Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-07
ELIOT ON FOOTBALL.

va, iowa. nnQer the Act OF Congress OF
March 3. 1879.
ELIOT ON FOOTBALL.
President Eliot of Harvard has de
clared himself opposed to football as
q college sport. In his annual report
as the head of one of the greatest ed
ucational institutions in the country he
details his views upon football and
gives his reasons for declaring his op-
position to a sport that has long been
regarded as in the special province of
the universities. colleges and schools.
Dr.. Eliot Is not of those who cannot
see the advantages to be derived from
wholesome athletic work by students
In fact he is a very earnest exponent
of the idea of making athletics a
prominent feature in the education or
rather the development Of the boys
and young men who yearly come under
his care. But he takes the stand that
the many disadvantages connected
with football more than counterbalance
the advantages to be derived from
playing it.
The main objection urged by Presi-
dent Eliot, strange to say Is not on the
score OF physical injury to the players,
for he regards the danger of this as
rather small compared with other
sports. Among the other minor objec-
tons are given its extreme publicity,
the absorption by the undergraduate
mind of football lore for two months
in the year and the disproportionate
exaltation of the football hero in the
college world. Regarding physical in
jury to the players and the game it.
self. DR.. Eliot says:
Some danger attends almost all OF
the manly sports and taking their risks
makes part of the interest in them. but
the risks Of football are exaggerated
and unreasonable
In well-managed college. where
men physically unfit for football. are
prevented from playing the game, the
risk OF death on the football field
within four years is not so great as
the risk in riding horseback, driving
an automobile or boating and yacht
Ing. If these sports are followed for
years. Nevertheless, many serious In
juries occur which are apparently re-
covered from in good measure, but
which are likely to prove a handicaI
to the victim in later life. Sprains
conclusions of the brain and injuries
to bones are apt to leave behind them
permanent weaknesses, which in later
life, become troublesome.
The distraction from proper cole
giate pursuits of multitudes of under
grades during the football season has
become familiar phenomenon, but it
is, nevertheless, notifying one. The
football hero is useful in society OF
young men if he illustrates generous
strength and leads clean life, but his
merits of body and mind are not OF
the most promising sort for future ser
vice out in the world. The alert, MIN
Bile, wiry, tough body is, for profes
s1onal or business purposes in future
life,a better one than his, and the men
tai qualities Of the big, brawny athlete
are almost certain to be inferior tc
those of slighter. quicker-witted mer
whose moral ideals are at least as high
as his.
The state Of mutual distrust and
hostility between colleges which, all
too frequently, football creates. is an
other of these lesser evils This dis
trust is publicly manifested in humili
at1ng ways, as when member of the
opposing team or an official of the
game puts his ear close to the mouth
OF the trainer who has run out from
the side lines to wash the face of q
PROSTATE player. The precautions tax
en- against trickery, like the armol
and padding against hurts, show what
the game has come to be. The carry
Ing into elaborate and highly artificial
practice the enfeebling theory that nc
team can do it's best except in the pre-
sence of hosts of applauding friends is
still another of the lesser evils Of foot
ball. Worse preparation for the rea
struggles and contests Of life car
hardly be imagined. The orator, advo
cate. preacher, surgeon, engineer
banker. statesman, craftsman, admiral
general or tradesman who can not dc
his best except in the presence of 6
sympathetic crowd is distinctly sec
ondary man"
None of these things, however" in
sists DR.. Eliot. "enters into the MAR
objection to the game. for the MAR
objection lies against its moral DUAL
ity." He explains this statement as
follows:
AS developed in this country unde,
fierce intercollegiate competition, II
has become game in which the &C
tons of individual players can otter
be entirely concealed not only from
the mass of spectators on the benches
but frcm the nearer observers on the
side lines or even the umpire, who
gets as near as possible to the combat
ants. The game is played under es
tablished and recognized rules, but the
uniform enforcement Of these rules is