To the Editor of the Crimson:

I hope the writer of your editorial of today, May 6, headed "And Leave The World to Silence" is expressing a private "peeve" and not the consensus of opinion of your editorial board or the students in general. In this editorial exception is taken to the carrying on of redecoration and other work during term time.

Not a few of us, privileged to enjoy annual salaries or monthly remittances from the family, sometimes forget that the man who earns his living by his trade and the sweat of his body as a rule is paid only when he works, and he gets almost as hungry during December and January as he does in July and August. So do his wife and children.

At my direction, the Maintenance Department has commenced during the current year and expects to continue in the future a vigorous effort to so arrange its work that practically continuous employment may be given to its men throughout the year to the end that they depend on a pay check every week, winter as well as summer.

In order to do this it is necessary to execute work in dormitories, class rooms and elsewhere during term time. To date, I am happy to say that we have obtained the consent of sufficient men in Winthrop House and elsewhere to redecorate while they are in residence, to keep some eighteen men busy during the winter and spring who would probably otherwise have been unemployed. Next year we expect to considerably better this record.

The redecoration of premises during occupancy is, of course, a commonplace in business houses and apartment houses and not infrequently in residences. When you sign a lease for an apartment or house, you will generally find that one of the clauses gives the owner the right to enter the premises at any reasonable hour to make repairs, etc.

The man who earns his living after leaving college will have to concentrate under many more unfavorable circumstances than a painting job which, with normal expectancy, would not occur in his room more than once during four year's residence at the University.

In view of the deep interest in Social Sciences on the part of the Student Body to which you have frequently referred in editorials and in news columns, I hope that our efforts to eradicate seasonal peaks and valleys of employment will meet with the approval and cooperation of all dormitory residents. Sincerely yours.   Aldrich Durant,   Business Manager

(It was officially stated last night that no room will be painted unless the occupant give his consent for such painting, and that this has always been the policy of the Maintenance Department Editor.)