Deacons Predict Truman's Defeat, U.S. Soviet Amity

The United States will not go to war with Russia, will roundly defeat Harry Truman in '48, and Harvard would definitely be improved by admission of Provost Buck's "healthy, extrovert kind of American youth"--according to the sentiments voiced by the members of Kirkland House in their annual poll conducted yesterday.

Optimism over peace prospects was high, as 66% of the Deacons predicted no conflict with the Soviet Union within the next 25 years. The President's stock hit bottom us 87% of the ballots saw Truman defeated for reelection.

The Provost's controversial statement concerning undergraduate balance received solid approval from 56% of the votes, while 39% disagreed and 8% just didn't know, or thought that Harvard men were "Nice just as they are."

On other questions, Kirkland House rejected any sort of military alliance with Great Britain 6-1, and, consistent with its optimism over world affairs, conceded the U.N. a slightly better-than-even chance of coping successfully with future international problems. On the national scene, labor and capital were deemed to have close to equal justification in the recent labor-management dispute, but the greatest percentage of votes indicated a "plague on both your houses" sentiment. 61% of the ballots gave ex-Governor Stassen of Minnesota the best chance among the available Republicans in 1948, with Governor Dewey of New York and John Bricker of Ohio far behind.

The 300 undergraduate members of the House demonstrated that little doubt exists over the future of tutorial in view of the recent limitations. 70% claimed that the curtailment meant a definite de-emphasis on tutorial while only 20% of the ballots gave any credence to the University's claim that the "retrenchment" would put the system on a "firmer footing."

While many of the voters scurried to their dictionaries, a majority of the House voted in strong favor of "pre-marital interdigitation." a small but determined minority came out in favor of the idea, but felt that "just a little" was permissable especially "when you're engaged." At the same time, a rumor emanating from the Press agents along Bow Street was supported when 58% of the House decided "that beautiful women do go to college." A minority felt that it was a "waste of talent."

It may be a sign of the times, but the poll illustrated a new tendency, when over half of the returns indicated that Harvard men preferred women over 30. While a few accelerated Freshmen expressed a preference for ladies under 15, the overwhelming verdict was in favor of the 15 year olds older sisters aunts, etc. In the same line, Vassar easily walked off with Girls' schools laurels, topping the perennial favorite, Wellesley, handily. Surprise entrants were Yale (3 votes) and Dunster House (7).

Professor Payson wild's contribution to classroom harmony, ("I think the exchange of opinion between men and women fruitful") was endorsed without reservation as 65% of the House decided that the exchange was fruitful, A smaller group felt that it was "not fruitful," and a third, introvert contingent said just plain "sour grapes."

The poll is to be incorporated into a section of the Kirkland House yearbook, the "Deacon's Testament," to be published at the close of the exam period