THE GREAT MERGER

There are possibilities of great good resulting from the recent merger of the Advocate and the Critic. At last, Harvard may have a magazine with more than a purely literary function. Constructive criticism, in a university acknowledged to be in a transitory stage, has a value that cannot be minimized, and if the decidedly worth while purposes of the Critic are actually incorporated into future issues of the Advocate, the "well-rounded" magazine that inspired the merger will become an actuality.

Moreover, there is scarcely room in an academic community, however large, for two magazines. The competition that is bound to result is mutually harmful. In addition, the talent and ability that are behind to result is mutually harmful. In addition, the talent and ability that are behind any periodical are wasted if the personnel must continually bear in mind the problem of "beating: its opponent in subscription. The temptation of introducing sensational articles for business considerations is over present.

Ideally, the now Advocate should contain a combination of undergraduate opinion regarding literature and the social sciences. The fact that English is still the most popular field of concentration guarantees ample treatment of the former topic. But the wider realm of government, political science, and international relations has been slighted in the past. World-wide conditions, however, are of constantly more pressing import to the student, and that it will now have a chance to express his views in a medium expressly provided for that purpose is proof that a much-needed opportunity has at last been provided.

The Critic and the Advocate were never ostensibly working at cross purposes. The former was created because it was felt that the latter was pursuing too limited a function. The merger will be justified if, and only if, critical material of a challenging nature is included in the Advocate, and the very fact of the merger is evidence that in the future the Advocate will appear in more generally digestible form. There is no reason why the enterprise that has in the past produced two periodicals should not result in a magazine that stimulates its renders, and offers them a wide variety of controversial material.