Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-09-25
= COLLEGE hipPODRUMIK :.

The Show Business Carried to IN Ex-
treme by University Students.
There is sentiment rapidly spread
ing and taking root in the minds o. the
alumni of the different universities of
this country antagonistic to the Excess
sive amount Of show business in which
the students Of American institutions
of learning are permitted to indulge.
The feeling, says the Buffalo CONNER
eial, is growing that the only legitimate
Geld for the exercise and exhibition of
the physical, intellectual and musical
accomplishments of these young men is
to be found in the university athletic
grounds, the university theaters and
society halls. In other words, the
alumni and large body Of thoughtful
people not directly connected with the
various seats Of learning are coming to
an agreement that the college youth is
altogether too much in evidence outside
Of the college yards, either for his own
good or the legitimate prestige Of his
particular alma mater.
OF course, the conditions under which
the rowing matches are held make the
selection on somewhat retired and
neutral course like that at New London
st and proper; but the football, like
the baseball matches, should be con-
fined to college grounds, with the
avowed intention of reducing the num-
Der and improving the character of the
spectators, reducing the expenses and
minimizing the publicity and spectacu-
lar features of the competitions.
Another desirable result of this policy
would be the elimination of most Of the
gambling and very demoralizing sport
ing" elements t. t. inevitable gather
around events like the great football
matches that fill the columns of the
newspapers for several weeks every
autumn. Certainly the students them
selves would undergo less excitement
and suffer less distraction from their
legitimate college work if the scale on
which their athletic rivalries are tested
were effectively reduced. When these
rivalries become matters of national
concern they naturally tend to become
dangerously intense and injurious to
health and morals.
We think this policy of restraint
should also be applied to the practice
that has now become universal among
the colleges of sending out troupes of
young men organized as glee, banjo
and mandolin clubs to give public per-
formances for money in the leading
cities during the holiday recess. These
lads travel about the country in special
cars, give ten or fifteen concerts in pub.
lie halls and undergo a succession OF
social attentions" calculated to i'm.
pair the constitutions of seasoned men,
to say nothing of immature youths who
are supposed to be resting and rccuper-
ating from the strain of three months
of hard work at their lessons and lee.
lures. Essentially their performances
are not to be distinguished from the
professional shows, and when they be.
come an annual affair they are as tire
some as they are surely a tax on the
good nature of the local alumni, be.
sides being an unwholesome experience
to those who take part in them.
We have heard that the authorities
at Harvard have served notice to the
glee and banjo clubs of that university
that their present tour is to be the last
one. 1t is to be hoped that the report
is well founded, and that the example
VIII be followed elsewhere, as it dc
serves to be. Let the college youth at
tend their colleges and be required tc
attend more exclusively to their regu
lar college business.