Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-21


The crusade against football as the
snort is now INDUCED in Is gaining
| strength in various quarters every day'
| The bill introduced into the Geors'a
Legislature to prohibit the playing OF Tue
| snme in that State for an admission lee
| has passed both houses by large MAORI
ties. This, OF course, puts an emo "
| football in Georgia, SO far as interstate
and intercollegiate contests are concerneu'
which contests II is claimed nave peeh
| the main cause of developing the present
| rough and dangerous character OF the
game. In Virginia the team OF one OF
the leading institutions OF learning has,
under orders from the faculty, been uis-s
banded. Some OF our exchanges are cali
| ing upon the General Assembly to FOLLOW
at It's approaching session the example
| of the Georgia Legislature, and strong
public sentiment in antagonism 10 the
snort is finding expression in letters In
| the newspapers. At tho North feeling
| of opposition to modern football is also
manifesting itself, and even prominent
| medical journals Of the country are lend
ing their influence to the stimulation OF
! what a New York contemporary terms
1.-THE Revolt Against Football" The
| Medical Record, for instance, which Is
one Of the highest and most conservative
authorities in its field. while warm ad-
vocate of physical training, declares that
football. as at present conducted, ought
not to be allowed. The Records grounds
of objection are that the game can no
longer be viewed in the light of inno-
cent, recreative amusement, with harm-
less and healthful athletics as its object;
and that, even with smuggling" ruled out.
1t is productive of the greatest variety
of surgical injuries to every part OF the
body" the effect of such injuries being
lifelong In a large proportion of cases.
The New York Evening Post quotes an
experienced surgeon as sustaining the
position of the Record, and the New
York Herald, in commenting on the re
volt" says that list OF the football
casualties for the present season, which
Is not yet over, reads like the result
of some disastrous railroad accident or
the bulletins OF deadly skirmish."
Two other points made against college
football of to-day, and for that mat
ter against college baseball also, are
that these games increase materially
the expense of college life, and conduce
to the Generalization OF the student
body. While it may be that the gate
fees pay the expenses Of the teams when
these are travelling around. they do not
pay the expenses of the 'rooters" from
the several institutions who accompany
the teams on their tours. Consequently,
there is a constant demand upon parents
having sons at college for pocket money.
We dare say that many man has been
deferred from sending his son to college
by taking an account Of 1.-THE extras.
The more pocket money, the more extrav-
agance. and as a rule, the less study.
A catalogue for the session of 1S5O-'5l
of one of our leading Virginia colleges
contained this: LET all parents and
guardians bear In mind the corrupting
influence of pocket money. A pocket full
of money and a head full of sense are
rarely, If ever, found together In col
leges." The "dons" who evolved those
words of warning were hardly behind
| their brethren of the same class of the
present in wisdom, and as this same
| catalogue will show, the young men they
graduated were hardly less equipped for
| the battle of life than are the average
| of the graduates of our colleges now.
AS to the demoralizing effect OF inter-
collegiate and interstate games, aside
from the question of extravaganza, 1t
| cannot be denied that these games tend
to encourage betting. We are no enemy
| of college sports and college athletics.
| We recognize that In reason and when
properly conducted they are eminently TO
| be desired as features of college life;
but we also recognize, in common with
many OF our contemporaries Of the press
| throughout the country, that reform Is
not only needed in this matter, but is
| demanded by a rapidly-expanding public
| sentiment and we have presented the
| above facts and contentious in the hope
| that the reform may be worked out In
Virginia through the student bodies them
solves