Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-03
FIRST OUTDOOR TRACK
AND FIELD MEET IN 1907
Annual Relay Carnival Be Held at PHILADELPHIA April IT,
Number Of Competitors Viii Be Considerably Above 1000
Talk Of Devoing Two Days to the Affair."

they win be held In London means that
! the pick OF Ensiand's athletes will be on
nent. That America will be splendidly rep
resented Is equally certain. There is a sort
OF mad enthusiasm In this country which
| Is aroused every time an American team
is sent abroad. We have heard so much
about English superiority in track athletics
/, that we revel in every opportunity to show
that this superiority now belongs to the
Americans.
Although America should carry off the
lions share of prizes as she did at Paris i'm
100 and at Athens in 1906 we will undoubt-
edly have more trouble with the Britons
than on any former occasion. Englishmen
feel a good bit Inundated over the severe
trouncing they got at Athens last year and
they are desperate to reverse things In
lUS. The Britons complain that their
l9O8 team was by no means representative
OF their full strength They say that the
English A. A. A passed q rule that every
athlete who went from their body had to
pay his own expenses without the aid of
any club. and that many being unable to
do this refrained from going. This may or
may not have been true but In any event
We may expect more difficulty In making a
cream sweep in 1908 than In previous years.
The interest in the meet in England Is
growing very rapidly. In order to seat the
crowds which will attend an immense
stadium must be erected capable OF seating
lUO.VO persons. There Is country In
the world which gives better support to
track and field athletics than England and
Tor this reason the stadium is sure to prove
none too large.
Confusion Over Freshman Rule.
There promises to be quite bit of con.
fusion in eastern university circles over
the freshman rule as applied to rowing.
Although this rule states specifically that
first-year students will not be allowed to
compete in an intercollegiate regatta, yet
the fact that the two regattas are held In
the latter part Of June, after the academic
year has closed. seems to have offered a
loophole through which desirable freshman
oarsmen can be squeezed For instance
two big universities in the east insist that
to make freshmen eligible the first year
men must merely pass their final examina-
lions and receive their certificates of ad.
mission to the next higher class.
This sort OF argument will not hold
ter Everybody knows that the freshman
rule was passed for the sole purpose of pre-
venting the intercollegiate competition OF
first-year men until they had started In
their second year Although the use OF
freshmen In these regattas might be within
the strict letter of the law. 1t would be
wholly contrary to its spirit. and any in
stitution which tries to 50 interpret 1t will
do so to Its sorrow. 1t is merely an acct
dent that the regattas follow the end Of
the college year. They are held after in
stead of before commencement simply be-
cause their river practice compels the men
to be absent from the university for a Pc
impossible for the crews to get away for
this length of time before commencement,
their faculties have permitted the regattas
to be held after this event. But the regatta
is understood to belong to the academic
year and no man not eligible for an event
before commencement can be considered as
eligible for one which by special consent
is held afterward.
The refusal of Columbia and Georgetown
to adopt the freshman rule now In force at
Cornell Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Wis
consin may compel the intercollegiate Row.
ing Association. which controls the Pough-
kecpsie regatta, to pass a rule barring all
freshmen, just as the intercollegiate A.
A. A. A. did In track and field athletics. 1t
is not fair for big university like Column
bia to freshmen when first-year student
are barred by the other colleges which
compete here. There Is some justification
for Georgetown's use OF freshmen since the
southerners have the greatest difficulty in
getting any kind of an eight together. IL
possible the association ought to grant spe-
cial privileges to Georgetown in this mat
ter, but Columbia ought to be made to
measure up to the same standards which
are set for her rivals. The next meeting
of the Rowing Association stewards may
see this matter considered.