A TRIBUTE

The CRIMSON offers its Charles William Eliot Memorial Issue, which appears today, as its tribute to the memory of the great man who guided the destinies of Harvard University for 40 years. Although it can in no way be regarded as the expression of the undergraduate body as a whole, it does express the point of view of undergraduates. We who are in Harvard today are enjoying the full fruits of this man's labor for the future Harvard. The CRIMSON therefore has considered it to be eminently fitting to show its appreciation in this positive though necessarily limited manner.

The question is sometimes asked, why do men instinctively pay tribute, dedicate memorials, seek in a hundred different ways to perpetuate the memory of those who have lived inspiring lives or died inspiring deaths. What purpose does it serve, for instance, aside from common courtesy and gratitude, to erect the Lincoln Memorial Building or the fountains, obelisks and group figures in every town to the fallen soldiers in the world war. Certainly these material tributes are too often architectural monstrosities.

The answer to this question is to be found in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and a hundred other memorial speeches. It stands out so clearly that it is overlooked while exploring in obscure corners. At intervals men need rededication to the better; finer, more courageous elements in life and long experience has shown that formal, public expression of tribute to men who have stood outstandingly for these things is a psychologically sound means to that end. Those of us who have, in the preparation of this memorial issue, studied Eliot's life and work, and thus indirectly gained contact with them, have been more than repaid by the inspiration they offer. In a much greater and more adequate way than the CRIMSON'S necessarily limited effort, a memorial service in which all Harvard can participate will fulfill the same double purpose, expression of gratitude for the past efforts of this man in our behalf and inspiration for the future.