A Private Discussion

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be with-held.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

Your editorial of February 6, "On the Tribune" seems to embody those very qualities which you say the people of the West criticize, and in any case is very imprudent and uncalled for. The Tribune's editorial was a bit extreme, but did not call for an outburst of criticism, directed against the Mid-West, more violent than weighty. It seems to me that you should not insult that element of the student body which gives Harvard its national fame. If Harvard were merely a local Massachusetts institution, there would be no one to carry its policies and traditions to the rest of the country.

You may feel assured that no one knows the attitude of the Mid-Westerners better than the Western students, who also know that it is quite justified as evinced by your editorial. You censure the Westerners for accusing you of snobbishness and at the same time substantiate most adequately their charge. Can such a phrase as: ". . . . of the ignorance, bad taste, jealousy, and Anglo-phobe tendencies, which are common to a considerable cross-section of the West"--can such a phrase be interpreted as anything but a foolish utterance of an insufferable snob.

The Eastern students might well take some heed of the Tribune's editorial and at least confine their out of place remarks, incited by false pride, to private discussions. John T. Hack '35.