Defense Begins at Home

If someone knocks at your door within the next week and tells you he is taking a census of studio couches, don't give him the cold stare or the unfriendly door-slam. He's not working his way through college; he's helping out the Emergency Defense Service Committee of Phillips Brooks House, which hopes to provide overnight accomodations for draftees on weekend leave.

This is only one of a number of activities planned for or already begun by the Committee, which is composed of members of P.B.H. and the Student Council, and heads of undergraduate political organizations. It hopes to include meals and social activities with weekend lodging. It intends to coach would be army officers in preparation for exams leading to commissions. It expects to send students into the areas in Boston where defense workers are crowded together under conditions injurious both to health and morale.

The Committee's actions to date, as well as its plans for the future, indicate that much can be done by students at Harvard in furthering the Defense program. How much will actually be accomplished depends on the active interest shown by undergraduates themselves, especially in connection with the entertainment of draftees. Harvard likes to talk about National Defense; here's a chance to do something about it.