New-York tribune., 1897-07-04
THE ROWING SITUATION.
WHAT THE RECENT HUDSON RIVER
CONTESTS HAVE BROUGHT FORTH.

CoRNEIL's VICTORIES AND THE HARvARD-YALE
DUAL LEAouE-IMpossIBILITY OF AN OPEN
COLLEGE RAcE-wIIL THERE DE A
HENLEY MEET on THE T1iAMEsF--
HOW ONE MIGHT BE ARRANGED.
Now that the university boat racing season Is
past II is interesting to look 1t over little ana
what changes and what new situations have
been created in 1897 In many ways these
months Of June and July have wrought
considerable change in college rowing, and many
OF the older oarsmen OF Harvard and Yale do
not view its changes with any very large de-
gree Of satisfaction. And yet this feeling, in the
main. is caused rather by the ordinary conserva-
tism OF mankind than by any real cause for dis
satisfaction the part OF any one. except the
disappointment that comes with defeat.
The whole athletic year Of 1S96-07 has gone
to prove that the time when Harvard and Yale
were the winners In athletic events Of all kinds
has gone by. There was time when this was
quite true. Either Yale or Harvard won the
track contests. the boat races and the baseball
and football matches from all corners with only
a large enough exception to prove the rule. This
year Yale has won nothing whatsoever except
the Harvard-Yale dual track games. and Har-
ward has won nothing but the Yale-Harvard
baseball series. Cornell carries the honors In
rowing, Pennsylvania Is the champion In track
athletics. and Princeton owns the baseball and
football championship banners People in gen.
era now say, therefore, that the Harvard-Yale
dual league is at last an impossibility, and the
graduates and undergraduates moan among
themselves that this is q fact, OF rather they are
said to do So
AS a matter Of fact. the whole question is OF
ch tbop 10 AYcf
The real situation is that this year. at last. the
general advance In athletic prowess which has
been going on for some years has mado itself
felt, and the old and famous comparison be-
tween Oxford and Cambridge on the one hand
and Harvard and Yale on the other is at last
to be dropped by every one. In reality there has
never been any such comparison possible. be-
cause Oxford and Cambridge really the only
great universities In England, while Harvard
and Yale are only the Oldest, not by any means
the only ones in existence. The dual league be-
tween Harvard and Yale is not further off from
possibility thar II ever was Indeed, 1t Is nearer
being an actual possibility than ever. For now
both universities being beaten and the number
OF strong athletic colleges being so materially
increased there Is. at the same time. the chance
for Harvard and Yale TO make their arrange
ment without calling down upon themselves the
taunts Of others VINO want an opportunity to
beat them. and the important question is how
the largely increased number Of contestants in
football. rowing and baseball are each and all
going to play or row one another and get all the
games played In one season.
1t will never be possible for example. for
Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell and Pennsyl-
vania TO play each other In one football season.
that is. the month of November. Some comoli-
instance this year Harvard's necessity for de-
clining to play Princeton or end her football
season about November 8. Some plan has
therefore to be arranged regarding football
which will from its very nature make a cham.
pionship Impossible. The same Is this mo nent
true Of rowing unless a return is made to the
dreadful days OF Saratoga and the thirteen
crews who fought one another down the course.
In other words. 1t is becoming practically i'm
possible to carry out the general competitive
who is the Champion Of the United States In
this or that sport.
WILL HARVARD AND YALE RESUME THE
OLD WAY?
AS soon as that fact is established and the
necessity of some breakup in the general cham
pionship meets is acknowledged, the possibility
Of Harvard and Yale getting together In the r
own arrangement without criticism from Other
colleges becomes more evident Cornell this
year has done a most sportsmanlike thing IN
meeting four colleges In two different races but
1t would be found that after one or two such
successful years Cornell would decline 10 go into
any such compacts further. The Cornell crews
have had much TO gain so far. They hav,
wanted 10 see themselves pitted against tn.
ci,i. tbo,
had studied the question of rowing and mads
themselves in u short decade equal to the crew.
which had been at II for half dozen decades
And the result has shown that their conjectures
are more than true. If Cornell had direct riva
such as Harvard and Yale have IN each other
Cornell men would be found objecting TO large
races.
The whole reasoning in the matter after all
may be boiled down into the statement that n
college sports the winning Is not 80 important
as the historic and periodically recurring rivalr!
which interests old and young college men and
keeps up ties which draw all back TO see thu
great games. Whether Cornell wins this year
| or next or Yale. or Princeton. or Harvard. does
| not mean much to any one except the actua
| members OF the teams as the fact that the ole
| rivals are to be ptted against each other to-day
| or tomorrow. and we are going to see how the.
| come out again.
| Every one must acknowledge the magnincen:
rowing. skill and good training Of that magnif.
| cent Cornell crew. but Harvard and Yale mei
| are thinking more Of what they did with one
| another than that Cornell beat them botl.
| Furthermore II the race at Poughkeepsie is 10
| be a championship affair there Is not the least
reason in the world why Wisconsin. Pennsyl-
vania and Columbia should not come into it, and
/ ba In x.la iopr
| found unwise. Improbable and stale. Cornell
men will say It was q great thing for them 10
| have got at Yale and Harvard this year. and
| greater to have defeated them That is all true
| enough but there Is sure 10 time when
other crews will come in and defeat them, and
then the chance OF what may be called per-