We have refrained from making any editorial comment on the recent performance in the Harvard Union, because we believed the fight to be a factional one and therefore not a fit subject for the expression of opinion on the part of a college paper, but later developments have made silence on our part no longer possible.

It seems that the fight originated in a desire of certain members of the Union to prevent the election of Mr. Mahany as President for the ensuing year. In order to gain their end they persuaded the present holder of the office to stand for another term. He consented. A canvas was instituted resulting in a large majority of the members of the Union pledging their support to Mr. Furber. On the eve of the election postal cards were sent to the adherents of the latter, calling upon them to remember their pledge and not to forget the day of the meeting. On the day of the election a placard, similar to the postal card notice, and signed by the same men, appeared in the college buildings. The men whose names were signed had no knowledge of the matter. The meeting was called and Mr. Furber was elected President. Mr. Mahany and his followers refused to vote and called the meeting illegal, owing to the fact that members of the Union under the old constitution of the society and members who, although in regular standing, had never signed the constitution, were present and voting. The meeting decided that it was a legal assembly and proceeded with its business. After the election the correspondents of the Boston papers sent in reports of the meeting which were changed by the editors through the persuasive efforts of Mr. Mahany. The CRIMSON published a report of the meeting, although earnestly requested by certain of Mr. Mahany's friends not to do so. The Vice-President of the society and the Secretary and Treasurer have refused to deliver up the books or money in the treasury to their successors in office.

This fight, although it has afforded the college a certain amount of amusement and at times has been most grotesque in its enthusiasm, should not be passed over with a laugh. It is a serious thing when a college undergraduate deliberately forges the names of his political enemies, it is despicable indeed when such a thing is done for the paltry object which was held in view in this instance. It is not often, and we are most thankful therefor, that the employment of such low means comes to light in college affairs. The controversy at first was honorable but it degenerated into a species of party politics which would bring the blush to the face of many political managers in this country. The CRIMSON has been impartial in its course, allowing a full discussion through its communication column, but now we are compelled to announce that the subject is closed as far as we are concerned. We would advise those who have brought the odium of this fight upon Harvard and Harvard customs to withdraw from the field and enter that school where forgery, misrepresentations and other sharp practices can effect no one but themselves and the men they oppose. The college has suffered long enough for the squabbles and corrupt performances of the Union. That society, unless something is done to stay its progress, is, as one of its own members declared at a recent meeting, "fast degenerating into a mob."