210 Faculty Members Sign Names Upon Petition Keeping Federal Arts Projects

Two hundred and ten members of the Faculty, including 52 of professorial rank, have signed "A Petition of Amerial Arts Project," according to an announcement by Archibald MacLeish, Curator of the Nieman Collection.

Among the professors signing the petition are Arthur N. Holcombe '06, Howard Mumford Jones, Samuel E. Morison '08, Kenneth B. Murdock '14, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Dean James M. Landis, Clarence Haring '07, Samuel H. Cross '12, William Y. Elliott, David W. Prall, Abbot P. Usher '04, and William J. Crozier.

Declaring that "It is now apparent that opponents of the present relief policy of the government propose to center their attack on the Federal Arts Projects," it claims, "The Federal Arts Projects are the clearest and most characteristic expression of the policy of the government to give relief to the unemployed by giving work suitable to their experience and training."

The petition contends that the Art projects ought to be continued despite the charge that they involve very few people; the signers of the petition believe that the reason Congress might abolish the Art projects is because a relatively small number of people are interested in the actual work and because the work itself is not a pressing necessity.

Democratic Spirit Vital

The professors and instructors signing the plea claim that Congress would act against the democratic spirit if it did not continue the writers' and artists' work.

"The surest defense of democratic institutions is the conviction of the citizens that life in a democracy is preferable to life under any other form of government," the petition concludes.