UNDERGRADUATE EXPRESSION.

The slovenly use of English by college men in this country has long been a ground for unfavorable comparison of American with English universities. It has also been a cause of general complaint against college men. The person who has not a university training almost invariably judges the man who has by his ability to express himself, orally and in writing. It is surprising to many business men how few recent college graduates can write even clear and cogent business letters. The work of Mr. Hersey in the Business School has shown that even men who have added to their undergraduate work two years of professional training,--who may, if they wish, write "A.B., M.B.A." after their names,--are in danger of not being able to write good business style.

The new committee which has in charge the bettering of undergraduate English has, therefore, a large task before it. To require students who are deficient in their literary expression to take an extra course in English is a doubtful remedy. English A should give a man the requisite fundamental knowledge which a further, uninteresting, dry course would not augment. The objection to English is not in the English courses but in other curriculum departments. The remedy is not in forcing more English down the throats of delinquents, but in making them utilize what they have. Assuming that students who have passed English A have the knowledge necessary to write clearly, it is the desire and necessity of using this knowledge which must be encouraged, and not the acquisition of more knowledge. In this regard, it is true, the threat of an additional course may be enough.