Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-31
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL DECAY
The Moral Character Also Lowered by
Athletics as Practiced at Colleges
Today-Abnorma Development Fol-
lowed by Breakdown of the Physical
Forces-General News.
Special to Timas-Republican.

ieEe OF une University OF Iowa. GFoI.
Gilchrist goes farther and states also
that college athletics are not amateur.
The college athlete of today is doomed
to premature death, he must fall be-
hind in his studies or else work under
such strain that mental as we'll as
physical ruin Is imminent, his own
moral character as we'll as that of his
college must be lowerd or at least SER
iously impaired" is part of the indict-
ment which DR.. Gilchrst brings against
college athletics. He has had oppor-
'tunity to study college athletics, being
an NJ. A. and NJ. d. of the University of
Pennsylvania and having been con-
nected with the University of Iowa
since 1882.
Serious injury on the field and the
risk that participants in college ath-
letics take Of such injuries. are not con-
sidered by DIR, Gilchrist in his argu-
esteemed of minor importance com
pared with other objections to athletics
as at present conducted in America.
College athletics are not amateur, DR..
Gilchrist holds, because of the period
spent in training. the hiring of coaches
and the taking. of gate money at the
games. Placing the athlete under the
stern rule of the trainer, with the strict,
unvarying diet. sleeping and living; the
necessity the athlete is under of study
ing In the evenings which would be
given to recreation, and the teaching of
the ways and tricks of the professional
by the coach are found objectionable
In the present system of training.
The junction of the coach seems to
be-, says DR. Gilchrist, mot to make
a man more useful member OF society.
not to give him that much talked-of
sound body but to fit him to be first
in some games or competition and then
send him into active life, if perchance
he live so long, prematurely old, with
a diminished resistance against the
physical emergencies Of life, and vastly
more vulnerable to morbific agencies. in
fact, a piece of damaged machinery. A
man is as old as his arteries Three
months OF college athletic training gets,
more wear out of mans heart and
arteries than twice as many years of
ordinary life would. Is it worth it?
Mems sana In corpore sano' has
been made the excuse Tor all the abb
surdities and incongruities connected
with what we call athletics. In the
majority of instances, 1T may be as
sulned that the average man will be
found to enjoy a fair state of equili-
brium between brain and muscle; in
other words. has a physiology that to
him. as,an Individual is normal, in the
sense that 1t is sufficient and suitable
for the purposes of his life. Certainly
the body needs care, but training is
abuse, not care.
According to present standards, it
is professional for an individual, as an
individual. to receive pay for individual
service; 1t Is amateurism If an organ
lied body does so. Would pure anna
teurism yield seasons profit of $780,
900? Can purely amateur organi-
cation get into debt for $4,000.
If a man intends to devote his life
to athletic pursuits. and keeps up his;
training, as he must, he will damage
himself beyond repair, 1t is true, but
the catastrophe will be somewhat de-
layed. He will have acquired large
hi art and blood vessels. to say nothing
OF lungs out Of all proportion to the
legitimate needs of his body. Sooner OIL
later anourisnl. valvular diseases of the
heart, pulmonary diseases of various
kinds, brain LESSONS, hernia and other
conditions are sure to appear, and his
death in all respects will be a prema :
ture one. But IL he trains for three
months as our athletes do, trains like
a prize fighter or a professional does
dropping 1T all at once at the close OF
the season, returning 20 his former hab-
it's of life for nine months. his life is In
peril. This is in no sense theoretical
1t is hard fact. with ample proof al
hand. How often have we seen young
men trained in this manner taken Ill
with an ailment which the unframed
man would take lightly go down tt
l,death with scarcely a pretense OF re-
sistance! Such is not training; 1t i.
suicide"
Or. Gilchrist holds that the goods are
morally corrupted by athletics as vel
as the young men. He says: I'VE no.
only notice serious moral decadence IL
the athlete himself, but to an even
greater degree in the whole studen
body, or sufficient number to give
character to the whole: they gradually
acquire careless dress, slangy ant
Vulgar speech, and coarseness OF man
ners. This is bad enough in the case
of young men. but when, as in coeduca.
tional colleges, the young women show
similar characteristics. the aspect is de.
plorable. I have seen, and doubt no
other colleges can duplicate it, youns
| men at the theater. In the evening, il
the presence of ladies, in sweaters
Seen them walking the streets, in tn,
same dress with young women, ant
smoking pipe!
Dr. Gilchrist's suggestions for rem.
edy of the faults in college athletic.
are: First, gymnasium properly fitted
up, many of the present gymnasium.
containing unnecessary and undesirabl.
apparatus, because it fosters competi
| ton and acrobatic feats which ar.
physically harmful, even dangerous
secondly, competent physical directo
who has had medical training, espe
cially along physiological lines, and h,
should have the rank and authority Of
professor or head of department; reeog.
milton of the facts that all work mus
have an element OF pleasure in 1t
that competition must be prohibited alb.
tsolutely, that every student must b,
Is AZ u - I'll b