Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-24
ROOSEVELT and
HIS ALMA MATER.
Continued from page ID

luaC there SnOuld be, IN Har-
ward q uniform level of taste and as
ISOLATION. Some men will excel dn
one thing and some in another; some
in things of the body, some in things
Of the mind; and where thousands are
gathered together each will naturally
find some group Of specially congenial
friends with whom he will form ties
of peculiar social intimacy. These
groups athletic, artistic, scientific,
social must inevitably exist. My
plea is not for their abolition. My
plea is that they shall be got into the
right focus in the eyes of college men;
that the relative Importance of the diff
ferent groups shall be understood
when compared with the infinitely
greater life Of the college as a whole.
Let each man have his special asso-
ciates, his special interests, his special
studies and pursuits, but let him re-
member that he can not get the full
benefit of life in college if he does
nothing but specialize; and that, what
is even more important, he can not
do his full duty by the college unless
his first and greatest interest is in
the college itself, in his associates
taken as mass, and not in any small
group. One reason why I so thorough
ly believe in the athletic spirit at Har-
ward is because the athletic spirit is
essentially democratic. Our chief in
terest should not lie in the great cham
pions of sport. On the contrary our
concern should be most of all to widen
the base, the foundation in athletic
sports; to encourage in every way a
healthy rivalry which shall give to
the largest possible number Of stud
ents the chance to take part in vigor-
GUS outdoor games. It is of far more
Importance that a man shall play
something himself, even if he plays it
badly, than that he shall go with hun
dreds of companions to see some one
else play well; and it is not healthy
for either students or athletes if the
terms are mutually exclusive. But even
having this aim especially in view, it
seems to me we can best attain it by
giving proper encouragement to the
champions in the sports, and this can
only be done by encouraging intercol-
legiate sport. AS emphatically dis
believe in seeing Harvard or any
college turn out mollycoddles instead
Of vigorous men, may add that 4 do
not in the least object to a sport be-
cause 1t is rough. Rowing, baseball, la
crosse. track and field games, hockey,
football are all Of them good. More
over, It is to my mind simple non
sense, a mere confession of weakness,
to desire to abolish a game because
tendencies show themselves, or prac-
tees grow up, which prove that the
game ought to be reformed. Take
football, for instance. The prepare
tory schools are able to keep football
clean and to develop the right spirit
in the players without the slightest
necessity ever arising to so much as
consider the question Of abolishing it.
There is no excuse whatever for col
leges falling to show the same capa-
city, and there is no real need for con-
sidering the question Of the abolition
Of the game. If necessary, let the col
lege authorities interfere to stop any
excess or peryersion, making their in
reference as little offcious as pos
sible, and vet as rigorous as is neces-
sary to achieve the end. But there is
no justification for stopping a thor.
oughly manly sport because it is some
times abused, when the experience Of
every good preparatory school shows
that the abuse is in no shape neces-
sarily attendant upon the game.
We can not afford to turn out of
college men who shrink from physical
effort or from little physical pain. In
any republic courage is a prime neces.
sity for the average citizen If he is to
be a good citizen; and he needs ply
steal courage no less than moral cour
age, the courage that dares as well as
the courage that endures, the courage
that will fight valiantly alike againsl
the foes of the soul and the foes o.
the body. Athletics are good, especi
ally In their rougher forms, because
they tend to develop such courage
They are good also because they en-
courage true democratic spirit; fol
In the athletic field the man must be
judged not with reference to outside
and accidental attributes, but to tina
combination Of bodily vigor and mora
quality which go to make up prowess
trust / need not add that IN de
Tending athletics I would not for one
moment be understood as eYcusine
that perversion Of athletics which
would make 1t the end of life instead
Of merely a means In life. It is first
class healthfu1 play, and is useful as
such. But play is not business, and Ii
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