Yesterday we published a brief summary of a petition to the Overseers from several prominent New York gentlemen asking for certain changes in the regulation that the president of Harvard University shall simply countersign the diplomas which are to be given by Radcliffe College. The spirit which leads men of such eminence, many of them not Harvard graduates, to take such an interest in this matter, is most significant and most encouraging for the cause of the higher education of women. No one will deny this. To the petition itself there will be no objection. It is pretty safe to say, however, that a majority of those who favor the new relation of Harvard and the Annex agree with the main point of the petition, the request that students of Radcliffe College shall have degrees direct from Harvard as our students do. The only difference is that the petitioners want this from the beginning while the others simply hope for it ultimately. This point of difference is the only thing we wish to discuss here.

Obviously only three courses were open to the Overseers in the matter of degrees. Either Radcliffe College had to confer degrees entirely independently of Harvard; or Harvard had to confer degrees to women on the same terms as to men; or a middle course such as was pursued was necessary. Now this middle course was a compromiseand the situation today is a compromise. Instead of pursuing either of the extreme courses a bridge has been put across between them. Right here, it seems to us, the petitioners have gone astray. They seem to look upon the new relations between Harvard and the Annex as an accomplished end rather than as a first step towards an end. They see something which is unsatisfactory and they reason that therefore it is wrong. Unless we are very much mistaken a majority of Harvard professors and some at least of the overseers also feel that it is unsatis factory, but,- and here is the important thing,- under existing circumstances an unsatisfactory thing is the only thing possible. This does not mean that Harvard will never give degrees direct to students of Radcliffe College; under existing conditions, the overseers simply do not care to take the complete responsibility of thus conferring degrees. The signature of the president and the seal of the University are rather in the nature of an endorsement than a first-hand of an endorsement than a first-hand certificate. As a step, then, this matter of degrees is, we think, satisfactory; as an end it is distinctly unsatisfactory. If the present is only a step, one of the next steps most logically is just what the petititioners ask for, namely, degrees to women direct from Harvard. The whole question seems to us one of time and we believe that time will bring about just what both parties wish. We do not prophesy, however, for no one knows what the overseers will do with the petition; we only state what seems reasonable to expect from existing circumstances.