OATH REPEAL BILL LOSES BY 3 VOTES

The Teachers Oath law appeared permanently written into the State Statutes yesterday when the House of Representatives refused to reconsider the repeal bill, which it defeated last Thursday, by a vote of 111 to 108.

In spite of an eleventh-hour reassurance by Governor Saltonstall that "the bill would not give me the slightest bit of embarrassment" the forces of opposition failed to overcome a three-vote margin which denied the repealer a third hearing in the lower chamber last week.

Repeal Buried Until 1941

Because the state has adopted biennial sessions for the Legislature the drive to remove the oath law from the books will not come up again until 1941. Informed circles at the State House said that had the Governor been pressed for a statement on Thursday the measure might have gone through, but that it had little chance of passage after today's roll call.

So close was the voting yesterday that Speaker Christian A. Herter '15 took an unusual step in having himself recorded in favor of reconsideration. The repeal bill prevailed on a voice vote, failed on a standing count, 83-77, before a roll call was ordered.

Clampit Falls Again

Once again Representative Ralph Clampit lead a vain effort from the floor to push the bill through to the Senate. He was supported by Representative John Vaughan of Belmont who cried that the law is a "wedge in our Constitution into which the moisture will creep, and in no time mildew will rot out our rights and the foundations of our government."

The conclusive defeat of the repeal bill yesterday was the fourth of a series of reversals for opposition forces of the oath. Two years ago the law narrowly escaped erasure from the books when, after passing in both the House and the Senate, it met the veto of Governor Hurley.

The moderate position which the University took this year was regarded as a further concession to "town and gown" harmony.