FIFTY YEARS ON

In cutting another netch on the door after fifty years of activity, the CRIMSON, like its three-years junior, the Lampoon, can claim the distinction of looking down on Life itself. But like most semi-centarians, the CRIMSON finds little time to sit back and wonder whether or not its existence has been futile; there is too much to be done. An anniversary is an occasion to be remembered, not a rite to be religiously carried our in the spirit of the past.

To be sure, the air is just as bad in Sever 2 and Harvard 6 as it was fifty years ago, probably worse in the accumulation of years, and the Widener Library is used as much as its predecessor for "conversation or animated discussion." The Public-Spirited Senior, whose generous purchase of a dozen pairs of English sparrows for the Yard was noted half a century ago, has had ample time to watch the progress of his little colony until it is no uncommon sight to see two of these unusual birds at the same time in Sever Quadrangle alone.

If the CRIMSON ever had any false ideas about the success of its editorial powers, they were rudely shaken out by that famous lampoon of the CRIMSON,-the CRIMSON of the Lampoon,-in 1901, when the present Ambassador to Italy and his associates made merry at the CRIMSON'S expense and amputated any editorial vanities with such masterpieces as:

"The recent attempt to blow up Memorial Hall is a revulsion against the better felling at Harvard. Attempts like this and the blowing up of the old pump are not the kinds of thing that appeals to the average Harvard man."

But the growth of the CRIMSON in fifty years has gone side by side with that of Harvard. It has seen the elective system develop from the curriculum of an overgrown academy to that of a college. It has seen the college become a University. Finally, in watching the transition from college to University, It has seen the gradual appearance of undergraduate tolerance, the growth of interest in and cooperation with other universities. When fully realized, this free interplay of ideas is the one firm foundation on which to rest any "League of Youth."