"HANDSOME IS...."

Along with the other signs of spring, it is pleasant to note the appearance of the annual Princeton poll signifying the fortunate few whom the Senior class names yearly as "most respected", "biggest grind", etc. The practice of bestowing such dubious titles upon a handful of the graduating class has become a tradition like the beer-suits and freshman skull caps; it is a ritual which time has enhanced and which offers splendid opportunities for a mass attack upon some hapless individual who can neither foresee nor alter his lot once he has been chosen "best dressed" or named, "thinks he is wittiest". These brands of favour are eagerly reprinted in the metropolitan papers; only to be hauled forth and brought to light years later when the recipient is a candidate for the Presidency or the Chairmanship of a mighty concern.

What is more important, however, is the revealing light which such polls spread upon the mother University. When Rudyard Kipling's "If" is chosen favorite poem year after year, when milk is named as the most popular beverage, when Petty is universally regarded as the favorite artist, we cannot but feel there are evil forces afoot in Nassau. Something, as "favorite-dramatist" Shakespeare once said, is rotten in the state of New Jersey. Certainly the football set-up is not to blame. Coach Crisler came into his share of the boodle and Captain Constable was rail-roaded into several offices with vote reminiscent of the Roosevelt landslide of '32, but we'll venture to lay odds that while the football set-up may have chosen Petty as favorite artist it never chose milk as its favorite beverage nor "If" as its favorite poem. No team which ran through two undefeated seasons ever chose "If" as its favorite anything.

Unless matters clear up pretty noticeably next year, Harvard will have to step into the breach with her own poll. While we may not have a choice for "best build" or "smoothest" we can certainly do justice to the assets of our own senior class and think up some fairly conclusive titles which will open the eyes of big business to the diamonds lying rough in the graduating body. Self promotion never hurts and if "biggest liar" of Class of '37 is called into a nationally known advertising firm or if "biggest bore" is eagerly sought as a political leader or as a college instructor, Harvard may feel that she has done her share. Placed in the hands of an able publicity agent, such a scheme might be able to sell quite a large portion of each year's graduating class to industry or the law or even the ministry.

The University cannot allow such a heaven sent opportunity to slip. What with the on-coming Tercentenary Celebration and the concurrent interest in the college, certainly it is up to Harvard to do right by her senior class. In return for support and interest for four years, the graduating classes from now on should be advertised quickly and effectively by a yearly senior poll, as at Princeton. On a percentage basis, and given a few years, the college might even surpass the sales records hung up by the Ford V-8.