The lack of training officers was so grave that in 1917 President Lowell reququested the French government to send some of its disabled officers to this country to help with the teaching of the "latest methods of warfare."

The R. O. T. C. had meanwhile expanded from an initial 884 to 1227 men, and engaged in extensive training. The high point of the year came when the soldiers constructed a series of trenches near Fresh Pond and participated in practice warfare. After taking the course here most of the members proceeded to a regular officers' training camp.

By 1918 practically every student in Harvard who was physically able was engaged in some form of military training. Both Government and College encouraged students to enroll in the Officers' Training Camps, but the waiting lists were so long that many undergraduates joined the regular forces.

Special final examinations had been held in April and May, 1917, when most of the student body left for active service or full-time training, and by May 1, 1918 the enrollment had dropped to about one-fifth of normal..

Attempt to Avoid Repitition

It is this concentration of colleges on military training rather than college work which Harvard is attempting to avoid in this crisis. It is aided by the set-up of the army, which is far advanced over the situation which faced the country in the last war.

Since 1920 a huge number of R. O. T. C. graduates have been turned out from colleges all over the country. These men have not had any real commands and have gone on active service only for two weeks during each summer. However, they provide a skeleton of officers to which the country could turn in an emergency such as the present. Most of these reserve officers have been called up for active duty to the enlarge army which the draft has created.

These Reserves, plus a large regular Army and a larger National Guard have obviated the need for large civilian officers training camps like Plattsburg in the last war