OUR MOST PRESSING NEED.

In a recent issue of the Alumni Bulletin there appears a communication that describes the workings of the Yale Alumni Fund and suggests that it offers a good model for crystallizing the interest of Harvard men for the building of a new library. As matters now stand, a student doing any kind of advanced work will find some of his material in Gore Hall, a little more in the basement of Appleton Chapel, and before completing his work, he has generally had occasion to resort to the basement of Perkins Hall or some other cellar that certainly offers no adequate facilities for research work or proper protection for books.

For this condition of affairs the plan suggested in the Alumni Bulletin offers a feasible remedy. The scheme is to form an association which shall be managed by directors appointed by the President of the University. Everyone who has been a student in any department will be invited to join by contributing to a fund, and any contribution, however small, and whether or not it is contributed annually, will be sufficient qualification for membership. After the Corporation has supplied the funds necessary for the immediate erection of a new library, the fund thus contributed by Alumni could be used to make up the loss of income to the Corporation from the sums expended on the new building, and also to contribute toward its maintenance. The peculiar advantage of this scheme is that if offers the chance to every Harvard man to assist in some degree toward the construction of a much needed library. That the plan is practicable has been shown by its success at Yale, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that its application at Harvard would provide at least sufficient reimbursement for the loss of income that the University might sustain by the granting of funds for the immediate construction of a new library.

The University is about enter on the establishment of the Commission on Western History, yet it cannot offer to house the material it received either safely or in a manner convenient to scholars. Should we not have a new library before we gather new material?