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To the Editors of the Crimson:

In looking through some of the old University catalogues recently, I discovered a fact that to me at least was of startling significance. The class which entered Harvard in 1890 contained 507 men, of whom 212 came from outside of Massachusetts, thus giving the outsiders a percentage of 41 8-10 of the whole class. In 1894 the entering class consisted of 567 members, with 270 from states other than Massachusetts. The percentage of outsiders in this case was 47 6-10. So far the statistics seemed satisfactory enough, showing as they did, a gain of nearly 6 per cent in the outside representation of the University. Going a little further, however, I discovered that of the 692 men who entered in the fall of 1899, only 321, or 46 3-10 per cent, came from without the state. Here was a decrease of 1 3-10 per cent in a period of five years, for which I was at first quite unable to account. On thinking the matter over more carefully, however, I came to the conclusion that it was due to two causes, possibly three; first, the constant efforts of other eastern colleges to obtain fuller support from the west and south; second, Harvard's conservative policy in this respect; and, of less importance, the comparatively short Christmas recess granted to Harvard undergraduates.

First of all, it seems a great pity that the western trip of the musical clubs had to be abandoned. Coming from the west myself, I can remember the mild sensation caused in more than one family circle by the posters announcing the approach of the "Harvard University Glee, Banjo and Mandolin Clubs." It is astonishing how little is known about Harvard in anything but a general way throughout the middle states. So it was that a single concert, heralded long be fore its arrival, did much to decide in the minds of many the important question of where to go. It seems a cheap way to advertise our University, to be sure, but better a little cheap advertising than the general apathy toward Harvard that discourages the most loyal of undergraduates from the west to day, and that is recognized so forcibly in the decrease of percentage shown above.

For the question at stake is by no means a trivial one. The central states are growing far more rapidly than the eastern in population, in wealth and in culture. Is Harvard to continue year by year to lose her grip on this most vital section of the country, and to become a provincial college with provincial short-comings? Without casting slurs upon Massachusetts, I am free to say that it is the West that Harvard should look for new material in each new class; and yet the West, with a vastly larger population than in 1894, has diminished representation by nearly 1 1-2 per cent!

Doubtless there were valid objections to the annual trip of the musical clubs, o it would not have been abandoned. Today it should by all means be permitted for the benefits which it would secure to the University would out weigh a hundred times the difficulties involved. Granted that it would necessitate a recess longer than is given at present, it is yet by no means sure that a longer holiday would not be advisable. Other colleges find it possible to grant a week more than Harvard, and in at least two cases they require fully as much work during the college year. A longer break before the midyear period would be very acceptable to all and beneficial to a large majority of under-graduates. A Christmas trip would be as popular now with the members of the musical clubs as it was in former times, and would do more than any one thing to restore them to the place in College which they formerly held. At risk of repetition it must again be urged that Harvard is in serious danger of being cut out by others where she should strain every nerve to keep a firm foothold; and I believe that the above suggestions would do much, if put into practice, toward helping to establish a stronger representation from the central and western states. A WESTERN UNDERGRADUATE.