THE HARVARD FUND

The unbounded resources which Harvard is reputed to enjoy are usually more or less enmeshed in a maze of contingence and stipulations so that the University is definitely restricted to a particular policy. Such bequests as the Wyeth gift a few weeks ago, with no strings attached, create a welcome opportunity for the administration to widen its program of expansion where the need of the moment demands readjustment.

In this respect, alone, the Harvard Fund, contributed by the Alumni and given to the University to employ at its own discretion, justifies its existence. The inadequacy of teaching salaries is a complaint so often attuned to the public ear in this country that it generally falls on barren ground, but the fact remains that the men at the top of any other profession command incomes far exceeding those of the leading educators in the wealthiest colleges. As President Lowell states, the Alumni contribution is best put to use in increasing the salaries of the teaching staff. After four years of existence the Harvard Fund of the present serves its purpose well; the Fund of the future may easily become a necessity to the continued prosperity of the University.