There was a time when "taxation without representation" was anathema to Americans by and large and to noisy Harvard undergraduates in particular. Americans got the representation and have seen paying taxes ever since. Harvard undergraduates did not get representation until the Student Council was formed thirty years ago; and they are already beginning to welsh.

In return for running their government, supporting their welfare center, fulfilling all their obligations to local charities, providing over forty deserving students with scholarships, and defraying all expenses incurred in the interests of the student body as a whole, undergraduates last year contributed only slightly more than one dollar per capita to the Student Council.

Present indications point to an even lower contribution this year with one third of the student body making no donation whatever. Poverty is not to blame for this apathy, for there is scarcely a single undergraduate who cannot afford at least a dollar. And even students who hold themselves aloof from college obligations should remember that they have a duty as citizens and that the Council's appeal is the only plea they will receive from the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other allied charities rendering such yeoman service in these troubled times.

It is to be hoped that undergraduates will reconsider their pledges in the light of the advantages derived from the Council: their hand in the running of Harvard, their opportunity to do good collectively.