"TRUTH WITH GOLD"

Under the auspices of the national Association of Unemployed College Alumni there has been formed a branch organization of Unemployed Harvard Graduates, which, presumably, subscribes to the program of the Association, and which makes a few moderate requests of the college administration. These are men educated and mentally fitted for responsible positions of demonstrable value to the community. Yet that same training and capacity has rendered them unfit in the process of locating employment during a Depression. In order that protracted discouragement may not lead to despondent mental inaction, they would have the college open its graduate school, library, and gymnasium facilities, free of charge, to worthy impoverished graduates.

This is the gist of an argument as familiar as it is logical--pathetically logical because pragmatic considerations engulf the ideal. It is a stirring claim that for the good of society the college should provide for these men. But, disregarding the physical difficulties of a rapid expansion, the services involved would cost a great deal of money. And in the minds of any college governing board, the responsibility to regular undergraduate and graduate students, a responsibility which it is infinitely difficult to maintain intact in times of depression, is more urgent from the point of view of proximity and at least equally urgent from the point of view of social welfare.

The A.U.C.A. can consequently accomplish little by parading its points before the eyes of university authorities. For all save these who qualify by high scholastic ability for regular scholarships, pecuniary support must be sought outside university treasuries. Today, that is a harsh judgment, but one which is too well buttressed by practical considerations to be regarded as wholly unfair.