CRIMSON BEGINS TWO 1930 COMPETITIONS

A second chance will be afforded the class of 1930 to become members of the Crimson News and Photographic Boards in a preliminary meeting for all candidates in the President's office of the Crimson tonight at 7 o'clock. Both competitions will be of 11 weeks' duration. No previous experience is necessary.

"To his contemporaries the Crimson candidate is a puzzling psychological phenomenon," declared William I Nichols '26, president of the Crimson in 1925.

"At the start of a competition," said Nichols, "he knowingly and of his own free will sells his body and soul into bondage. From the first day, the shades of the prison house on 14 Plympton Street infold him, and for the remainder of his candidacy, he is seen no more by his roommates, save in the early morning hours, when he crashes out to record his midnight inspirations in the scoop book, and late at night when he staggers back with dishevelled half and ink stained fingers after the last sheet of copy has dropped into the insatiable basket. During the interviewing period, rumor has it, he spends his time dashing from University Hall, to Soldiers Field, to the H. A. A. in a frantic search for news; assailing famous statesmen in their bedrooms at the Somerset, and actors in their dressing rooms at the Opera House in quest of interviews; writing fervent letters to every acquaintance he and his parents boast; beseaching special articles on anything from birth control to the British Empire. So busy is he on these pursuits, that he foregoes haircuts, meals, movies, dances, girls, the Saturday Evening Post, and all the other prerequisites of a civilized and leisurely life.

"Yes despite all this he has the arrogance to tell his roommates that going out for the Crimson is fun; and afterwards, as an editor, the hypocrisy to urge them to do likewise. Surely the roommates agree, all Crimson candidates must be just a little bit insane.

"Perhaps they are. And perhaps that is why they enjoy themselves so intensely. Certainly there is a contagious thrill to newspaper work quite as keen on the Crimson as on any metropolitan. daily. One has the run of seeing events all meetings people at fret traid or, as Philip Gibbs has expressed it, of sitting in a front seat at the peep show of life.

And once the news has been secured then comes the equally exciting business of writing it up in such a manner as to catch the interest of the greatest number of readers. For interest is the keyword of newspaper work; for in striving to interest others, the candidate cannot help but be interested and interesting himself.

"It is not necessary, nor is it desirable, to exhort people to come out for the Crimson. Those with keen minds and adventurous hearts will be present on the opening night of a competition as a matter of course. And those who wish to pursue the even tenor of their ways had best remain discreetly away