the defense of East Boston people, where no defense was necessary. In a fine passion he tells what a great people we are, and how nice everything is here. He defies students living on the "gold coast" of Harvard College, and a lot more of the same stuff. All of which was just plain bunk.

If Congressman Douglass has so much passion on tap why not use some of it for the benefit of East Boston. Why not blast the Elevated for the way it laid tracks in the Bennington boulevard, destroying the beauty of a highway that cost $750.000? Why not roar at Mayor Nichols for cancelling the taxes of the East Boston Land Co, to the amount of one hundred fifty-two thousand dollars? Why not condemn the outrageous bathing facilities for the little children at Wood Island, where the bathhouses is on the edge of a dirty pool, a breeder of typhoid? Why not speak up for a shore reservation from Wood Island through the Fourth Section to Orient Heights, so badly needed for the welfare of 20,000 children living here? And all the play-grounds of the district need a voice for their necessities.

The history of the agitations for improvements for East Boston during the last generation is generally speaking the tale of the effort of Harvard men living here. That should always be remembered. Editor James E. Maguire in   the East Boston Free Press