President Lowell was moved to write that "the students to have forgotten that gregarious animals and civilized feed together, and that meals have a social as well as nutritive value." Since the closing of Memorial Hall a year and a half before, more than 3000 animals were cramming down their food at self-service cafes and the president and officials of the University felt the situation needed a remedy.
A. H. Harlow distinguished himself with their place prize of $10 in the essay contest. His proposal was for a central dining hall in the shape of a St. Andrews cross, to be located at the corner of Holyoke and Mr. Auburn streets, Several weeks after the publication of his essay President Lowell announced that $100,000 had been allocated for the construction of such a central hall.
Though a majority of the Class may have felt themselves the unhappy victims of the traditional sophomore slump, Messrs. French, Putnam, and Robinson distinguished themselves under Horween's guidance. French made a number to touchdowns which were well received, and Putnam's signal calling was a key to the team's early season wins over Tufts and Dartmouth.
Undoubtedly the high point of the football dominated fall came with a headline on a fake CRIMSON to the effect that Princeton football coach Roper had died during the game with Harvard. This fraud issue greeted the 54,000 fans packed into the Stadium after the Tiger had convincingly beaten Harvard. The upshot of the affair was that Princeton formally, and with the wounded pride which comes with unprovoked criticism, severed athletic connections with Harvard.
Princeton Fracas
Thousands of loyal sons of Nassau and Cambridge treated the Lampoon-written article defaming Princeton as a case of juvenile humor, but not so the Princeton administration, which felt the issue was the culmination of a series of Harvard slurs on its good name. The incident led into a string of articles appearing in national magazines which dragged "dirty football" and Signet rings onto the gridiron for a public airing which did little good, and only intensified already heated feeling on the place of the football giant in undergraduate life.
On the same day that Princeton announced its severance, Old Gold publicized the winning slogan for its now, cooler cigarette: "Such Miles of Smiles This Morning." And an advertisement for a 1923 Lexington Special offered the snappy touring car for $175 down with the balance of $250 payable in 12 months.
A few weeks later the CRIMSON published its Memorial Issue to the late President Eliot, and two days after that President Lowell celebrated his 70th birthday. Vigorous and forthright, he published his report on athletics in the University with his belief that everyone in the College should participate to the maximum of his capacity. "Athletics for All" was the matte.
During the remainder of the fall and winter term, the sophomore class was busily assimilating itself with the upper three classes as Club elections came and went and a new roster of class officers took command: John Tudor as president, Forrester Andrew Clark as vice president, and James Lawrence as secretary-treasurer.
Despite the football fracas, the College was not always the focus of attention. For Dean Pound of the Law School announced that $1,250,000 was being put into enlarging Langdell Hall and that the School was engaged in a campaign for $5 million. Construction on two medical buildings was under way, a new chemical laboratory was going up, a baseball cage was being built, and Fogg Museum was nearly ready for occupancy, all this in addition to talk about a new indoor athletic building. Indeed, the year saw Harvard booming with American, and were it not for financial limitations, she might no