NEAT BUT TOO GAUDY

In an editorial from the Boston Herald reprinted in an adjoining column that paper comments all together too lightly on a subject that is meant to be serious and merits correspondingly grave comment. The circular referred to was sent to the graduates for the commendable purpose of raising more money in order that Harvard may more truly be called "our greatest university." As President Lowell stated in a recent report, Harvard will always be in need of more money if education here and elsewhere is to continue to progress. This latest drive follows the Harvard policy of progress at any price.

But this folder in its composition falls short of its purpose and might easily do much to defeat it. To sing the praises of one's university in such glaring terms as are here used, no matter how merited these terms may be arouses among those outside the gates the natural, abhorrence for conceit. To the outside world Harvard appears as a vulgar boaster. No matter how self-sufficient Harvard men may feel no one can tell when the opinion of the public may mean a great deal. Such a power should not be antagonized by an attempt to impress the alumni with the great work of the institution through which they have passed.

More immediate than the above danger is the possibility that such a circular will antagonize those to whom it is addressed. To be told how perfect an institution is and then in the same breath to be asked to contribute to help is more than some will be able to understand. The average graduate cannot be expected to know that a university cannot be perfect. On the contrary his reaction to such words is to question the necessity of this additional drain on his pocketbook. In the vast amount of building at Harvard he sees a great affluence and not a draining of the University's coffers. Such a circular as this merely increases this idea of affluence in the mind of the layman and makes him reluctant to help in the progress towards a perfection that can never be reached.