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:

In the fight for good government which is now opening in New York, the College Campaign Committee of the fusion forces ask for the assistance and support of your columns.

The number of college graduates now residing in New York is over 25000--enough to decide the issue in a close contest. Besides these, several thousand qualified voters are registered in the different universities and colleges as graduate or undergraduate students, yet it is an undoubted and regrettable fact, that a considerable proportion of the New York college graduates never exercise the suffrage, that most precious and least irksome of civic functions. To persuade these college-bred citizens to register and vote; to make plain to them the magnitude of the issue and the value of the individual; to supply them with all necessary information about the election law and the forms to be observed by voters: this is the first and foremost object of our committee.

Our second and scarcely less important aim is to secure and put to the most effective use a body of active workers. The friends of good government need stump speakers; they need workers under the district leaders; they need watchers for the polls. In all these branches of service the college graduates gave valuable help in the successful campaign of 1901. But they lacked the organization which should direct the energies of each into the most effective channel.

Our committee will be a medium of communication between the individual college graduate and the fusion leaders, in order that every man who is willing to work may be put in the place when he is most needed, and given a task for which he is qualified.

An appeal to the college element as such is tinged with no assumption of superiority or feeling of class distinction. We attack the colleges because the colleges through their existing organization and the affection of their alumni offer a definite basis for attack; because, also, we believe that the college man is especially qualified to form an opinion and especially bound to exert an influence in the impending struggle. The coming election will squarely test the capacity of the people of New York to appreciate the benefits of a clean, efficient and disinterested administration. The blessings of good government are felt indeed by the poorest and most ignorant of the population; but to many they may be obscured by the mist of some private grievance, or by the misleading appeals of politicans to party loyalty. It is the educated man who can best estimate the good which has resulted from two years of patient unremitting toil in the behalf of the city, under circumstances of almost insuperable difficulty. It is he who can fully measure the wisdom of continuity in the city's policy, and the folly of surrendering our hard won gains to a horde of greedy spoils-men. It is he who through his share of the larger life can impress his convictions on his less fortunate fellow citizens and make plain to them the path of duty.--As educated and thoughtful citizens we appeal to the men of Harvard University to give their support to the cause of honesty and efficiency. In a crisis like the present, a citizen's first duty is to read and judge; his second, to act upon his convictions. In order that Harvard men may understand the issues now presented to the people of New York, this committee will send to the CRIMSON one hundred copies of the Citizens Union Campaign Book, in which is given an account of the work accomplished by the present administration.

In order to facilitate registering and voting, the committee will ask the CRIMSON to post in their office or at the Union, for the use of students, the names and boundaries of all the election districts of the Greater New York, and the places for registration and polling in each district. The days for registration are Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10, and Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, between the hours of 7 a. m. and 10 p. m. Every student over 21, who is a regular resident of New York may register and vote, in spite of his present college residence. The Secretary of our committee, Mr. M. H. Birckhead '03, 18 East 16th street, will be glad to give every information with regard to the boundaries of election districts and the addresses of the registration and voting places within them. He will also be glad to give any further information in his power. Very truly yours,   W. A. M. BURDEN.   W. BAYARD CUTTING.