CONTEST!

For weeks now commentators of every political stripe have been waxing philosophical about the lessons of Watergate. After Nixon threw in the towel last Thursday, pundits and professional politicians all agreed that the resignation was the ultimate proof of one lesson more than any other: The System Works.

But there has got to be something wrong here. The system, after all, didn't keep Nixon from illegally bombing the hell out of Cambodia for 14 weeks, and it appears that the only punishment Nixon's going to get for his criminal behavior in Watergate is over $100,000 in retirement benefits.

The pundits have obviously failed to correctly gauge the real lessons of Watergate. So in the interests of truth and the American way, The Crimson has decided to sponsor a contest to find out what those lessons were. One obvious lesson that the commentators have ignored is that if you're going to do something crooked, don't announce it to a tape recorder. Readers are invited to draw their own morals and to submit them at 14 Plympton St. by Sunday noon. The best entries will be published in next Tuesday's paper. No prizes will be given, because no one wins nowadays.