The situation in Memorial Hall at present is peculiar. The hall is divided into two sections, of which one has more than two-thirds of the seating capacity, and the other less than one-third; and yet in this smaller section five hundred and ninety-seven students must eat their meals, while the larger section accommodates but five hundred and twenty. That is, materially less than one-half the students in Memorial occupy more than two-thirds of the hall. The smaller section is daily over-crowded; the larger section is never completely occupied. Frequently a score or so of students-and occasionally even more-are standing in wait for seats at the same moment when, across a purely imaginary line, there are more than a hundred vacant chairs.

It is generally agreed that the number at the general tables is too large for comfort, and that reform is needed, but exactly what reform is not clear. One plan of reform is that the number at the general tables should be reduced next year so that there would be only two men to a seat, and that the club tables should be kept precisely as they now are. This would make the hall accommodate about one hundred and forty men less; but it is considered much preferable to any inroad upon the social side of the life in the hall. The other plan is that general tables should be abolished, but, all tables being given to clubs, that each club should have a number of men in excess of the table's seating capacity. By this the hall could accommodate as many, and possibly more, than it does at present. Many other plans are of course in the air; but the consideration of these two will yield most result.

We believe that both are partially right. It would be lamentable if, in the eagerness to accommodate a great many students, a step was taken which resulted in accommodating nobody; if Memorial was turned into a restaurant, where each man ate his meal, and felt morally bound immediately to give his place to the next man. Memorial has been very much more to students than an eating-house, and to such a condition it must not be reduced. On the other hand, the Hall was meant to accommodate Harvard students,- not the particular ones who happen to be in possession of club tables now, but all students without distinction. Moreover, the price and quality of board is such that a majority of students resident in Cambridge wish to be in the Hall. Certainly as many students as possible ought to be accommodated, and, what is more, if the price is to be uniform, the accommodations ought to be as nearly equal as possible.

We believe that any reform ought to take into account both these truths,- that accommodations ought to be given to the greatest practicable number, but that accommodations should include not only the possibility of eating food, but also the privilege of eating it with friends and without hurry. We believe that, in the case of the present problem, a compromise between the two plans mentioned would bring about the desired result. The general tables might well be continued with the proposed reduction in the number of students there, but, instead of reducing the total number in the hall, the number at each club table could be raised from fourteen to eighteen. This increase at the club tables would almost exactly balance the decrease at the general tables. Some club tables already have two extra men, and suffer no inconvenience; that four extra men would destroy, or even seriously impair, the pleasant social relations now existing in the hall seems highly improbable. Certainly, even if there was a small inconvenience occasionally, it would be more than counterbalanced by the larger number of men admitted to the hall. It is a clear case of the greatest good to the greatest number.