the publication of the Alumni Record every five years and will, in
the very near future, be devoted to the maintenance of scholar
ships for worthy students. The Alumni Record is not, as the
writer of the letter claimed, a mere repetition of the matter per
taining to the alumni which is published in the annual catalogue.
It is far more than that; it gives a complete outline of the entire
life of each and every alumnus of the institution, which cannot
be found elsewhere.
An entirely unwarranted attack' is next made by the writer
upon the attitude of the professors towards the Colloge and the
alumni. He claims that they do not, through the FREE LANCE
or other means, keep the alumni informed of the various happen
ings in their respective departments, and that they do not take a
sufficient interest in the College to occasionally write articles on
technical subjects for publication in the FREE LANCE. The FREE
LANCE does keep the alumni informed of all " progress in the
various departments, the number of students taking the various
courses, a brief description of any new apparatus, trips made to
points of interest, etc.," in brief, to he sure, but we make it a
specialty to omit nothing that can in any way prove of interest to
the alumni. In the annual report of the College can each year
be found a more complete description of such matters. The FREE
LANCE is itself responsible for the fact that technical articles
written by the professors seldom appear in it, The FREE LANCE,
was originally constituted to be published and still is published
" by the students of The Pennsylvania State College," and judg
ing from the statements which we have received during the past
few years, both verbal and written, from alumni as well as pro
fessors and students, and time and again through the exchange
columns of our contemporaries, we feel that we have no reason
to be ashamed of it as a student publication. A student publica
tion it is, and when, if such a time should ever come, the students
will be compelled habitually to resort to persons other than them
selves and occasionally to the alumni for material for publication,
it will be high time for the LANCE to retire upon its past reputa
tion and to disappear entirely from the field of College journalism.
We agree with the writer, nevertheless, in regard to one phase of
the matter as stated by him—that the professors should at times
send communications to the 'technical papers to be published in