Refugee Committee Drive for Funds Receives Contributions, Commendations by Dignitaries

The Harvard Refugee Committee launched its drive yesterday to raise $10,000 mid the acclamations of students and outside dignitaries alike. It is hoped that this will be the first stop in enlisting the support of colleges throughout America in the Refugee drive.

The drive got under way in the houses and extended to the dormitories and graduate schools. Committees have been formed in all the houses with the result that Adams leads in total amount of money contributed, while Lowell has obtained the most signatures.

Unusual Generosity

Several instances of unusual generosity came to the attention of the Committee. In Lowell House a tutor who felt particularly bad about the lot of the German refugees contributed $100. In another house, a student revealed that his mother had read about the drive in a Philadelphia newspaper and had sent a check for $50.

But perhaps the finest gesture came from the workers at the University press. A committee member ready to pay $30 printing bill was informed that the bill would be only $17 because the printers had voluntarily contributed their time.

An incomplete check late last night of actual contributions made in the first day showed a total of nearly $500 in cash, $200 in pledges, and a considerable amount in checks. With the campaign not yet in high gear, leaders predicted that the goal of $10,000 would be reached.

Commendatory Telegrams

Telegrams commending the drive continued to pour into the offices of the Committee in Adams House. Albert Einstein, a world-renowned mathematician and himself a German refugee, wired "Appreciate greatly your generous effort as aid in emergency and as humanitarian attitude." Frances Farmer, Broadway and Hollywood star, sent her best wishes, as did Helen Hayes, the first lady of the stage.

New Yorkers Lehman and Dewey wired in their congratulations and expressed felicitations.