Harvard's recent decision to sever football relations with Dartmouth,

thereby discontinuing the game which, next to that with Yale, has aroused the greatest popular interest in eastern New England, will be a source of regret to most lovers of good sport. The annual meeting of the great university and the great college has seemed a peculiarly fitting thing. For years it has been characterized by the best of cordial feeling and by an unusually high grade of clean, vigorous play. Last fall, to be sure, some malicious murmurings arose in obscure quarters, were repeated and augmented by tlie press, and threatened to do considerable harm, until they were silenced by the quiet dignity of the one institution and the frank honesty of the other. That-there was in the situation then created any discoverable ground for breaking relations between Harvard and Dartmouth, THE MAGAZINE at that time refused to admit.

Nevertheless, the break has come; for other grounds have presented themselves. Harvard feels that the meeting with Dartmouth is too severe a strain within a week of the Yale encounter. Such being the case, Dartmouth is dropped. It is certainly for Harvard to determine what is for the best interest of her athletics: criticism by Dartmouth of the conclusions reached, would be little short of impertinence. Yet, in view of the events of the past autumn, it might, perhaps, well be wished, for the sake of Harvard's reputation no less than for that of Dartmouth, that the break had come a year hence rather than now. The delay would have given the lie to various ugly rumors, however unfounded. And, in the eyes of some, Harvard's crown of unsullied sportsmanship would shine . brighter, had the turning away from an old friend been either less abrupt, or more scrupulously timed to protect Dartmouth against embarrassment in arranging the coming season's schedule. With her reputation what it is, however, Harvard can scarcely be blamed for giving small weight to rather over-delicate considerations such as these.

What is really most regrettable in the whole case lies outside the domain of athletics. Some two years since, in commenting upon the general relations existing between Harvard and Dartmouth, THE MAGAZINE endeavored to make clear that such relations were rather those of neighborly good fellowship than of natural rivalry; and that the football .game, almost invariably won by the larger institution, was less a trial of combat than a field of the cloth of gold,—a great public demonstration of good will, at other times manifested more quietly, but no less genuinely. The quiet manifestations have come from Dartmouth in the long line of young alumni headed, almost as a matter of course, for the graduate schools of Harvard; and in the warm welcome that Harvard men. have found on the Dartmouth faculty. Today some seventy-three Dartmouth men are enrolled in the various schools at Cambridge; and there are more men from Harvard on the Dartmouth faculty than from any other outside institution.

With no university ambitions of her own, Dartmouth seems destined, in time, to become the greatest independent source of university supply. Hitherto, the supply has followed the path of friendship which Harvard has kept open by means of a generous athletic policy. But now, with the track meet eliminated, and the football game a thing of the past, there remain only baseball and memories to keep the affiliation clear. Of course, as Harvard has suggested, relations may shortly be renewed and matters continue pleasantly as of old. If not, Dartmouth will, no doubt, gradually form new friendships and establish new affiliations. There will be but one cause for permanent regret: that the exigencies of athletic policy should have been allowed to interfere with an arrangement of mutual academic benefit.

Blank forms of nomination papers for the filing of nominations for the Alumni Council have been sent to alumni associations throughout the country. They are returnable to the Secretary of the Alumni Association on or before February 1.

It will be remembered that, according to the recently adopted constitution, the Alumni Council is to consist of twenty-five members four of whom are ex-officio. The remaining twenty-one are to be chosen according to a geographical scheme of distribution. According to this scheme the New England states will contribute three members; the Middle Atlantic States, together with those south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, three; Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, three; the states west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains, three; the Rocky Mountain and Pacific states, three; while three are to be elected by the Dartmouth Secretaries' Association, and three more by the Council itself.

The constitution, dealing with these matters, in full, appears in THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE for April, 1912. The plan as outlined has attracted a good deal of attention among the alumni of other colleges and has prompted considerable inquiry. In so far as careful pre-vision can make it so, the new Council should be a success. The element of doubt lies only in the interest which the alumni exhibit: first, in the matter of filing nominations of carefully selected candidates; second, in serving, where called upon, as members of the Council.

Alumni organization, and yet more alumni organization, seems an important part of the development of every American college. Vassar is now agitating the question of an alumni council. In the middle west an association of associations is being formed. There is, of course, the possibility of overdoing the thing, and of encouraging much amiable and time-consuming speech-makihg that produces no more tangible result than that of boredom for the majority. In the case of Dartmouth, however, the geographical isolation of the College, and the wide distribution of the alumni demand the maintenance of every possible avenue of understanding between the Alma Mater and her sons. Once under way, the influence and the prestige of the Council, to say nothing of its value, are not likely to be questioned.

While the constitution calls for thefiling of nomination papers on or before February 1, the Alumni Secretarywill this year rule that papers from distant associations, if dated February 1,shall be considered as meeting the provisions of the constitution, even if theirreceipt by the Secretary is somewhat delayed.

March 14 and 15 have been set apart for the annual meeting.of the Secretaries Association in Hanover. In past years the meeting was held in February; but, after a few far-traveling ones had been snowbound 011 their way, it was found better to postpone the gathering from the season of snow to that of slush. The change has worked well. The attendance has been good and the sessions invariably animated.

This year it is hoped to make the occasion more than usually significant, by bringing to Hanover the secretary or other representative from every class and every association. It is, perhaps, too much to expect men to come from the far west, braving the winds of March in so doing; but it would be decidedly advantageous to have a liberal number from beyond the confines of New England and New York. There are times when the brethren of the Mississippi Valley, the Great Divide, and beyond, have important matters in mind and weighty suggestions to impart. Barring the season, they could find no better opportunity than that afforded by the annual meeting of the secretaries.

The statement is particularly true this year, in view of the fact that the Association is to elect three members at large for the Alumni Council. Changes in the constitution of the Council based on experience thus far gained, may well be presented. Above all, in the midst of the discussion of organized effort for the upbuilding of Dartmouth, will arise the topic of what may well be called the "new. responsibility": that is, the responsibility of the individual alumnus. The vitality of the associations as units, and the classes as bodies depends upon each member's realization of the fact that he is, in his way, as important a factor in the general work as is the whole, "group; or, at any rate, that the usefulness of the group is in large measure dependent upon his personal effort. Organization in no wise relieves any man of his duty toward the College; if anything, it intensifies it. The gain which organization brings is not that of increased ease but of increased efficiency. How to give this idea its proper emphasis constitutes a question worthy of consideration.

Just at present a snow famine stares the Dartmouth undergraduate in the face. No fair white mantle, as of yore, covers the dry bones of winter. Everywhere they protrude, the more conspicuous for occasional ragged patches of ice. The Outing Club has laid aside its vaunted skiis and snowshoes. and, when it takes a tramp, goes hob-nailed, crunching the spear-like heads of frozen grass; or, mayhap, floundering through the mudholes of unspeakable January. Yet. full of faith in .a divinity that shall shape the end of winter, the club has made full arrangements for the February Carnival, set for the days from the 13th to the 15th of the month.

There will be the usual athletic events, a hockey game, a performance by the Dramatic Club, a dance. Likewise, there will probably be made an attempt to remove the only ground of criticism which the Carnival has provoked: that the guests of the occasion, were not given opportunity to do a little wintersporting on their own account. On some one night of the week it is planned to have a goodly bonfire on the links, to cast gold and rubies and emeralds upon the snow with the aid of colored lights, to lure the lunch cart from its lair and invoke it to the dispensing of hot frankfurters and coffee; perhaps to persuade the band to tootle joyous serenades, while tobogganists toboggan, and skaters skate, and skiiers skii. Provided all this comes to pass, the event should be both picturesque and enjoyable. In order to insure it, all the fair carnivaladies should be warned to come provided with mackinaws and ear muffs and ample red mittens, which articles authorities state, when worn by the right persons, take on an unexpected piquancy and charm.

The College is glad to welcome the return of President Nichols from his tour among the alumni. Leaving Hanover, December 28, he was almost continuously on the road until January 26, the day of his return. North as far as Minneapolis, west as far as Denver, south as far as Washington, the great circle that he has covered in a month has been a marked trail of dinners, receptions, meetings, and addresses. Everywhere, President Nichols has been royally entertained, everywhere he has left the clear impression of his fair-mindedness, sanity, and breadth of view. In Denver, his address at a dinner given by the Chamber of Commerce, elicited the following editorial from The Rocky Mountain News:

"Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, president of Dartmouth College, is at once an inspiration and an example. He is of the new school of educators who have forsaken the cloister methods and opened the doors of their institutions so that the winds of the world may blow through.

"There was a time, and it still endures in large measure, when the pupils were regarded as little pitchers waiting to be filled from the big pitcher—the pedagogue. Knowledge, according to this theory, was imparted, and nothing was regarded as knowledge that did not savor of the antique and the unreal.

"As a consequence, every commencement saw the tragedy of hundreds dumped out into a world of which they knew nothing and for participation in which they had not been prepared in the slightest degree. Even character-building was subordinated and regarded as of far less importance than the absorption of stuff contained in textbooks written by closet observers.

"The college professor was chosen according to rules of seniority, and the most important post in our whole educational system was looked upon as nothing more than the opportunity to reward faithful service without consideration for the quality of the service.

"It is only of late years that we are getting away from these fossiled ideas that have been handed down from generation to generation. Such men as Woodrow Wilson, Arthur Twining Hadley, and Ernest Fox Nichols are working great and wonderful changes in the interests of Vitalization. They refuse to admit that a thing* is good just because it is old, and in every possible way they are taking the school out of the backwater and putting it in the living stream.

"Dartmouth College's leadership in the new educational movement is of peculiar interest because of the institution's history. Out of the Dartmouth College case, with its attendant war between Thomas Jefferson and old Chief Justice Marshall, proceeded a decision that has been the citadel of Special Privilege for a hundred years. There is a certain splendid justice in having Dartmouth College carry the flag of the new education which is so essentially the flag of democracy."