APRIL 6 TOO EARLY A DATE FOR FITTING WAR MEMORIAL

The third anniversary of the date when the United States entered the war, April 6, is suggested as a day to be observed by the University as a Memorial Day, for the men from the University who sacrificed their lives in the War, in an editorial in last week's Alumni Bulletin. It a curious fact, says the Alumni Bulletin, "that Harvard with its unsurpassed record of war service from 1914 onward, should have done so much less than its sister colleges and universities in the way of public recognition of its fighting sons.

"Now that peace has been with us for a year, the subject of a War Memorial seems to have been dropped altogether," the editorial continues. "The exercises Memorial Day and Commencement Day of 1919, when considered in the light of such an occasion, were totally inadequate to the demands." The rest of the article follows:

April 6 Suggested as Day.

"The third anniversary of the day on which the United States entered the war, April 6, 1917, is at hand. The spirit in which we joined the Allies is not forgotten, in spite of all the disillusions of the past year and more. It was the spirit which the youth of Harvard themselves carried into the war, the spirit in which many of them laid down their lives. If there is ever to be a Harvard commemoration of these men, can there be a better time for it than April 6, 1920? This will be but two days after Easter, the festival of hope following upon sacrifice. The Bulletin has no desire to keep harping on a single string, or to raise anything resembling a clamor for what should be an essentially spontaneous rendering of honor where honor is due. But the approach of a national anniversary marking a high point in our recent history, and of a religious festival overflowing with significant suggestions, leads us once more to speak of a matter which we believe will be found to lie near the hearts of many sons of Harvard."

In regard to this suggestion of the Alumni Bulletin, C. C. Lane '04, University Librarian, in charge of a Memorial for University men who sacrificed their lives in the war, said in an interview with a CRIMSON reporter, "It is too short a time to work up such a thing as a Memorial Day properly. Memorial Day in May is a far more appropriate occasion anyway. In order to carry such a suggestion to a satisfactory conclusion, we should have to plan for it months in advance in order to make it an occasion which would be a fitting Memorial."