Student Council Clears Cannon As Hart, Curtiss Renew Attack

Due to the lateness of the hour at which the Council's report was received, and its length which runs to two full columns, the CRIMSON cannot print the complete text tonight. The full text of the report will be printed in tomorrow's CRIMSON.

Declaring that, "after careful consideration, we do not believe that the money was collected at Harvard under false pretences", the committee of the Student Council, appointed to investigate charges concerning the collection of money last Spring for an ambulance going to the Loyalists side in Spain, last night exonerated the Committee that collected the funds and the Medical Bureau to aid Spanish Democracy.

The committee's report adopted by the Council at its meeting last night, was read after the adjournment of the meeting by the chairman, Wiley E. Mayne '38, to Sidney Q. Curtiss '40 and Merwin K. Hart, Jr. '40, who preferred the charges, Less than ten minutes later they presented the CRIMSON with a tyned communication. This statement declared that "the members of the committee (the Student Council Committee) were appointed by a man who was a member of the very organization that raised the money for the ambulance . . . At any rate, he nominated a committee to investigate his own activities. Under such circumstances the report is all that one can expect".

Keppel Informed of Charges

The CRIMSON informed Francis Keppel '38, President of the Student Council, of this communication. Keppel remarked that although Curtiss and Hart did not mention his name directly in their letter, it was obvious that the letter was directed at him. Saying that the communication presented two questions: first, his connection with the ambulance drive last Spring, and second, the implication that he influenced the Council's decision, he went on:

"My name was used as a backer of the drive without my permission. I protested at the time, but I could see no reason for withdrawing my name publicly. My connection with the ambulance committee was limited to this protest.

"The normal committee-appointment procedure of the Student Council was followed in this case. The President proposed four names. The Council decided to enlarge the committee to five; upon the withdrawal of one of the men proposed, it decided upon another member to take his place, and finally voted to approve the committee as a whole. I certainly never tried to influence the committee's decision."