Rebttal on NSA

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The only fair way to evaluate the success of a project like the Purchase Card is in terms of the aims and the plans of the group behind it. The primary job of the NSA Purchase Card committee at Harvard this year was, in conjunction with the other NSA colleges in the Boston Area, to put into operation a working Purchase Card System. Harvard's committee was selected to head this operation. If we take a look at the results of the first few months of the PCS in Boston we can see that a successful, working system has been set up: there have been about 2500 Purchase Cards sold in Boston: the nucleus of stores participating has grown from 26 to 42 since March. In short, the main goal of the NSA Purchase Card Committee has been well fulfilled: we have bridged the gap between an idea on paper and an actual system in operation. The job, of course, is not perfect in every aspect, but it provides a firm foundation on which next year's committees can build a bigger and better system, and of course increase the sale of cards.

The crux of the editorial criticism was on the low sales record at Harvard, although here too the picture is not nearly as black as portrayed. In the first place we could sell cards only to members of the College, thus making the maximum possible sale 5000, not 12,000 as was claimed. However we set a realistic quota of 1000 cards to be sold, and we sold 550 cards. We will be the first to admit that this is low, bat if considered in its true context as a part of the whole, which was quite successful, and not as the whole, which was quite successful, and not as the whole PCS itself, then it certainly does not constitute ground for labelling the whole year's work of the committee as a "failure."

The editorial claims that the reason for the lack of sales at Harvard was due to native publicity and advertising. We will agree that our advertising and publicity were somewhat weak due to the fact that our small committee had overextended itself and was handling far too much work: but we felt that some editorial support of this "fine idea" in the CRIMSON, which we did not have, would have gone a long way to help sell more cards.

In short, we certainly admit that advertising and publicity and even contracting could have been hauled more smoothly; however, to overlook the great progress that a small overworked committee has accomplished, and by exaggerating the results of one aspect, to call the whole year's work a failure, as the heading of the editorial does, is not only untrue, but also unfair. Donald L. Bornstein '50   Chairman, Harvard NSA P.C. Committee   Chairman, Boston Area P.C.S.