Midst the hodge-podge of football over-emphasis and larger stadiums, fraternity scandals and college life of the movie type, the report of the Harmon Foundation, made public yesterday, strikes a particularly encouraging note to the proponents of college as a place of study.

The purpose of the Foundation since its inception seven years ago has been to advance funds at the current investment rate to deserving but needy students. The sum of a half million dollars has already been awarded, with character as the sole collateral, and the results have been so gratifying that the administrators of the fund are well justified in stating that the practice has changed from pure philanthropy into a sound investment for banking institutions.

To the academic mind, there is more satisfaction to be found in the personal advantage accruing from the responsibility to the student than in the fact that he is now recognized as a potentially safe risk by investment houses. His early establishment of credit and operation of the loan on a sound business basis naturally creates a measure of self-reliance in the formative period of life which should be of immense value in later years. Gratitude should be expressed to the Harmon trustees as much for the practical economic experience gained by the recipients of the loans as for the opportunities the trust fund offers them.