The Washington times., 1905-06-28

regard of gallant and upright men.
College Professionalism.
1t Is bad thing for any college man
20 grow 10 regard sport as the serious
business OF life It is bad thing to
permit sensationalism and hysteria 10
shape the development of our sports
And finally it is a much worse thing TO
permit college sport 10 become In any
shape o. way tainted by professionalism
or by so much as the slightest suspicion
Of money-makir~: and this is especially
true Il the professionalism is f1rtive IL
the boy or man violates the spirit Of the
rule while striving TO keep within the
letter
Professional sport is all right in its
way am glad to say that among my
friends I number professional boxers
and wrestlers. oarsmen, and baseball
men. whose regard ] value. and whom
in t1rn regard as thoroughly good cit
liens. But the college undergraduate
who. in furtive fashion, becomes d semi
professional is an unmitigated curse.
and that not alone to university life and
to the cause of amateur sport; for the
college graduate ought in after years
10 take the lead in putting the business
morality of this country on a proper
plane, and he cannot do 1t il in his own
college career his code OF conduct has
been warped and twisted.
Moreover. the spirit which puts so ex-
cessiye value upon his work as TO pro-
duce the semi-p-ofessional IS itself uu-
healthy. wish to see Harvard win a
reasonable proportion of 1.-THE contests in
which ii enters, and should be heartily
ashamed of every Harvard athlete who
did not spend every ounce there was in
him in the effort to win. provided only
he does It in honorable and manly fash
ion. But | think our effort should be
TO minimize rather than to increase that
kind of love of athletics which mani
tests n IN al 10
sports. but in crowding by tens of
thousands TO see other people indulge
in them It is a far better thing for our
colleges to have the average student
interested in some form of athletics than
to have them all gather in a mass TO
see other people do their athletics for
them.
Duty of Graduates.
So much for the undergraduates
Now for the alumni. the men who are
at work out in the great world. OF
course the mans first duty is to him.
self and to those Immediately dependent
upon him. Unless he can pull his own
weight he must be content. ia remain
a passenger all his life. But we have
a right TO expect that the men who
come out of Harvard will do something
more tf1an merely pull their own weight,
We nave a right to expect that they
VIII count as positive forces for the
betterment Of their felIow-countrym /:
and they can thus count only if they
combine the power of devotion to lofty
ideal with practical common sense in
striving to realize this ideal.
This nation never stood IN greater
need than now of having among it's
leaders men of lofty ideals. which they
try to live UP to and not merely to talk
Of. We need men with these ideals in
public life. and we need them Just as
much in business and in such a pro-
fession as the law. We can by statute
establish only those exceedingly rough
lines Of morality. the overpassing Of
which means that the man is IN jeor-
ardy of the constable or the sheriff
But the nation is badly off if, in ad-
dition to this. there is not a very much
higher standard Of conduct a standard
impossible effectively TO tablish by
statute, but one upon which the COM
munity as whole. and especially the
real leaders of the community, insist
Take such a question as the enforce
ment Of the law. 1t is, of course, ele-
mentary to say that this is the first
requisite in any civilization al all. But
great many people In the ranks of
life from which most college men are
drawn seem to forget that they should
condemn with equal severity those