IN MEMORIAM

The intimation in President Lowell's letter to Phillips Brooks House, that a separate plaque in the new chapel is probable, marks the gaining of one definite point. At least the Harvard men who died fighting on the side of the Central Powers will be recognized. But the manner of recognition will be at best a weak compromise. To dedicate this chapel to a cause is to resurrect the ill feeling of war. If a memorial to men is erected, it should transcend the strife of war. The only manner of doing this is to commemorate all together.

There is hardly any reason for continuing attempts to gain the inclusion of the three Germans in the principal memorial. The Corporation and the president have acted, and it is hardly possible that they will retreat. But retreat is impossible for those whose minds have risen above mere donations and pledges; for those who see the absurdity of two distinct memorials to one group of men.

It is a sad commentary that the question of handling two such things as a memorial and a chapel should have caused the strife and mismanagement here occasioned. From the time of the distribution of the indefinite pledge blanks until the present, when the best has been made of a bad situation, there has been a succession of blunders. A strong stand has not been made at any time; unanimity of feeling has never been approximated. All that can be hoped for now is that in dignity the two memorials will at least be equal.

Harvard in 1917 rose above war sentiment to dedicate the Germanic museum. Now she has passed by her greatest opportunity to make a second international gesture; to lead the way in America to a better understanding of the change in thought that has come about since the World War. The chapel will hardly be a memorial, either to Harvard men or to any cause for which they fought. It will rather be a memorial to the conservatism that at one time dominated an otherwise liberal and fair-minded Harvard.