COUNCIL ASKS STUDENTS NOT TO USE AUTOS

Striking closer to the personal affairs of students than ever before, the Student Council passed a resolution Wednesday night urging all men with cars to store them for the duration in view of the gas and tire shortages.

While no compulsion is contemplated and University Hall shows no signs of taking action, members of the Council hope that their step will provoke thought on the matter, and that individual owners will follow the recommendation, falling in line with the rest of a nation rapidly forgetting the days of easy automobile transportation.

Text of Resolution

The Council resolution read: "The Harvard Student Council feels that with the present desperate shortage of rubber, and of transportation facilities for gasoline, those Harvard students who are still keeping automobiles for recreation and amusement are directly detracting from the war effort, and strongly urges them to store these automobiles for the duration."

Although several colleges last year prohibited student ownership of cars after the first pinch of gas shortages, Harvard merely sent letters to students last fall pointing out that shortage and "urged" that cars be left at home.

Had Little Effect

As far as could be discovered in the course of last year, this request had little effect on the number of car owners, as Cambridge garage men reported no drop in customers. A survey by the 1946 Freshman Red Book showed that students who wanted to bring cars had brought them, and only a few had been obliged to stop running them because of war conditions.

By this summer, however, reports indicated that gas and tire shortages were narrowing the small car-owning group here, and the Council's recommendation will thus affect few men.