THE UNDERGRADUATE CHAIR

It is with great reluctance that we dust the old typewriter and grind out this copy for the June issue of this undergraduate department, for regardless of how nonchalantly we have drifted through these past months the significance of the approaching Commencement has become vital. While the three lower classes scurry around with their manifold activities the senior class is moving with slow footsteps toward the day when we will become readers and not writers of these pages.

Just tonight 1927 held its last supper together in Commons and enjoyed what few graduating classes are permitted to have, an informal after-dinner talk by its Prexy. Last week the graduating class staged the annual OLD TIMER'S Day with gusto. For a day, terminated by a supper in Commons, the campus was peopled with seniors out of the College albums, frock coats, tall hats, beards and all. The senior suppers which have just ended have proved so successful as a unifier that practically one-hundred per cent attendance has been the prevailing rule. A good dinner, a little necessary business pertinent to Commencement, and a full program of student entertainment have contributed to make these class get-to-gethers. outstanding in the calendar of these last few weeks of undergraduate life within the College which has come to mean so much to us. Before this magazine reaches you, 1927 will have "gone up the river" for its Barbecue. Enough said! Every fair day sees the class photographer busy w-ith his camera and reel of film catching bits of undergraduate activity and fun to perpetuate in celluloid these last few weeks for 1927.

Representatives from business and industry have flocked to the campus in twos and threes to enlist men from the graduating class for their special fields of endeavor. In all too short a time the metamorphosis will be completed; and another class will shed its undergraduate cloak and take its place in the alumni body of the College.

An especially distinguished and diversified list of speakers were present during the past month. Sir Herbert Brown Ames, KT., LL.D., as an official representative of the League of Nations, gave a series of talks before undergraduate and faculty audiences. "The Covenant of the League of Nations," he declared, "is President Wilson's souvenir to the world. The Peace Treaty itself will fade into merciful oblivion and its provisions will be gradually obliterated by the great human tides sweeping over the world. But the Covenant will stand as sure as fate. It must succeed because there is no other way for the future of civilization. The League of today does not attain to this ideal. It was born in a world of distress, and the result is not perfection. It is, however, the noblest, the most hopeful effort of its kind this world has ever seen, and has successfully survived a seven years' test."

Roland ,Hayes, celebrated negro tenor, closed the Spring Concert series and gave a program of vocal music seldom heard so far from metropolitan circles, a fitting climax upon which to ring down the curtain of a most appreciated contribution to undergraduate love of music.

Whiting Williams, noted student of industrial affairs and lecturer in the Tuck School, pointed out in a recent lecture that "immediate financial considerations and immediate

convenience or inconvenience, as well as present abilities and proficiences are being over-plaved in the college man's decision m what he will do after he is graduated. The result of this misdirected emphasis," he continued, is that a young man's life decision is made on the wrong basis. He should try to make his decision on what kind of a person he would most like to be 25 years from now, and then see whether he could work up to that objectivity by the things he does and the things he learns during those years."

The much discussed alleged conflict between science and religion was treated by Prof. Wilmot H. Sheldon, one-time member of the Dartmouth faculty and now head of the department of Philosophy at Yale University, speaking under the auspices of the Philosophical club of the College. "I believe," he said, "all the truth we know about the material world but sciences tell us nothing about religious truth, though indirectly they suggest, without proving, a confirmation of it." Bishop Dallas of the New Hampshire diocese returned to his familiar Hanover for a short visit last month and remarked, "No college body has shown more interest in the church and in religion in general than the Dartmouth undergraduates," and he spoke as one who was for a considerable period intimately associated with Dartmouth men and one with a background of IS years association with college students.

Prof. H. P. Whitford of the music department favored the college with another of his request recitals which was greatly appreciated. Liszt's "Liebestraum" led the list of compositions requested with the BachGounod "Ave Maria," Paraphrase on Themes from "Faust" by Lemare and Anitra's Dance from "Peer Gynt" receiving considerable mention.

The Round Table brought Clarence Darrow to Hanover and the student body crowded Dartmouth Hall even to the stage and window ledges to hear the noted criminal trial lawyer and defender. With that unalloyed scientific viewpoint which brought him fame through his defense of Loeb and Leopold and his address at the famous Scopes trial in Tennessee, he scoffed at the existence of free will and sought to show the folly of our present system of treating unsocial human beings. Education, broad in scope and of great depth, is to him the panacea of the social ills resulting from the presence of criminal dispositions in society. The richness of his background, his delightful humor and the forcefulness of his assertions held his audience as has no one speaking in Hanover since the late William Jennings Bryan.

The Round Table has elected its 1928 directorate and another year's program pregnant with stimulating speakers is promised. The new officers are: W. A. Hunt '28, president; G. Y. McClure '28, vice-president; R. A. Rockwell '28, treasurer; and L. W. Taylor '28, secretary.

The Player's production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Great God Brown" exceeded the prophecies which we made as to its successful appeal last month. With a vehicle which demanded exceptional talent and subtleties in production, The Players acquitted themselves in a manner worthy of all the praise which was loud on all sides. The Green Key staged their annual vaudeville show and everyone who attended and hence contributed to the fund for the entertainment of visiting teams enjoyed an evening of laughs afforded by the production of an old-fashioned melodrama. The usual street parade was held in the afternoon and, although the trough—the traditional outdoor rostrum—was lacking, the ballyhoos blared forth from the rear seat of a characteristic flivver parked in front of the Inn.

In so far as the Carnival Show was a revival of an old favorite, "The Chocolate Soldier," student playwrights and manufacturers of comic skits concentrated on- the 1927 prom Revue with the result that a number of acts were available and proved effective entertainment for the 450 odd (no pun intended if you please!) guests who were in town for the weekend of Spring House parties at the various fraternity houses. Among those selected were: "Only a Prom Girl," by R. S. Shackne '27 and "Just Over" by M. C. Pollock '28 and H. M. Carver '28.

The Pied Pipers lent plenty of jassmania to the program and Romulo (Tiny) Marsans, a perennial favorite, and Joe D'Esopo '29, of "Chocolate Soldier" fame, entertained with rapid fire repartees and song and dance acts. The Players prize of $25 for an original one-act play was awarded to T. D. Donovan '30 for "Through a Glass." A second prize of $15, donated by the Experimental Theatre group, was given to C. Wright '27 for his play, "Seldon Wentworth, Dean." "The Invertebrate" by T. C. Swartz '28 and "Three's a Crowd" by C. A. Randall '27 received honorable mention. These plays will be submitted in the Little Theater experimental one-act play contest now being conducted by the Drama League of America. "Refuge" by R. W. Schmelzer '28 will be entered in the historical division of the contest. The local experimental theater group is considering the production of these plays for their final effort in June.

Despite unveiled threats of withdrawal, the Forensic Union remains a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Debating League. Dartmouth voiced a dissatisfaction with the organization and its methods but in view of the fact that several changes were made in the constitution of the body and Dartmouth was host at the annual convention, separation of relations was at least postponed. The College feels that membership in the League hampers it in arranging schedules wide in scope, for it always receives more invitations to debate than can be accepted. The following institutions were represented at the convention here: Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Amherst, Brown, Williams, and Pennsylvania.

W. C. Cusack '27 won the Barge Medal oratorical contest and R. B. MacPhail '28 won the Class of 1866 prize in competition. Cusack spoke on Daniel Webster, "The Great Defender" and MacPhail took "William Jewett Tucker" as the subject of his address, which affords an interesting sidelight on the attitude of present day undergraduates toward the illustrious alumni of the College. Cusack continued to hold his position as premier orator of Dartmouth and this section of the country by winning first honors in the New England elimination contest which was beld here to determine the sectional entrant for the national oratorical contest to be held in Los Angeles this summer. He competed with representatives of the following institutions: Holy Cross (second prize), Vermont (third prize), Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Providence College, Yale and the Univerity of Maine. G. E. Morcroft, Jr., '27, won the $250 prize offered by the NewYork Times in its current events contest. The small number of students entering the contest for such a liberal prize denotes an unfortunate lack of interest in the affairs of the outside world.

With the election by 1928 of four members-at-large to next year's Palaeopitus, the new governing body is complete with the exception of the President of The Arts. The roster is as follows: Daniel P. Hatch, Jr., of Montreal, President of the Outing Club; William G. Heep, Jr., of Yonkers, N. Y., elected; Carlton S. Hoagland of Somerville, N. J., Editor of The Dartmouth-, R. B. MacPhail of Arlington, Mass., elected; Lawrence H. Martin of Wakefield, Mass., Manager of Football; John C. McAvoy of Phoenixville, Pa., elected; Walter L. McKee of Buffalo, N. Y., Manager of Track; LeRoy C. Milliken of Melrose, Mass., elected; George B. Pitts of Jamestown, N. Y., President of the D. C. A.; Ralph L. Rickenbaugh of Cincinnati, Ohio, Manager of the Musical Clubs; and George K Sanborn of Andover, Mass., elected by the scholarship group. Barrett Cup nominations from the three upper classes have been sent to the admin- istration. The coveted honor will be announced at the Wet Down exercises and will go to one of the following: Charles Bartlett of Waban, Mass., Robert D. Funkhouser, Jr., of Dayton, Ohio, Donald F. McCall of Muskegon, Mich., Kenneth N. Meyercord of New York City, James E. Picken, Jr., of Audubon, N. J., and Robert X. Stevens of Somerville, Mass.

The Jack o'Lantern announced the following officers for its 1928 directorate: J. P. Waters of Bridgeport, Conn., Editor; J. B. Zellers of New York City, Business Manager; J. R. Goodnow of Keene, N. H., Advertising Manager; H. H. Griffin of St. Louis, Mo., Art Editor; W. N. Burding of Salem, Mass., Circulation Manager; and R. E. Shaw of Woburn, Mass., Assistant Advertising Manager. Next year's Pictorial Magazine will be edited and managed by the following: R. L. Maclellan '28, Managing Editor; M. E. Adams '28, Photographic Editor; D. H. Griffin, '28, Art Editor; C. A. Kammire -'28, Advertising Manager; B. A. Levine, Circulation Manager; and M. B. Heftier '2B, Assisting Photographic Editor. The 1927 Aegis has arrived and is being distributed to subscribers in the College, a book which retains several of the outstanding features of last year's annual. The dictorate of the 1929 year book is announced as follows: H. D. Bissell '29 of Philadelphia, Editor; J. I. Loeb '29 of Highland Park, Ill., Managing Editor; L. A. Sykes '29 of Cranford, N. J., Associate Editor; B. O. Beadel '29 of New Castle, Pa., Business Manager; E, W. Turrell '29 of Troy, N. Y., Advertising Manager; and T. Babcock '29 of Brooklyn, N. Y., Circulation Manager. C. E. Burton, T. J. Capablo, B. B. Leavitt, R. McMurray, and W. D. Sherwood are other sophomores added to the board.

The reorganized Interfraternity Council of 26 members, one delegate per chapter, is now functioning under a new set of officers including: W. P. Kimball '2B of Davenport, lowa, President; J. H. O'Sullivan '28 of Brookline, Mass., Vice-President; W. W. Ballard '28 of Greenfield, Mass., Treasurer; and R. C. Thompson, Jr., of Newtonville, Mass., Secretary. The proposed ruling that a scholastic grade of 1.6 be required of all pledges is now under discussion and will probably be passed by the Council shortly as an attempt to bolster the scholastic standing of the chapters as a group within the College.

The much-maligned Green Key has undertaken a plan of re-organization intended to quiet prevalent criticism of its present method of selecting its members. The new plan approved by Palaeopitus and to be put into effect this spring is as follows: eight ex-officio members comprising the three captains of major freshman teams, three assistant managers-elect, and the presidents of the freshman and sophomore classes. Fifteen participants in athletic activities and three minor sport managerselect, recommended by the Athletic Council, four non-athletic managers-elect nominated by the Council on Student Organizations, two named by the Outing Club and three nominated by the Class Officer. Five men will be elected by the outgoing organization and as many more as necessary to provide for duplications in the above nominations. The desired fifty will be completed by an election of ten members by the new Green Key as soon as organized.

The slump in the European bovine market has hit vacation plans in the solar plexus. Many students who planned to pace the boulevards of Gay Paree and float along Venetian canals in July and August received a severe setback by the news from the local Travel Club that no cattle boats were to be run to England this summer owing to the high price of livestock in this country. As a result the number of student tourists abroad this summer will be somewhat depreciated. To date 43 undergraduates have filed applications for foreign passports.

Although Dean Laycock announces that there are 78 undergraduate cars registered at his office, a gain of 28 over last year at this time, the weekend D. O. C. trips to surrounding mountains and cabins are just as popular as ever.

The Outing Club has returned to a policy of senior officers with D. P. Hatch '28 of Montreal, President; K. D. Cuddeback '28 of Forest Hills, N. Y., Vice-President; and L. A. Kenney '28 of Salem, N. Y., Secretary. Seventeen from the freshmen competition and five upperclassmen were elected to Cabin and Trail.

Over 100 photographs were entered in the D. O. C. Photographic Exhibition. R. J. Lougee '27 organized and had charge of the exhibit.

In Class I no prizes were awarded. "Mile Down Hill Race" by M. B. Heftier '28 and "Ski Joring on Main Street" by A. N. Leslie '30 received honorable mention. In Class II "Les Voyageurs des Neiges" and "Hanging Cliffs of Boot Spur, Mt. Washington" both by R. S. Monahan '29 won first and second places. In Class III "Mink Brook in Winter" by H. P. Jones '27 won first prize and "Cummings Pond" by N. R. Rockefeller '30 won second place. In Class IV "Moose Pool" and "Skyline Cabin" by G. D. Tunnicliff '30 won both places. Special exhibits included a group of scenes in the Swiss Alps, and a number of winter mountaineering scenes by R. J. Lougee '27.

H. A. Buchtel '28 was elected president of the Ledyard Canoe Club for the coming year at a meeting of the club held recently. M. K. Taylor was elected vice-president, and S. W. Jewell '29, was elected secretary and treasurer. Mr. E. A. Woodward of the English Department will be the faculty adviser of the club.

Alumni golfers can appreciate the significance of three hole-in-one shots made on the Hilton Field links last month. J. I. Stewart '29 of Schenectady holed out on the 14th green from the tee at the foot of the ski jump, R. J. Michelini '27 sank his drive in to the 12th cup over the Vale of Tempe, and D. W. Gardner ex-'27 got his ace on one of the short holes on the local links.

Although a tractor-pulled roller and other modern equipment eases the labors of the athletic heelers there is little doubt that all were glad for the competition to end. The assistant managers elected from the sophomore class are: W. F. Coles of El Paso, Texas, football; D. W. Orr of Concord, N. H., track; W. T. Henretta of Kane, Pa., baseball; J. R. Arthur of Streator, Ill., basketball; M. W. Rolfe of Swampscott, Mass., cross country; W. Alexander of West Roxbury, Mass., hockey; A. P. Clow of Terryville, Conn., swimming and water polo: W. F. Barto of Washington, D. C., soccer; L. W. Lougee of Maiden, Mass., lacrosse ; G. S. Case, Jr., of Cleveland, Ohio,, tennis; R. P. Owsley of Youngstown, Ohio, gym; R. R. Rimbach of Ponemah, N. H., fencing; A. C. Fisher of Fort Thomas, Kan., freshman football; J. F. Ingram of Beaver Falls, Pa., freshman baseball; J. R. Hughes of Montclair, N. J., freshman track; S. Nordblom of Paoli, Pa., freshman basketball; R. M. Cate of Belmont, Mass. The scholastic standing of all was exceptionally high for such a group. A. M. Rankin '27 of Boston, Mass., manager of varsity hockey, will continue his connection with the college athletic

activities as business manager, assistant to H. R. Heneage, supervisor of athletics. Rankin will be in charge of the distribution of tickets and the purchase and care of equipment for all teams.

The Non-Athletic managerial competition for 1929 has just closed with the following assistants chosen: A. C. Bertch of Grand Rapids, Mich., musical clubs; G. R. Sayler of Los Angeles, Players; J. A. Bliss of Orlando, Fla., publicity; J. W. Moxon of East Cleveland, Ohio, assistant publicity; J. Heap of Prescott, Arizona, band; J. Hartman of Cleveland, Ohio, forensic union, and J. W. Spangler of Bellevue, Pa., head usher.

The Players announced the following senior managers for 1928: F. H. Burleigh of Dorchester, Mass., student director; R. R. Frame of Philadelphia, stage; E. A. Hanes of Cleveland, Ohio, properties; D. M. Mccathie of Point Jervis, N. Y., costumes; J. W. Losey of La Crosse, Wis., head electrician; and W. P. Hudson of Paterson, N. J., Art director.

"The Sophomore Year at Dartmouth" is the subject of an essay for a contest sponsored by the executive committee of the sophomore class. The prizes will be $25, $10, and $5 in gold respectively for the first, second, and third places, and a copy of the three best essays will be printed in a pamphlet and presented to the administration.

The essays are to contain criticism of the curriculum and the sophomore year as a whole, and are to discuss the much-talked- of "let down" during the year. If possible they are to explain whether the let-down is the fault of the College or of the students. Constructive criticism as well as destructive must be given because such criticism will be of greater value to the college administration. The judges of the contest will be Prof. James D. McCallum of the English Department and sophomore class officer, and two members of the sophomore executive committee.

The publication by the Alumni Council of their pamphlet listing the physical needs of the College was received with considerable interest by the undergraduate body. Dissention from the proposals practically centered on the proposed Gothic chapel to surmount the hill behind Dartmouth Hall. One student wrote:

"Everyone will admit that the present chapel represents everything that is hideous in architecture and that the sooner it is torn down the better, but what gives the Alumni Council the idea that a Gothic chapel, costing more than the new library is essential or even appropriate to seat the 75 or 100 chapel goers?"

To quote another undergraduate letter in The Dartmouth.

"Added to the recent hub-bub-caused by the religious census, and to the present frantic attempts to keep alive chapel services, the suggestion that Dartmouth's primary need is a million-and- a-quarter-dollar Gothic chapel comes as a superb bit of irony.

"I have no desire to see the existence of the present structure prolonged any longer than is necessary, but would even the finest Gothic construction harmonize any better with the general Colonial theme of the college architecture? The important thing, however, is to realize that a new chapel would not change present conditions at all. It would not create a religious awakening in the community. Chapel has undoubtedly played an important part in the college's development, but anyone who faces the situation honestly can hardly admit that it is an important motive force today. Chapel still may have its part, but it is certainly a ridiculous exaggeration to think that 'it will ever become a 'spiritual beacon throughout the northern Connecticut valley. "

Whenever possible we have always tried to catch the spirit of undergraduate thought in this department, thinking that student views as well as news should receive circulation. The elusiveness of crystallized undergraduate opinion has been vexing. The editor of The Dartmouth exposes our futile search for blood from a turnip:

"Literature sometimes refers to 'undergraduate thought.' We have come to the conclusion that this is mere newspaper talk. The average undergraduate doesn't think. He lives. In each college there is a group of men who are genuinely interested in literature or in some of the heavier lines of mental endeavor. This group is usually small and receives a great amount of publicity, considering its size. The majority are not thinking any more than they would if they were living at a country club nine months a year.

"The average student comes from a well-to-do family. He has been brought up in a more refined atmosphere than the usual ditch-digger and his conversation is, superficially, superior to that of the ditch-digger. He can talk about plays, automobiles and strange lands. But so could the ditch-digger if he had had a little more money. The ditchdigger substitutes baseball games for golf matches, Fords for Packards and movies for travels. Making allowance for these substitutions his line of thought is as weighty as the undergraduate.

'We have no Utopian concept of a college where every student is breathlessly waiting for the discovery which will help to substantiate the theory of Evolution. But sometimes we weary of eternal 'bull-sessions' concerned with liquor, girls and the last weekend in Boston.

"There is a legend in this college of an editor who could stir up a discussion whenever he saw fit. To achieve such a unique-place, in undergraduate life has been the dream of each editor since that time. To our minds few have succeeded. Everything has been insulted without causing a ripple in the placidity of Dartmouth life. We believe that we could publish an editorial tomorrow suggesting that we change the name of the College and it would be forgotten by ten o'clock except for the letters which would pour in from the alumni.

"In a way this is to be expected. When the legendary editor stirred up discussions at will the college was a different institution from the present Dartmouth. The character of the undergraduate was changing and the character of the College was changing. The old was giving way to the new and everyone was interested. We seem to have reached the new at present. The well-to-do, conservative by the nature of their interests, have nearly pushed out the remnants of the glorified 'sweatshirt-era'. The College is slowly working toward an academic freedom that was undreamed of only a few years ago. Everything has settled down. "The post-war flurry has left us in a breathless calm. The country is prosperous and everything seems to be working smoothly."

But as long as the campus editors accept lethargy and pattern themselves after it, the turnip will not only be bloodless but wooden.

Looking west toward Tuck Drive from the new library