Control of Lampoon Bought by Crimson As Comic Succumbs to Financial Crisis

By a vote of the Executive Board, at a meeting held in the Sanctum last night, the members of the Harvard CRIMSON decided unanimously to assume the debts of the financially prostrate Harvard Lampoon, humorous undergraduate publication, and purchased for an unannounced sum the rights to publication and the building of the organization.

For long the Lampoon has been heavily laden with debts run up on extravagant ventures which failed to bring the returns expected. Serious difficulties were met with in the case of many issues and the comic found itself ensnared in the net of the law.

The Lampoon Board approached the officers of the CRIMSON with the proposition several weeks ago and the CRIMSON has had it under serious consideration. Several obstacles presented themselves and it is only because of these that the transaction was not completed before the Spring vacation.

According to the bill of sale, the Lampoon gives up all rights to publication and permits the CRIMSON to take up the duty of putting out their issues.

During the past few years, the Lampoon has published parodies of Photoplay, Fortune, and other nationally-known magazines. The editors of the Lampoon hoped to pay off part of the debt that has accumulated through the years by issuing these popular parodies, but the results were far from encouraging. The tax collector of Cambridge has served notice on Lampy that the taxes must be paid within a week, and it is under pressure of this demand that the proposition with the CRIMSON was renewed with added vigor.

Francis D. Moore '35, president of the defunct organization last night issued the following statement in reply to queries of metropolitan reporters: "It's the best thing for all of us, I worked my heart out on this sheet, but we were at the end of our rope. Our debts were increasing day by day and in spite of the issues that we have tried to capitalize on, we have been unable to meet our obligations."

President John H. Morison of the CRIMSON stated that the purchase had been hanging fire for some time and that it was not unexpected. "We take pleasure in announcing the purchase," he declared, "and hope that we can carry on the tradition of the Lampoon." He also promised that undergraduates who now have subscriptions to the Lampoon will continue to get their copies regularly.

Distribution of the Lampoon with the CRIMSON begins today, but delay in printing has forced the new administration to limit the number of copies to 602