PRESS

When Harvard announced recently the terms of the Nieman Fund fellowships for the use of practicing American journalists it was predicted in these columns that the majority of the applicants would seek to take courses in economics, government or related subjects. The news from Cambridge is that this prediction was justified. Of the 312 journalists, from forty-four states, who have expressed a desire to study at Harvard, ninety-eight select economics, ninety-six government and forty-three history. English comes next with thirty-six. We can remember--it was only a few years ago--when it seemed that every young man in journalism wanted to be a critic of the drama. But only three out of the list of applicants for Harvard list the drama as their principal interest. Most of the candidates say they want to go back to their papers after an enlightening year at Harvard, but that they hope to be able to write more intelligently of governmental and economic problems. They invariably admit that they are unable to cope with the complexities of modern government and economics. If only two or three of the ten or so men selected for a year at Harvard come out really able to do some high-powered coping with these problems then the experiment will have been highly successful. --The New York Herald-Tribune.