THE various clubs and societies which at present flourish at Harvard require for their support an amount of money which, in the aggregate, reaches a very considerable sum. Several of the societies have so large expenses that the proper management of their funds requires a considerable degree of financial experience. It has been the custom from time immemorial to appoint to the office of treasurer some student whose life has, until that moment, been divided between study and play, and whose time is generally pretty thoroughly occupied without his financial duties. The result of this arrangement is that, although no instance of dishonesty has ever come to our knowledge, the financial management of almost every society is constantly changing hands, is constantly confided to the care of inexperienced young men, and is very frequently found to be clumsy and unsatisfactory.

Although no one society is of sufficient magnitude to employ salaried officials, there seems to be no reason why several of them should not club together and establish a sort of bureau of management. At the present time there are plenty of experienced clerks and book-keepers out of employment, who would be only too glad to keep the books and manage the money matters of college societies. The Boat Club, the Base-Ball Club, the Foot-Ball Club, etc., might join together to employ a regular salaried clerk to manage their business, to send out and collect bills, to pay their debts, etc. The more private and social societies might do the same. A disagreeable and often ill-managed responsibility would be lifted off of the shoulders of our fellow-students, and the money matters of the clubs, being managed by men who could give to them their whole time, would probably be found to assume a much less troublesome form than they at present have.

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