The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1895-10-26
Athletics as a Drawing Card.


tendance of students at our Colleges |
and Universities.
We suspect that there is sehe
truth in the assumption. A body |
of young men cooped up in an insti- |
tuition without means and motive for /
recreation would become a dull set |
Of fellows. Especially, we would |
say, is any modern institution in
excusably incomplete that has not |
at least, well equipped gymnasium.
That much of the athletic feature of
education is now regarded as essen
tial to rounding out student with
a sound body for his sound mind.
Nevertheless, a modicum of truth
is often made the basis for magnify t
ing the virtue OF principle or prac-
tice into unjust proportions. There
is doubtless an exaggerated estimate
in many minds, of the value of ath
letics as a part of the college curric-
ulum. Even so good and necessa-
ry thing as physical exercise may
be overdone And that there are
two sides to the question is shown
in the editorial article which we APP
pend from the New York Sun:
THE preliminary registration of
the students in the academic depart
ment of Harvard College shows the
names of 1,75S students, gain of
81 over the figures of last year. We
have not at hand the exact number
registered at Yale, but the authori-
ties Of the college admit that there
has been loss. Prof Seymour rep
resentiag, we suppose, the opinion
Of the \ alensian dons, attributes the
the falling off in numbers to the
hard times. But the very hard times
are over; and even if they were not
it would seem difficult to explain
why they should make Harvard in
crease and Yale decrease. OF course,
the question of numbers from one
year TO another is not of vital impor
lance Yale has plenty of students
and will have plenty more, as she de-
serves to have But it has been q
sort of belief or legand among col
lege men that the distinction of a
college in athletic sports had di
rect effect upon its attraction to
students. 1t has been gravely argued
and seriously believed that youths
would rush to the college which
showed its superiority in athletics,
and would avoid the college inferior
in athletics. The respective number
of men students at Cambridge and
New Haven seems to be a sufficient
of that belief and argu
ment For some years Yale has been
easily superior to Harvard in most
forms Of athletics. This year she
has reached almost the highest
point of her possible athletic
Neither her American
nor her English competitors can
hold candle to her. There is real
ly no other laurel of the man ennob-
ling gymnasium for her to pluck save
victory in an eight-oar race with Ok
ford or Cambridge Never has she
been so famous or 50 copiously ad
vertised as now. I
At Harvard, on the contrary, the
spirit, humbled by long
series Of disasters, has been hamper
ed and repressed by the college au
thorities. Vexatious restrictions .
and fussy supervision have in
jured almost all branches of athleG-
ic sport, and practically ruined foot ,
ball. To President Eliot intercol- {
legiate games are positive evil. At
best he believes that they provoke .
an excessive interest and unhealth
full spirit of competition, and so are
detrimental to the proper business
of the college To many graduates,
and, of course, to the majority of un
dergraduates, his opinion in the {
matter has seemed unsound, and his
course likely to decrease the inau
ence and reputation of the college.
1t is none of our present purpose
to discuss President Eliot's opinions
or the attitude of the Harvard fac
ulty toward athletics. We content ,
with noticing the fact that
from business point of view the !
of athletics seems TO pay. I
The main resources of Harvard Col ]
lege for general purposes are the
sums it derives from tuition fees.
The more students, the better for
the college The natural inference
from the increased number of stu
dents at Harvard and the decreased I
of students at Yale, is
that certain number of parents !
and guardians distrust what seems {
to them to be an excessive attention
to intercollegiate athletics, and pre-
fer that their sons should go to a
college where, for the moment at {
least, athletics is not too actively pur-
sued. As conservator Of the pros c
perity of Harvard College, DR.. Eliot |
seems to have shown sound judg
ment. Those graduates who differ 9
with him most widely in regard to /
Intercollegiate games must do him t
the justice to admit that his course t
has not been injurious to the col G
ege. /