E for Effort

President Conant's approach to "Undergraduate Problems in a Time of War" has again proven how complete is his grasp of the University's relationship to the war effort. As a comprehensive survey of the possibilities for student service, his speech will be of aid to all those who have not yet found their battle stations, while his opinions on undergraduate responsibility in the coming offensive have a proven worth which should weigh heavily in each man's final decision. Much has happened since that unfortunate masquerade portraying President Conant as marching the student body off to the wars at the point of a bayonet. Each attack and defeat in the intervening year has shown how far-sighted our President was then, and how unjust were the charges leveled against him.

Last night's words were as wise as the records promised, and it is scarcely to Harvard's credit that but ten per cent of the student body thought it worthwhile to attend. Whether as Harvard's President, as an expert on the war effort, or as a private individual whose wide experience qualifies him as an adviser for all, President Conant deserved a hearing. At no time could a college president have spoken on a more vital issue, only at Harvard could he have spoke to so few. Though realizing that war has bridged the Atlantic and Pacific, students still believe they are at peace within the sheltering walls of the Yard. But today a liberal education must include the facts of war. Keeping informed is a part of war-time responsibility, and the student who waits complacently for his number to be called is a shirker in a total war. Last night's performance places the majority of Harvard men among the ranks of those who persist in business as usual.