SWEEPING ECONOMY

Sweeping economics have been made, we are informed by the Business Administrator. The general consensus of student opinion finds an unfortunate double meaning in the word, sweeping. With unparalled efficiency, the officials ordain that each goodie shall have twelve of fourteen suites to clean and a maximum of fifteen minutes for each suite.

When Harvard students, as representatives of a sex noted for their lack of concern for domestic matters, vociferously protest the condition of their rooms. It is time to sit up and take notice. When a bed feels like a corrugated tin roof, when dust covers every object and piles high in neglected corners, irritation reaches a fever pitch. No blame can be attached to the goodies, they do remarkably well considering their human limitations. Rushing about the room, duster and mep in hand, with the speed of an express train is the only possible way for a goodie to clean a three to eight room suite within the arbitrary time limit of 15 minutes. It is the so-called "economy" which is to be criticized.

When the average room price of at least $200 is used as a yardstick, it compares on a basis of absolute equality with the charge for attractive "apartments with Kitchenette" in Cambridge. These houses themselves were outright gifts, and there are no taxes. In contradistinction, the apartment owners have to provide for capital outlays and taxes. With this comparative advantage in upkeep charges, the least the College can do is to provide an adequate staff for the care of rooms. The self-congratulatory phrases about drastic economics and shakeups should not conceal the fact that there is such a thing as false economy.