We invite all members of the University to contribute to this column, but we are not responsible for the sentiments expressed. Every communication must be accompanied by the name of the writer.

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Before Christmas sometime you spoke in your columns of the abominable precautions against fire in the Yard buildings. Since then the Chicago theatre fire has occurred, and whoever manages the buildings should take warning from it. Almost everyone talks of the "criminal negligence" of the Iroquois Theatre management as of something to be taken for granted. But nobody seems to appreciate that the College authorities here show just as much criminal negil- gence. In each room on the upper stories of the Yard buildings--this is true at least of Matthews, I am not certain as to the others--there is one and only one rope fire escape, by which one person could probably descend in safety. It is so arranged that it cannot be used a second time without pulling the entire length of the rope through a device which grips it tightly (preventing the descent from being too rapid). This would take at least ten minutes after the seat of the escape has been thrown back up to the window. Meanwhile the remaining occupant of the room would probably be suffocated or burned. As the wooden stairs would be the first thing to burn in a fire in any building, it seems only reasonable to demand a fire-escape for every occupant of a room. Yet reasonable as this is, it is almost a certainty that the authorities will never satisfy the demand. They are opposed to innovations. It is more picturesque to be old fashioned. And what enjoyment should we have in life without the exciting feeling of how dangerous a fire would be? This same kind of negligence on the part of the Chicago theatre managers was "criminal;" on the part of the College building authorities it is "conservative."  UNDERGRADUATE