There is one aspect of the proposal to shorten the course to three years which has not been touched upon except casually; and that is the effect which such a change would have on the athletic and social life of the students. Professor James in his article in the Monthly hints that there might be some disturbance in the state of our athletic and social organization but does not speak with any seriousness on the subject. As a matter of fact it is a question likely to influence the undergraduates only, and the faculty and outsiders will generally not consider a matter which seems to them entirely trivial. Nevertheless so intensely interested are the students in the athletic success of the University as well as in some of the clubs that they would be very likely to be unanimous in desiring that any action likely to change the habits of the students to a serious degree be taken with caution and if possible by degrees.

It is well known that in the years following the complete adoption of the elective system and the abolition of compulsory attendance at chapel the athletic affairs at Harvard got into a bad way and we suffered several years of uninterrupted defeat at the hands of Yale. It is not too much to say that this fact gave and still gives more mental discomfort to the student body than almost anything that could have happened. The pain of it was not compensated by any evidence of the increase in numbers or the surprising general prosperity of the University. Our defeats are a thorn in the side of every Harvard man. For the past year we have seen some signs of recuperation, and the students are just beginning seriously to hope to see Harvard once more triumphant over Yale on the field and river. If the establishment of the elective system could have such a disastrous effect on athletics, how much more disastrous would be the effect of so startling a change as to take one year from the average life of the student and make necessary a complete rearrangement of the social life of the college?

Of course if it could be shown that the three year course was in every other way desirable, the threatened discomfort of defeat in athletics would be a light consideration. We merely wish to point out a difficulty in the way of the proposed reduction, which has, we think, received too little attention at the hands of the advocates of the three year course.