SCRUBWOMEN WILL RECEIVE 'BACK PAY'

The concluding chapter of the case of the Widener scrubwomen, which has had wide publicity since early last spring, will be written on Christmas Day, when a committee headed by Corliss Lamont '24 will give the women $3880 which they claim the University owes them for back pay.

The campaign to raise the money was started by Lamont and his associates in October, when a letter stating their case was received simultaneously by the CRIMSON and the Alumni Bulletin. That the fund was successfully procured was made known yesterday by Lamont, who said that "the money is merely so much back pay, and is not charity or a gift. The fact that it will be paid on Christmas is merely a coincidence." He added that many Harvard men "were glad to make right" what they deemed an injustice and a blot on Harvard's reputation.

Earlier in the year, on March 17, Lamont had denounced the action of the University authorities in the case in a open letter. In reply, H. L. Shattuck '01, treasurer of the University, issued a statement to the effect that the Widener scrubwomen had at all times been paid the full amount demanded by the Mimimum Wage Commission of Massachusetts, and that the various respites taken by the women from their work during the recess allowed by the University compensated for the fact that they received two cents an hour less in their pay envelope. The next month, Lamont, representing a group of 50 Harvard graduates announced that they would raise $5,000 to give to the scrubwomen. This plan failed, and the case was considered concluded until the latest step. The letter of the committee headed by Lamont, on October 24, explained the aim of the fund, "to repair the original injustice and to convince the general public that a more humane and generous temper characterizes Harvard than that which has been displayed by the present administration."