Longer Recess Favored.

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The Christmas holidays this year extend from December 23 to January 2, inclusive, or from a Wednesday to the following Monday a week. This means that the undergraduates will be compelled to attend classes the Monday and Tuesday preceeding Christmas Eve. You seem to feel that this is not a hardship since we are not compelled to return until January 4.

Our vacation as it now stands includes twelve days. Yale has two weeks and a half, Princeton three weeks. Last year we enjoyed sixteen days. The difference of four days means much to the man who incurs the expense of travelling to his home in the South or the West, and who does not have the opportunity of visiting his family but once a term. Harvard is proud of the fact that it draws its students, to a large degree, from sections distant from New England, and hence Harvard should ever bear their interests in mind. I understand that this is one of the reasons for the lengthened vacations of other large eastern institutions.

If the authorities would dismiss the Students on Saturday, December 19, they would not be extending the vacation over that of last year. The one day more before Christmas this year would be offset by the one day less after New Year. The authorities saw fit last year to break the tradition of approximately a ten-day vacation, why can they not do the same this year? Why, again, should there be a vacation of traditional length? I am voicing the sentiment of many conscientious students who would greatly appreciate the efforts of the CRIMSON in this direction. A SENIOR.