New England Here to Stay

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It is so long since the CRIMSON has misquoted me that in gratitude I probably should remain silent at this point. In fact, your batting average over the last five years in quoting Harris is at least 900 percent; in the preceding fifteen years, no higher than 500 percent.

But several of my colleagues have asked me why I picked 80 percent as the music picture for the exodus from New England rather than 70 or 90 percent. The fact is I made no forecast concerning an exodus. I quoted a lady's view that she did not care if there were a large exodus. She said England would be as well off it her population had not grown since the days of Elizabeth. At that point, I suggested it the attitude is that it makes no difference whether the population is 12 of 3 million, then we need not be excessively concerned over the New England problem. But it is far from my view that New England problem. But it is far from my view that New England's population will fall by 80 percent.

I am willing to say here, however, that if the population is stabilized at 160 million (a reasonable estimate), then it is not improbable that in the next 50 years there will he a substantial relative decline for New England and even an absolute fall. Seymour E. Harris,   Professor of Economics