GRADUATES HELP IN PLAN TO BUILD BETTER YOUTH CAMPS

Partially because of the work of several Harvard graduates, the United States may be introduced to a new kind of work-service camp, designed to overcome the inadequacy of the C.C.C.

Built on the principle that "the best training for democratic youth lies in the practice of democracy, fellowship, and hard work," the plan calls for the opening of a William James Camp in Sharon, Vermont, on the site of an abandoned C.C.C. camp. Named after the great American philosopher, the establishment would accommodate about 40 youths from all walks of life who would work on jobs selected by local citizens and supervised by local men.

All Kinds of Work

Work undertaken would include the rehabilitation of farms, repair of buildings, and installation of improvements. The camp would also provide a flexible labor supply of hands to help in chores whenever extra help was required on nearby farms. A work superintendant, elected by the men, would have general charge of the camp.

The William James Camp will exemplify the philosophy of the man after whom it is named, following his famous idea that the necessity in modern civilization is to provide young men with a "moral equivalent for war." This philosophical purpose is constantly kept before the group by Eugene Rosenstock-Heussy, professor of social philosophy at Dartmouth, who is directing the campaign, aided by the Harvard men and several Dartmouth graduates.

Originally only Dartmouth was participating in the program, but Harvard came into the picture in 1939, when three graduates who had come to the conclusion that the United States faced a dangerous social strain unless something drastic and constructive were done for the young people of the nation, were put in touch with Professor Rosen-stock-Hussy's project by a mutual Cambridge friend, Mrs. Henry Copley Greene.

They were Frank P. Davidson '39, founder and first president of the Harvard Guardian, Richard T. Davis '38, summa cum laude graduate in government, and Robert E. Lane '39, former president of the Student Union. Other graduates working with them are Philip Bugby '39, Enno R. Hobbing '40, and George W. Phillips '39.

Give Up Careers

All the men gave up careers or scholarships for hard farm work everyday from sun-up to sun-down, gaining another kind of education from that to which they have been accustomed, and collecting evidence that their plan for the salvation of youth would work.

Having gained the backing of Mrs. Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher, all of whom have done much to help the group, they submitted a petition to the government asking "for cooperation among rural communities, college men, and city youth." Paul V. McNutt, Commissioner of the Federal Securities Board, appointed a committee to consider the petition, one of whose members was Dean James M. Landis of the Law School. The plan was approved by by the Na-

tional Defense Council, and is now before the Department of Agriculture.

Although many of the residents of the farm community, to whom this activity would be an economic stimulant, suspect the group of Communist or Nazi leanings, their feelings were countered by Nathan Dodge, chairman of the local group backing the plan, who jokingly suggested that it would be better to have the boys together in one camp than free to roam as they would