OUR FATHERS' TREASON

The tenth anniversary of Prohibition was observed yesterday by the wets and the drys in their routine manner. The drys claim that the country is dryer and better for the 18th Admendment; the wets pointed to needless deaths, plenty of drinking, and an abundance of corruption. The vast majority of people, taking an attitude lying somewhere between the extremists of the opposing factions, undoubtedly honored the anniversary with little more than a weary sigh of dissatisfaction with present conditions.

The whole problem is one of extreme seriousness for college men. It is useless to claim abstinence for the vast majority of Harvard undergraduates. In fact, despite scattered allegations to the contrary, it is difficult to see how drinking could have been more universal or widespread in Eastern colleges in the decades before Prohibition than it is right now. The University authorities make no serious attempts to halt liquor consumption--no more than do the local police in New York City. The effort would be wasted and could hardly be made with complete sincerity by the parties concerned.

There are many, no doubt, who find something wrong in the picture of tomorrow's leading citizens brazenly breaking the laws of state and nation. The undergraduates themselves are certainly far from satisfied with the hypocritical position into which they are forced and they have every reason to feel strong resentment against the generation which has left them so dubious a legacy and so difficult a problem. The ranks of the drys will find few recruits among the men Harvard sends out in the world.