REPAIRING HIGH STRUCTURES

ANEW MAGAZINE, a bi-monthly newspaper, the . Steeplejack, has made its appearance at Dartmouth this year, and seems so far to have evoked considerable campus interest. The field, if it can be roughly defined at so early a time, seems to lie somewhere between The Dartmouth and Jackolantern. An interested group is behind the publication, a group inspired by much enthusiasm and zeal, a group that desires to contribute to the College's life by criticism of various kinds and by making suggestions of improvement and change.

It might be said that Dartmouth, which has a long and quite creditable record in the student publication field, has been blossoming forth in publications of this variety since the beginning—from the days of the Stephen Daye Press in Hanover through successions of Hanover and Dartmouth publications including various Anvils, Critiques, Gazettes, weeklies, literary magazines, Towers, Third Rails, and Bemas. There is a tradition connected with the College that its undergraduates should be interested in journalistic ventures, and Dartmouth men have been rather noteworthy in such enterprises after leaving college. The tradition continues today in the number of newspaper men in alumni ranks. The scribble-itch, if it can so be called, is a germ that breeds very fast among the New Hampshire Hills. The Steeplejack is a reminder of the fact that in any college body there is to be found always a large number of men who wish expression but are unable to obtain this expression because of the limitations of the undergraduate publications. Sometimes these "new" journals last but a few years, but their value is unquestionably great and the journals which do last are the better and the broader thereby.

In its first issues the Steeplejack seems to present well thought out criticisms of undergraduate life, without resorting to the careless and lazy method of tilting at everything in sight because of lack of ideas in fields of originality. That some of its criticisms are sharp goes without saying, yet most people connected with a college are used to this kind of expression and truly seek the truth that is behind it. The Steeplejack has picked a rather difficult road to traverse, because, as so often happens, publications which begin in this fashion fall into hands in later years which make use of abuse and the settlement of personal grudges, and on the other side, if it becomes too anxious to please and compliment, the value dies and the paper has no longer a function.

Here's all well wishing for the success of the new publication. May it continue to live up to its motto: "A skilled worker who climbs high structures to re- pair them."