To the Editor of the CRIMSON:
After reading the communication from the President of the Harvard Liberal Club concerning the Liberal Club of the University of Berlin, I am reminded of the following, which may be of interest to the readers of the Crimson:
Early last spring, I addressed a letter to the Professor of Literature in the University of Berlin, asking him to send me the address of some student in the University with whom I might correspond, the topic of our correspondence being the contemporary fields of German and English literature. In due time, I received a letter from a student to whom the professor had handed the letter thinking that he was a suitable one to carry on such a correspondence.
The letter was worded in polite but atrocious English and expressed a willingness to carry on such a correspondence as suggested. But I will quote the closing paragraph:
"But I beg your pardon, Sir, if I am forced to write the following: my economical situation is as well as that of most German students after the last war not so that I am able to write letters over German literature without any compensation. I will nothing gain from our correspondence, but I may only have a like compensation for the loss of time, which costs the writing of these letters. I hope you understand me, and I believe that you will be able to fulfil my condition without great sacrafice, because your money has a considerably greater value than ours. I attend your proposes and am," etc.
I submit this without any comment. The spelling and construction are the student's. JOHN MARSHALL '25. Oct. 1, 1921