The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-06-18
DIR. MITCHELL OPPOSED TO COL.
LEGE FOOTBALL.
Says Too Much limo is Given to Athletics.

In letter to the editor Of the Re-
cord of the Senior Class Of the Uni
verslty Of Pennsylvania, DR.. S. Weir
Mitchell takes stand agains, college
athletics, as now practced. In the
course of the letter, he says:
"A distinguished surgeon said TO me
last night that hundreds of men are
to-day suffering, and will continue
more and mere to suffer, from the In
juries received on the football field"
After speaking of his own college
days-Dr. Mitchell was member of
the class of IS48-he goes on to say:
"The change from that day to this
has been great, indeed, but am
clear in my mind that in some respects
you have lost out of the college life
that which it were better TO have
kept.
"Our sports were less violent than
yours. We had no football or races,
or contests with other universities,
but we played cricket, and played it
well, too, and rowed on the river and
spared with the once famous Tom
Barrett. We had no game which me-
>cessitated the attendance of a physi-
clan.
at is needless to insist on what we
missed and what, in consequence, my
generation failed to be and to dot
is sadly interesting to speculate on
what we might have been--4tor by
this time you must all be aware that
without college athletics no nation
can long survive. Who can doubt
that the discipline OF the football field
must have been terribly missed at the
Bloody Angle and on Cemetary
Hilll We played hard in my college
days, but we talked OF our sports less
than you do.
"Ou the other hand we were enthu-
siastic concerning the rising literary
lights of Tennyson and Carlyle, and
had, as take it, keener interest in
the intellectual life of the world and o
the college than exists to-day. You,
| fear, care too little for your lntellec
tual athletics, and certainly do moi
decorate or publicly honor them Oh
portray them in your class records a:
you do the baseball teams AS re
member, we regarded our honor mer
with a certain veneration and took
such interest in our society debate:
as hope still exists within the sacreC
walls of my own Philomathean.
"There were differences: l de
not recall even hearing of bets on oui
cricket matches. Perhaps, however
We may at times have been a little
vicious. There we're, in fact, certain
personal remarks it was not wise tt
make unless you felt willing to taxi
off your coat back of the college
Nowadays the training in athletics il
said to make this vulgar resort need
less, and to encourage such amiabilit
as did not exist in the less polished
life of my college years.
alt is rather late 10 say to gradu
Sting class that athletics have to-da
tao large place in the life and tall
o,college men, and that the intellec
tual athletics of your class, whom il
future years you will delight to homo,
will owe nothing to the football fel
or the race track. Athletic sport.
are meant, as 1 see them, to insure
that the body be made and kept sount
enduring sound, so as the better Il
enable men to meet the demands O
our energetic life. A distinguishe
surgeon SAID to me last night that hun
dreds of men are to-day suffering, an
will. l.continue more and more to suffer
from the injuries received in football
If this be the result, are we not just
fed in asking that this attractive spor
should be SO modified as to free
from the unwholesome consequence
which must affect the competency {
many active lives2"
IL ~