Handbill Attacks Charities Drive

A handbill attacking the Combined Charities "may have had an adverse effect on the drive," a spokesman for the campaign said last night, after a poor response yesterday left the HCC more than $4,000 short of its goal.

An estimated $3,500 was collected, bringing the four-day total to $19,700. Publicity director Martyn D. Greenacre '64 said good showings by Adams, Lowell, and Quincy Houses are especially needed today and tomorrow if the collection is to reach $24,000.

The anonymous letter distributed among the students urged contributions to the United Fund rather than to Combined Charities. Supporting the Combined Charities "now entails necessity rather than desire," the letter said. It advocated donations to the U.F. because of "1) The duplication of administrative effort and expense on the part of Combined Charities; 2) The fact that the U.F. reaches many more needy people, and that relative output has fallen embarrassingly short of maximum expectation."

Attempting to explain possible motives behind the letter, Greenacre said it was probably "a personal complaint against the drive or a particular solicitor. "In either case," he said, "it was an irresponsible reaction."