Word: letters
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Dates: during 1910-1919
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Yesterday a letter from Professor Kuno Meyer, of the University of Berlin, to President Lowell was made public. The letter concerned the recent Advocate prize poem, "Gott Mit Uns," and censored both Harvard and President Lowell for fostering a "spirit of unmitigated hostility toward Germany. Professor Meyer characterizes the poem as "damnable," and states that Harvard has "silently connived at its wide circulation in the press." Harvard has "wantonly and wickedly gone out of its way to carry strife into the hallowed peace of the academic world," while the University and its President "stand branded before the world and posterity...
President Lowell's reply to Professor Meyer's letter appears below: April...
...Your letter has come, and I am grieved at the feeling of irritation against Harvard that it shows. The poem and prize to which you refer I had never heard of until your letter came. On inquiry I find that it was a prize offered by the students for a student poem, a matter with which the authorities of the University can hardly interfere...
...Celtic Literature" in which he is so eminent; but, in view of his active propaganda among the Irish in behalf of Germany, and the neutral attitude assumed by the University in regard to the war, it was decided not to extend the invitation." This statement antidates Professor Meyer's letter by over four months...
Professor Meyer's letter smacks of theatricalism. It was sent to the press before President Lowell had had opportunity to reply. It contains, moreover, the assertion that Professor Meyer finds himself unable to accept an exchange position next year because of Harvard's bigotry. Yet we find it hard to believe that Professor Meyer is still ignorant of the action taken by the Corporation four months ago, to withdraw the intended invitation because of his intemperate utterances elsewhere. Professor Meyer is "refusing" an invitation never extended...