Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27
SCARED WITH CIGARS
President Eliot, of Harvard College,
Says the Act Is Voluntary.
GARRISON'S ATTACK ANSWERED.
Ex-Governor Long Says the Faculty Should
Take Some Action
TO BREAK THE BOYS OF BAD HABITS

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
Boston, Dec. 26-The graduates of Har-
ward University are indignant at the charges
made by William Lloyd Garrison against
the D. X. E. Society, and do not hesitate to
express their views on the subject. Presi-
dent Eliot says in this connection
"This society has been in existence for a
long time, and the custom of branding can
didates for initiation on the arm with a
cigar has been in vogue for 20 years past.
1t is entirely voluntary, and we cannot
prevent it. 1t is an affair between man
and man. do not approve of the practice.
many similar practices, such as hazing,
which have now been done away with.
''Mr. Garrison also speaks of drinking in
this and other societies. l will venture to
say that the college men of to-day do not
drink so.much as their fathers. Temper
ance and sobriety is the rule, and not the
exception. The object of this college is to
teach the young man selfgovernment.
Not Modelled on Monastic Lines.
"Mr. Garrison declares Harvard to be
modelled 'on monastic lines This is ex-
actlv what it is not. No notice whatever
will be taken Of the matter in any official
manner l shall certainly make no reply,
and there is no way in which the faculty
can do so. No professor is authorized to
speak for the faculty, and should any public
reply be made it would be solely upon the
responsibility of the writer
''Do you think Mr.. Garrison exaggerated
in the statements he made?''
"No, no: necessarily. He merely labors
under the false impression that it is possible
for the government of Harvard College to
correct these evils. 1t does not lie within
our power or within the power of any
government on earth to prevent these
things. All the courts and laws in Christen-
dom will not prevent the commission of
crime. Nothing can ever do it but the
power of public opinion"
Ex-Governor Longs Opinion.
Ex-Governor Long was a member of
Harvard's D. X E. Society. and he had
this to say about Mr.. Garrison's charges:
''When I was in college the Greek letter
societies were on their last legs, and at
about that time petered out. The D. X. E.
was then less prominent than the others
Some years later these societies were re-
vived, but L know nothing about them
now. In all of them there are probably
the extravagances that obtain among young
fellows. 1 presume there is good deal of
exaggeration in the excitement that Mr.
Garrison's letter has stirred up, yet no
doubt there are abuses that should be ar
rested.
81 am inclined to agree with President
Eliot that there is little that can be done
except by creating healthier and manlier
public opinion in college. But just there
is his duty and that of the faculty, and that
duty is to throw themselves and all their
personality into the creation of this public
opinion. This should be done by personal
contact with the students, familiarity with
their leisure as we'll ss with their recita-
tions and course of study, and the impress
i've expression of responsibility for their
good morals and behavior. Very likely the
faculty do something of this sort, very
likely they could do great deal more"
Author Grant With Garrison.
Robert Grant, the author, was another D.
X. E. man, and he agrees with Mr. Gar
rison in denouncing the practice OF SINCE
ing the flesh in the initiation ceremony.
1t is said that what alarmed Mr.. Garrison
is that his son, who is about 20 years of age
went through the initiation and shortly
after-that was last November-was taken
sick with typhoid fever, and his family
believe that his case was aggravated by it.