NOVEMBER TWENTY-THIRD OR BUST

When Franklin D. Roosevelt '04 ruled that this year's Thanksgiving be celebrated a week earlier on November twenty-third, his opinion as former editor decided the policy of the Crimson. But the force of tradition has struck again. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Governor Saltonstall, muttering something about the good old days of our forefathers, contrarily changed the date back to November thirtieth.

At a time when constitutional rights are being challenged on many fronts, the Governor's move came as a shock. In tampering with Thanksgiving--which involves freedom to worship without restriction--Massachusetts is weakening the traditions which the Pilgrims fought to establish. Outside of the Women's Republican Club, a November twenty-third holiday is a national sentiment. Mr. Saltonstall is presuming to tell the Commonwealth it cannot follow its own desires.

The very spirit of the holiday has been damaged. An undergraduate wishing to spend a day of prayer and reunion around the family turkey in New York will find he is a week too late. If he wants to use his Thursday as a warm-up for the Yale week-end, he is forced to go to classes on the twenty-third. And when, a week later, he bangs on the door of Sever or Emerson, he will be refused admittance--refused the centuries-old tradition of study treasured by Harvard.

On the question of a November twenty-third Thanksgiving, the unanimity of the College is striking and especially symbolized by the historic rapprochement between the Crimson and the Lampoon. Little room for disagreement can now remain. Considering the issue more vital than the John Reed Society protest, the magazine editors have invited Mr. Browder to attack this curtailment of religious freedom from the steps of their Mount Auburn Street building. Perhaps it can be considered fortunate that infringement of speech and religion have occurred together. In one telling blow, delivered to a crowd that should block every street from Plympton to Dunster, Browder can express the hopes of Harvard that the Bill of Rights will resist its attackers.