Communication.

We invite all members of the University to contribute to this column, but we are not responsible for the sentiments expressed. Every communication must be accompanied by the name of the writer.

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It seems almost too bad in the general eagerness to provide funds for the improvement of the University, the erecting of new buildings and the provisions for athletics at Harvard, that the really urgent necessity, for a new Gymnasium has never occurred to those individuals and classes who are giving so generously. No less important, during the winter months, is the Gymnasium in the life of the student than is Soldiers Field in the spring and autumn of the year.

The demands upon the Hemen way Gymnasium, built many years ago, have grown to such proportions that it seems to me not an unreasonable suggestion that intended benefactors remember that here is a need. Comparison of the quarters of Harvard men with the Gymnasium facilities at the humblest of colleges is anything but favorable.

Obviously Harvard has outgrown the meagre quarters of our Gymnasium. With two hundred or more students exercising in the building nearly every day, with a track team monopolizing the weights and endeavoring to turn the sharp corners of the indoor track, with a basketball team that requires the entire floor space for practice, with a gymnastic team and many other groups of men seeking exercise at the same time and in the same place, one may gain an idea of what it means at Harvard for many students at one time to undertake systematic exercise.

As to the inadequacy of the shower baths and the poor arrangement of the dressing quarters, everyone who has ever used the Gymnasium can bear witness.

Comparisons with the gymnasiums at Yale, Columbia and Princeton bring out more particularly Harvard's deficiency in providing for this highly important and over crowded department of athletics. Yale's gymnasium has not only perfect hygienic arrangements, but is roomy, light and perfectly equipped with serviceable apparatus. On its floor, there is room enough for two basketball courts. In our Gymnasium, we can hardly squeeze in one, and that is slightly under regulation size. Princeton has just completed a new gymnasium which is one of the largest in the country. The Columbia gymnasium is equipped with a ten lap indoor track and in the basement has scores of private shower baths. A swimming tank finished in marble is also in the basement. This tank is 100 feet in length and at its widest point is 50 feet. The floor is so made that from or steel nails, are done away with wooden pegs being used instead. Andover Academy has a larger gymnasium than our own. The time has come I belive, when Harvard herself should take in this matter a step consistent with her general progress. GRADUATE.