GOOD AND EVIL

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

...You have correctly diagnosed the surface political struggle in Cambridge as a conflict between the Cambridge Civic Association and the old guard politicians of pre-reform days. It is also true that under ten years of CCA rule Cambridge city government has increased in honesty and efficiency. Much of the credit for the progress of Cambridge should be awarded to John B. Atkinson, who was city manager up to 1952.

In 1952, Edward Crane and Joseph DeGuglielmo '29, though formally loyal to CCA principles, joined the old guard politicians on the City Council to terminate Atkinson's decade of excellent government. Atkinson was replaced by John J. Curry, who ... was at that time considered to be more receptive to the views of Crane and DeGuglielmo than was his ...predecessor. It should be emphasized that the dismissal of Atkinson brought forth protests from men like W. Donnison Swan and the founder of the CCA, George L. McLaughlin...

The choice before the voters of Cambridge is not a choice between good and evil, as the CRIMSON has implied.... Rather, the choice must be made among individuals, since the CCA has lost its reforming zeal by its association with Crane and DeGuglielmo. David M. Goldberg '59