The Meeting of the Twain

The Honorable Michael A. Sullivan had better start looking for a new a campaign issue, for the ancient Town-and-Gown argument is dying a quick death. Since time out of mind the University and the City have carried on a skirmish for which the ammunition supply never becomes exhausted, but the advantages of joint action in matters of Air Raid Precautions are already beginning to overcome the long-standing differences.

When Cambridge began to organize its system of wardens, fireman, and policeman, it faced the problem of finding a place to drill. The University, undertaking a parallel task, was handicapped by a lack of equipment and trained instructors. They agreed to swap. Cambridge got the use of Memorial Hall; the University was given an opportunity to train its fireman in the station on Harvard Street. Since that first step, plans for even more cooperation have been made and carried to completion. Fire and plane spotters, for example, will be stationed atop Memorial Hall, Widener, and the Houses, for these are some of tallest buildings in the area. If blazes are set elsewhere and there are none at Harvard, undergraduate firemen from the University will be sent to aid in handling them. The streets around the College will be patrolled and watched by students a decision which in itself relieves the City of an enormous burden. In case of an actual raid there will be intimate shoulder-rubbing between students and townspeople, for the dwellers along De Wolfe Street are scheduled to take a refuge in Leverett House. As the weeks pass, other occasions for mutual assistance will be assuredly arise.

Wartime cooperation alone will certainly not solve the many differences between those in Harvard and those around it. Gantabrigians, however, may well learn that Harvard men are not necessarily rich wastrels or radical agitators, and undergraduates will find that residents of the city can be more than "those people who ride the El." Once the two groups have learned that the other can be trusted and depended upon, the edge of the hatchet will be dulled sufficiently to make its burial practically certain.