A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE November 4, 1925.

To the President of the Harvard Crimson, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dear Sir;

Two things mortal man cannot escape. One is death and the other is being misquoted. The first happens but once, and I have been fortunate in not having the second happen often; but an extempore after-dinner speech at a private dinner is liable to filter out disfigured. Some of the things I am reported to have said at New Haven I did not say; others have been given a false emphasis; and the main point seems to have been missed altogether in the press.

The gist of my remarks was that interest in and respect for intellectual life were essential in the college in order that it retain its vitality, and prepare men for the graduate and professional schools and for citizenship; that such interest and respect are not in American colleges what they should be. I said that this is not due to the fact that youth is naturally self-indulgent or indolent; that in time of war college students would not volunteer for a regiment that would be comfortably and safely housed and exposed to no danger, but would strive to get into the regiment that was going to the front, amidst privation, wounds and death; that youth desired to sacrifice itself for something that was worth while, but that American colleges have by no means wholly succeeded in making their students feel that the intellectual life is worth while. I referred to a committee which in 1903 found respect for intellectual attainment at a very low ebb at Harvard; and added that the condition has since been much improved by the general examination and the system of tutors.

I do not recall that I said anything about athletics, although a college president can hardly say anything without being supposed to allude slyly to that subject. Of course I believe in athletics sports, as promoting health in body and soul; and, being human, should not be cast down by a larger share of victories.

In all these matters I think that most of the undergraduates in Harvard College at the present day agree with me.   Very truly yours,   A. LAWRENCE LOWELL

Cambridge, Massachusetts.