To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

In your editorial "Chicago's Plight" you state that Chicago is "literally broke" as a result of Thompson's extravagant administration. Boston's per capita debt is several times that of Chicago; and the bonds of the city of Chicago are said to be selling six points higher in the open market than Victory bonds. If Chicago is bankrupt, where does Boston get off? and what has his the United States of America?

You speak of the "well-known bolshevic tendencies of the Dakotas," referring doubtless to the farmer's government of North Dakota. All of the important measures recently passed by that government are modelled wholly or in part on similar measures which have proved successful in (e.g.) New Zealand, Denmark, England and the United States. Therefore either the world is going "bolshevic" or the CRIMSON is merely swearing in Russian.

When all is said, however, your editorial has real merit and originality. It redefines (and respells) the much-abused "bolshevic": we now know that he is one who attacks organized business in any form. We therefore conclude that Theodore Roosevelt was a "bolshevic" with out knowing it. HORACE B. DAVIS '21.

October 1, 1920.

(The "literally broke" to which our correspondent refers was based on the fact that Chicago's supply of quick assets and cash is so depleted that; she has resorted to paying municipal employees in scrip. "Per capita debt" seems to mean nothing without taking into account the resources per capita. We do not know who is the authority for Mr. Davis's statement that chicago municipal bonds are selling six points higher than Victory Bonds. The latter closed last week at 96, 06, while inquiry from three of the largest municipal bond houses in Boston shows that four per cent bonds of the city of Chicago maturing round 1935, and so comparable to victory Bonds, are selling at present on a 5.25 or 5.30 basis; that is, they are quoted at approximately 87.50, or more than eight points lower than the Government securities--Ed.)