ANOTHER "CRYING NEED"

Though there are some who might wish that the growth and development, indeed the mere maintainance, of American universities did not depend so much on a highly refined and generally accepted form of begging, no fault is to be found with those who carry on this occupation for worthy ends. One may be annoyed, just as perhaps one is by the Salvation Army canvas on the Larz Anderson Bridge, but the worthiness of the cause would seem to be sufficient justification of the means employed in furthering it.

Harvard's canvas, never really idle, any more than is the canvas of any privately owned educational institution, today is spread for the cause of better indoor athletic facilities. That this cause is among the worthiest no visitor to Hemenway will deny. And even an athletic agnostic will be tempted to dig into his pockets if he has ever attempted to take a swim in the so called Big Tree.

Two gentlemen, both preferring anonymity, have so far responded to Mr. Bingham's appeal for funds with which to build a new gymnasium, complete with swimming pool. One of these has made his very generous gift conditional upon the raising of the complete amount needed; the other has contributed his no less generous if smaller donation in cash. The two combined give the drive for funds a sound start and further progress will no doubt be made at an accelerated speed as the goal is approached.

With the plans for the new building, no fault is to be found. Its location, with Harvard's definite movement towards the Charles, is ideal. Theodore Roosevelt's home during his formative years and the domicile of the Speakers Club, it is true will have to go, but such up-rootings must be expected, and, artistically speaking, the loss of these and other frame houses in the neighborhood of the Freshman dormitories is scarcely to be regretted. In design, the new gymnasium proves once more the adaptibility of Colonial architecture. Though highly utilitarian in purpose, the outside of the building will scarcely afford cartoonists the chance for another "See God for a Nickle" drawing.

In the equipment of the building, still only in its tentative stage, one notices a definite shift in the theory of exercise. Hemenway offers a classic example of an athletic workshop. Dumbells, pulleys, and other machines of torture abound; exercise, "work", abounds. In the proposed building, the emphasis will have moved with the times. Work will yield to fun and recreation, exercise to competition. If Harvard men of the future lose their Hemenway acquired, Strongfertian muscular development, they may at least hope to replace it by better all-round condition and a sense of humor.