Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-11-22
FOOTBALL AND ITS CRITICS.
Continued from Page SiX.)

before their insidious influence has
| Capitalized" those sports also.
| DIR. Eliot admits that the risk of
death during four years of football is
not so great as from riding horseback,
driving an automobile, or boating or
Yachting. if those sports are followed
for years. He might have said truth
fully that if the comparison is between
intercollegiate football-he names the
college tine-limit of play-and horse or
automobile or boat racing ii. e., if the
competitive element be present the
difference is SO enormously i'll favor of
| football that its position as what Pro-
fessor van Dyke calls "bone-b-eak-
| ing. life-imperiiing game" dwihdles
| INTO insignifcance. l always have be-
| fore me the fear of fatal injury on
| college football field. 1t is obviously
possible. 1t would greatly distress me
| wherever it occurred. 1t would doubt
less have a depressing and dispiriting
effect on ali lovers of the game. But
should this possibility be regarded as
It deterrent influence of sufficient grav-
| ity to justify the prohibition of foot
ball as "A college sport? l think not.
and, if it is not to be prohlblted, the
problem must be met by rules minimZ-
| ing. danger-a matter which should an
| nuaIly receive careful and thoughtful
| attention from those men who are in
| trusted with the duty of leglslating
upon it. Mr.. Roosevelt's remarks upon
this point-of roughness and danger
| at a recent Harvard alumni dinner I'M
Goubtcdly express, however, the views
| Of most of the uphOlderS OF the game.
| He said:
II believe heartily in sport. l believe
| in outdoor games, and | do not mind III
| the least that they are rough games, or
| that those who take part i'll them are
occasionally injured. | have no SYM
pathy whatever with the OVerwrought
sentimentality which would keep d
young man in cotton wool. and l have
a hearty contempt for him if he counts
a broken arm or collar bone as of
| serious consequence when balanced
against the chance of showing that he
possesses hardwood, physical address.
and courage
Dr. Eliot's objection to the method Of
play that involves frequent collision
in masses" is that it makes foul play
|
| ton is that it makes the game less
interesting and too dangerous" l am
of the opinion. held by many close OBJ
servers of the game, that the most seri-
Gus accidents have occurred. and are
likely to occur, in the more open game.
and that the relative degree OF interest
excited by the two styles of play vii!
dt pend largely on the characteristics of
l., haI;
| have already said. that, as foul play"
| is poor football" it will, either with or
without the aid of the officials. dislp-
pear from the game, and that Ii would
! do SO even if it usually helped, as it
| hots not to win games, because. with
| Professor van Dyke. l have confidence
in the honorable instincts of the aver
age American student.
Because of this confidence | also
believe that the evil of over-iEducement
of boys who have been conspicuous in
athletics while they are at preparatory
schools. and who are now so often too
earnestly solicited to go to one or
another of the colleges or universities,
will gradually vanish. | use the term
| ACKNOWLEDGMENT because it would be
generally recognized that in certain
| cases and up to a certain point induce
mcnt is not improper If an alumnus.
| for example, were to offer to hesltat-
| ing youth with a melOdiouS voice, who
could sing in the college choir after add
| mission. some social or personal or edu-
| catiOnal advantages. it would not eX-
| cit. unfavorable criticism, but would
be regarded as evidence Of loyalty to
| his Alma Mater. There can be no
doubt that, as to athletes, in the eX-
| pcrienre of every college in the coun-
| Try. there have been instances in when
| the limit of propriety has been passed
never. | believe, by the college au-
| thoriileS, or even by the athletic au-
| thoritios. but by enthusiastic alumni or
bv local non collegiate enthusiasts
| Professor van Dyke says truly that no
one whose opnion is worth listening to
would deny that every big team ia
| America has at some time in the past
| plavcti - man who would not have APP
| pnared on the rolls of the university but
| FOR football" am not undertaking 10
defend this, but merely want to can
attention to the fact that, like the de
| sire to win" and the "intenSe interest
| If is. even when extreme and improper,
| Il development of sentiment which,
| otherwise applied or better contro!ieh'
| is i'm itself virtuous. / fully admit
| however. that this is an explanation
rather than an excuse. and that the
| evil IS a real one. / think [ can see
| that it is likely to lessen.
TIL" cases of induccment to forsake
one college for another are not nearly
SO numerous and are still more likely
to disappear under the influence OF
both public and collegiate sentiment.
| President F.liot's statement IS to the
frequency of SERIOUS injuries leadihs
to "permancnt weakness, when
prove a handicap to the victim III later
Iife," would be important and almost
unanswerable if it were well founded.
The fact is that the subject has been
again and again investigated with the
invariable result that the collected
evidence has shown the statement to ne
incorrect. Within the last decade a
/ committee that included the lieV-
Joseph H. Twichell, of the Yale cor