Creeping inflation now threatens to destroy perhaps the most cherished traditions of the Square. With its twenty-five cent minimum charge, Hayes-Bick has in effect dried the well-springs of the Cambridge Beat. Gone are the days of heartfelt gemutlichkeit over a cup of coffee, lasting sometimes 'til gray dawn. This action imperils also that welcome respite from the bombast of the lecture hall; even the non-bohemian, more conventional student will have to consider seriously the financial strain of the between-class coffee break. Waldorf's in its wishy-washy way, has compromised. It has adopted a minimum charge, which begins only after 9 p.m.

Albiani's alone remains untouched. Even before the walls of Waldorf's sprouted abstract, wrough-iron nudes, and the quaint ugliness of the Bick underwent renovation, this cafeteria could afford the most modern facade on the square. Hayes-Bick and Waldorf's have unjustly overburdened the Cambridge consumer. If Albiani's, with its admirable ratio of empty tables to people manages without a minimum, so can the other cafeterias.