Ten-Point Plan

Editor The Harvard Crimson

Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Sir:

In the Feb. 1st issue of the Youngstown Vindicator appears an article, quoting an unsigned letter from the mother of a Radcliffe girl, which was printed in The Harvard Crimson.

The letter was so obviously unfair and biased, that it answers itself, but for the sake of the boys I think that the other side should be told.

I am the mother of an eighteen year old BOY, and I am not afraid to sign my name, and I hope to hear from the nameless lady, if you will be so kind as to print this reply.

First--All eighteen year old youths are NOT like her unfortunate daughter's beau.

Second--If she had the right kind of daughter, she could attract a higher type of boy.

Third--If 'her daughter were as mature and intelligent as she expects boys of that age to be, she would be able to bring out something better than "simpering" in the boy.

Fourth--If she had a son instead of a daughter, she would feel differently, for then she would know the REAL boy--his mind, his heart and his body, and she would know that it is much too tender an age to face the rigors of the battlefield, and to improve thereby.

Fifth--Let the nameless lady visit the veterans hospitals, and see the results of such thinking as hers, and then write and let me know if she prefers one of these products of war as a beau for her precious daughter.

Sixth--If it takes the draft to make a man out of a boy, it follows that the draft would also make a woman out of her daughter, and women are being used, you know. What are her reactions to that, allowing for the fact that women are not being used in battle, yet?

Seventh--Every boy has a right to grow up, and the fathers and husbands she so admires were also at one time callow, simpering youths.

Eighth--Simpering is not a crime punishable by death, (which is the frequent result of drafting dear lady) any more than is wetting his pants at age three, or being too noisy to suit the neighbors at age twelve.

Ninth--It is impossible to make a good soldier out of a boy that age--and if we need soldiers at all, we need good ones, not just decoys, sandbags and targets.

Tenth--I would hate to see a boy of mine drafted at any age to fight and die for the lives and rights of people such as she.

And lastly, what does she do in her spare time? Guzzle chocolate sodas in a nice warm drugstore? She would probably be the first to squawk about higher taxes to rearm the Europeans, in order to save our own men, and probably the last to be caught rolling bandages, or writing letters to servicemen, or anything else, at least on the volunteer basis.

Here is one woman she DOES NOT speak for, and you can tell that to James B. CONANT) yours VERY sincerely,   Mrs. C. R. Hildebrand   727 Fairmount Ave. N.E.   Warren, Ohio

This letter, the fortieth we have received on the subject, arrived after our roundup of "Radcliffe Mother" letters was printed. It is typical of the whole lot, and, judging by information we have received from Washington, is an example of one type of opinion which is now prevalent in regard to the proposed Universal Military Service plan--Ed.