The steady disappearance of coats and hats from the coal-rooms in the various Houses and at the Union, and the disappearance of belonging even from the students' rooms make it necessary that more efficient methods be used to prevent Harvard's annual epidemic of petty larceny.

Twenty-two coats have been stolen from one House along this year. Hardly a week passes in which bulletin boards at the Houses and in the Union do not bear notices requesting the return of lost coats and hats. The rooms of several students in one of the Houses were recently ransacked. These thefts are reported to Major Apted and his staff, but in spite of their efforts the disappearances continue.

In meeting this problem it is necessary to have more careful surveillance of all who enter the Houses. As for thefts from the rooms, these are primarily the result of students' leaving doors unlocked. Disappearance of coats from the Union should be lessened by more widespread use of the check-room facilities. Checking systems should be established in the Houses, perhaps with automatic checking-racks installed. These racks are similar to those in railway station restaurants, with the coat held between two bars; as the bars are clamped together a metal check is pushed out, which is inserted in the slot to remove the coat. The expense of these racks would be small compared to the annual loss from stolen coats.