Forty Enroll In Defense League; Credo Urges Anglo-American Pact

Despite some confusion as to parliamentary procedure and heckling by the isolationist-minded, the Harvard Chapter of the American Student Defense League went into high gear last night with the announcement of its credo, the enrollment of members, and short talks by the heads of various committees.

In all forty students signed up in the organization, after a resolution to draw up an official list of members had been passed by popular vote.

Following the reading of the credo by Langdon P. Marvin, Jr. '41, the newly appointed president, Richard S. Hartwell '41, introduced a resolution favoring full defense of the western hemisphere and stating that the League opposed action outside the hemisphere at this time. It was overwhelmingly defeated by popular vote.

Chairmen Urge Cooperation

The chairmen of the Military Training Committee, the Committee on Correspondence, and the Forum Committee each made brief statements about the functions of their departments, urging members to cooperate in spreading student defense work.

Chief organizer of the Defense League has been Charles O. Porter 1L, who stated after the meeting last night his conviction that "the sooner we get into the war, the better it will be for America." His own motive in starting a Defense League at Harvard was to awaken undergraduates to the "main issue of the terrible Germans against the wonderful U. S. A."

1917 No Mistake

"I definitely do not feel that the last war was a mistake," Porter continued. "You can't fool a whole nation." Queried as to whether the entire German nation was being fooled at the present time, he replied that the "Germans are fundamentally different."

Porter emphasized that his own personal opinions were not necessarily those of the League, which he organized, but in which he holds no official position at the present time.

The credo adopted at the meeting stresses the importance of the Nazi menace and the necessity of proper defense against it, including a "working agreement with Great Britain."

The domestic policy planks advocate a program of progressive democracy, emphasizing that the growth of American institutions should be set above partisan politics, and condemning all persecution of minorities. The problem of morale is to "reconcils defense with reform, the possibility of war with the purpose of peace, and national unity with difference of opinion.