The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-12-04
SPORTS OR WEALTH.
A Great Bequest Leaves SWarth.
more In Quandary.
MUST FOOTBALL BE BARRED?
BY Provision Of the Will Of Anna 7.
Jeanes the College Falls Heir to
About $4,000 00, but II Must Give u?
intercollegiate Sports.

About $5,OOU,OOO, but 1t Must Give "?
intercollegiate Sports.
In determining whether or not to ac-
cept the beQ quest to Swarthmore col.
lege of part of the estate Of the late
Miss Anna L. Jeanes. estimated at
100000 to 100000. the board Of
managers will confront one Of the
most delicate. difficult and important
questions met in the history of the in
stitution-in fact. one Of the most un-
usual and most embarrassing ques
tons ever faced by al educational in
stitution in the country. says the New
York Times.
II Swarthmore accepts the bequest
It must abandon intercollegiate sports
baseball and football must go-and
consequently the students are anxious
~ awaiting the decision.
Shall it be football or scholarship?
On the one hand. Swarthmore needs
the money. The institution is not old.
and an extension of the curriculum
and improvements of equipment would
be welcomed. Some years ago the col
lege secured an endowment of $1,000
600. Financially strengthened, it OBJ
tanned a ne W president, and it came
to the front as one Of the best Of the
smaller institutions Of learning. There
were recently completed a chemistry
building. an engineering building. a
library built by Andrew Carnegie and
Wharton hall. The provisional be-
quest Of Miss Jeanes would mean
much to Swarthmore. Like other col
leges, II hand must he held out con-
stantly to philanthropists in order to
deal wisdom with the other to the
young.
Undoubtedly this will be a hard
choice. Competitive sports have be-
come so interrelated with college life
that an adjustment to the young
would seem like taking the marrow
from its bones. Columbia. however,
has abandoned sports. and President
Eliot of Harvard favors the abolition
at Cambridge. Such educators affirm
that they detract from serious study
and are antipathetic to the serious and
studious spirit which should prevail
in a college. Other instructors, in con
tradiction. declare that sports are IN.
doubtedly helpful to students; that the
spirit Of rivalry and competition adds
Zest to a life which would become bur.
densome if confined to lectures and
books. There is much to he said on
both sides. The decision of Swarth-
more will he of national interest.
Upon the subject the students. the
faculty and the alumni are outspoken
In their Observation-Disclosures must not
go. A visitor to Swarthmore will hear
little discussed on the campus but the
bequest Which may have so disastrous
effect on tile sporting life of the boys:
the dormitories see them with indigna.
ton, and protests are murmured to
one another at morning devotion in
the chapel. The students have been
told by gentle suggestion that in case
the board Of managers decides to &C.
cept the b quest they can play among
themselves, as only intercollegiate
sports would be abolished. But what
would become of baseball and football
If confined to the classes? What in
centive. what %inducement, would there
he to play? Play ball among them
selves-little more than twelve months
after a football victory owe Old Penn.
Not for a ~million-ten million dollars.
Could the quiet, gentle little woman
who made the singular bequest have
known the tempest her terms have
aroused among the student body there
is little doubt she would have consent
ed to football-to anything to have pre-.
vented it. Miss Jeanes shuddered at
any thought of excited discussion. She
was SO averse to publicity that durin.
her life her greatest b~enefactions were
made under terms Of inviolable secre.
cy. She stunned crowds of people and
was SO timid that she ever would not
go to the Friends meeting house. And
now a little clause in her will has
given rise to a question which will be
a topic of discussion in all the colleges
in the land.
Miss Jeanes in her later life had two
pet hobbies "a fervid desire to help the
negro race and n violent antipathy to
football. These predominated; they
We're characteristic.
When her will was made public re
Gently the provisional bequest to
Swarthmore was received with dismay
by the faculty, officers, students and
alumni alike. The will was read to
the board of managers at a meeting
Undoubtedly the bequest is a large
one, although the exact value will be
ascertained only after a careful inves-
tigation. The provisional gift includes
all Of Miss Jeanes' coal and mineral
rights in the state of Pennsylvania,
with a five-eighths ownership in the
Rebecca Steadman tract. On this tract
Is the Hazel Brook colliery. Accord.
ing to the report Of the department of
mines. it produced in 1904 12S, 1s9 tons
OF anthracite coal. The estimated
yearly income on this basis would be
about $4,000. The other holdings are
said to be valuable.