With all due respect for the pleas advanced by Professors Byerly and Lanman of the Dining Association in favor of the retention of the present steward at Memorial, we must express our decided doubts of the wisdom of such a policy. That there will be considerable difficulty in the way of getting a new steward seems very probable. Indeed it may be found necessary, as has been suggested, that the salary of the steward be raised. Any addition to the ordinary running expenses of the hall is of course to be guarded against, but it seems very possible that the securing of the services of a thoroughly competent man at an increased salary may result in lowering instead of raising these expenses from the increased saving following upon a more careful management. The complaint against the present steward is not one of sudden rise destined to short duration. It has gradually become the conviction, we believe, of a large majority of the boarders at the ball, only strengthened by repeated trials, followed by repeated failures, that the present steward has failed, either through carelessness or wilful disregard, to pay proper attention to the expressed wishes of the board of directors in the matter of the regulation of the price of board and the general management of the hall. This is certainly not a trivial ground on which to base the demand for his removal. It is absolutely essential to the successful management of the hall by the students that the steward possess their entire confidence. Moreover, that the present condition of the hall seems more satisfactory than it was under the steward who preceded Mr. Balch, is no proof that it cannot be still further bettered. It is our belief that it is mainly due to the prospect of a change in the management that a recurrence of the troubles of last spring has been prevented. If examples were needed of what has seemed very like wilful disregard and defiance of the wishes of the association on the part of Mr. Balch they could easily be furnished.