SUFFOCATION AND ITS REMEDY

In the report in yesterday's paper of the meeting Tuesday evening to hear Governor Cox, the crowd is described as "one of the largest that ever packed the Union." The expression is well chosen. Perhaps the amount of "packing" to which we will submit is a gauge of our enthusiasm; but it is certain that whenever a mass meeting of any general interest is held, we go to the Union and get "packed." The football and various other mass meetings of last year were an example of this.

The question is, why should it be necessary for those who wish to show their loyalty to the University, or to hear some prominent speaker, to be partially suffocated whenever they do so? This condition certainly does not aid athletic meetings; for how can one cheer when he is having difficulty in breathing; and who is going to be ready to repeat the experience? A stranger, watching the hopeless overcrowding at the Union Tuesday evening would certainly ask. "Why don't they hold such meetings in a hall of adequate size?" And those familiar with Harvard would have to answer, "We have no hall of adequate size, or even any approaching adequate size; in fact, the Union is the best accommodation we have for this sort of thing!"

Since the war, there has been a great deal of discussion as to the most fitting memorial for the Harvard dead. One of the suggestions has been for an auditorium which will serve for those functions which a large part of the University would attend. Prominent speakers, mass meetings, commencement exercises (which have long outgrown Sanders Theatre), concerts, Dramatic Club plays, and things of like character would then have adequate housing, and consequently become more popular. By all means, let us adopt this suggestion, which would combine a splendid memorial with the fulfillment of a great need.