The Washington times., 1903-09-09
NO QUARREL BETWEEN
COLLEGE BOAT CREWS
Yale and Harvard's Inter-
ests Lie at New London.
CORNELL'S WANTS HUDSON
Public Forgets True Purpose of College
Athletics in It's Desire to Bring
0arsmen Together.

The Yale Alumni Weekly" has pub
lished an editorial containing a thor
ough discussion of the much-vexed
question. why do not Yale and Har-
ward race with Cornell and the other
university crews at Poughkeepsie ?' The
editorial also points out the fact that
it is impossible to compare the crews
that race at New London and Pough-
keepsie by comparing the times maze
over the different courses.
The Alumni Weekly says:
1T is remarkable, and sometimes
amusing. that the intensity of college
partisanship seems greatest among
those not directly connected with the
institutions involved. If one read some
of the newspapers published at Pough-
keepsie and az other places in
New York at the time of the regatta
and took his impression Of the relations
of Yale and Harvard and Cornell from
them. he would come to the conclusion
that the two New England universities
had done some fearful wrong 70 the uni
versity at Ithaca, or that they were at
tempting TO claim merits which they did
not possess by keeping away from a real
test of merit; that they were really in
all matters of rowing most inferior in
stitutions and hardly worthy of being
allowed a place with those who battle
annually on the Hudson course.
Meeting Not Favored.
1T is possible that some alumni or
undergraduates of Cornell University
would be found to indorse such view.
but we think their numbers would be
very few. 1t is also possible that some
undergraduates and graduates of Yale
and Harvard would answer It in kind.
but we know that they would not speak
for their institutions. There is no feud:
there is no occasion for one No one
has any heartier admiration for Cornell's
excellence On the water than the men
Of Yale They love to see a good crew
and they love to see the best crew win
II would be undoubtedly the desire of
nearly all of them 10 see an annual con-
test between Yale and Harvard and Cor
nell, with the addition of Columbia,
Georgetown. Pennsylvania and Wiscon-
sin. or any other university with a good
eight. If IT could be arranged TO the in
terests of the institutions involved
Such a contest may some time come
about. but IL will be arranged only when
each institution has decided that II is
for the interest of it's own students and
for the good of it's own athletic interests
to czies such a struggle
This is the point of view which some
people, especially among the writer's for
the press, do not seem to understand
AS soon as an institution has a good
eight or nine or eleven or team of any
kind, these lovers of sport at once pre-
empt that team as belonging to the pub
lie and as under obligation TO contend
with any other organization In the same
line, which might reasonably challenge
its prowess. What college and inter-
collegiate athletics are for Is tempor-
arily forgotten. II has been decided by
Cornell that her best athletic interests
require her to keep her crew at Pough-
keepsie and not send II to New London
and so she races on the Hudson. II has
been decided by the navies of Harvard
and Yale that their respective interests
are best conserved by a race at New
London; and so they row at New Lon
don; and we trust they ever will as long
as these conditions exist. II would be a
great pleasure TO see one of Cornell's
fast eights In that annual meet, but we
90 not expect II because cornell Is Det-
ter served as to her own interests at
POughkeepsie than she is at New Lon
don.
Time Deceptive.
Now who has the best crew? Any
body can form an opinion on that who
wishes and any opinion he wishes. We
know that Cornell had a very fast crew
this year; we know that Yale had very
fast crew this year. What would hap
pen IL these two contended is a pleasant
subject for speculation in warm weather
Those who decide that the matter is
settled because the time is shorter on
one course than on another probably
arouse as much amusement at Ithaca as
they do at New Haven. According 10
some calculations, a crew that roWed
on the rapids of Niagara would, II they
kept their keel. prove themselves the
fastest crew in the country. A man who
signs himself Yale Partisan writes 10
the Eagle OF Poughkeepsie. quite sem
sibly, saying among other things:
Yale defeated Harvard on Thursday
last. She claims the superiority OF her
crew over the Crimson this year. That .
all: that's enough: that's what she
struggled for. The claim that under diff
ferent conditions, on a different day, on
another stream. with other rivals, she,
or any other crew. would have led by
over a mile is a claim very willingly left
TO the enthusiastic reporter"