(The Crimson invites all men in the University to submit signed communications of timely interest. It assumes no responsibility, however, for sentiments expressed under this head and reserves the right to exclude any whose publication would be palpably inappropriate.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

There have appeared at various times in your columns editorials and communications regarding the personnel of the University. A few men have advocated an energetic effort on the part of the University to enroll men whose homes are in more distant parts of the United States. Such efforts are in my mind very essential to Harvard whose very foundations consist in developing an individual philosophy, self-reliance, and broad-mindedness in her students.

Statistics of the College show that each year over half of the total enrolment is made up of Massachusetts men and a very large percent of the men are from New England. Unless Harvard wishes to become a "local university" she must exert some effort to induce more Westerners and Southerners to come to her doors.

The advantages of contact with men from all parts of the country are innumerable. There is nothing so interesting, nor broadening as the so-called "mixing" with men of varied types and opinions; it is fully half of a man's education. There is no doubt that the comparatively few men who do come here from the West and South gain much by their association with New Englanders; but do the New Englanders with their predominant number gain all that they could if they had more classmates from distant parts? The same holds true of the relations between Southerners and Westerners at Harvard on account of the scarcity of both.

Princeton has already taken extensive precautions against becoming a "local university". Harvard should adopt similar measures. The diffusing of information among Western and Southern schools apropos to the requirements for admission and departments of the University; creating better facilities for men of those schools to take the entrance examinations; establishing regional scholarships;--all would tend to direct large numbers of men to Harvard which would benefit both the men and the University. No one will deny that the academic side of Harvard is the apotheosis of all educational institutions. Why, then, should the other equally important side of a college education be neglected? W. R. Foss '19.