Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-08

other university. where their. work was
tempered by athletics. II II Is another
case. such ss moving from some city near
their old university 20 one nearer Chi
cago. for instance, which impels the
charge, at least they are under the same
ruling. This IL a perfectly innocent step
that brings with Il all the consequences
Of one undertaken with a worse Intent
The best that can be said, then, IL thst II
Is unfortunate.
BY preventing the athlete from another
college ever from taking part In sports in
another university much OF the unpleasant
ness which now exists can be done away
with. There can be no talk OF PROSECUTING
and no insinuatlon that the big college COB
bles up all the good men of the smaller
one. II a man changes colleges because
he is after better things in the line OF in
struction to some particular line there Is
no question: that he should feel hurt at
being barred from varsity sports. Pri-
marily, that should be. at Chicago, for
men, and so on.
East slow to Reform.
An example Of the wrong SORT of uni
versity team was at Columbia some years
ago, when the foot ball eleven had men
from Williams, Wesleyan Michigan and
what not on It. These men had no real
loyalty to Columbia, It may be said With
out hurting their feelings. They were In
Columbia to pursue. in most cases, grad
uate work. and they were not Calurabia
men any more than IN American Rhodes
scholar is really and truly an oxford man.
1t is not always the fault OF the college,
either. Many men who come into athletic
prominence write to coatches in bigger uni
versities asking whether they would be
welcomed If they made a change. Prof.
Stage has had occasion to deal with some
Of these men and has written In return
that he had no interest in their move
ments. Latterly he has been strongly
tempted to make a sharp reply to these
men, whose very action Is enough to bring
Chicago into disrepute. He cannot help
what they may be intending to do In the
way OF selling their athletic ability, but he
argues that IL II became impossible for
them to find a market an end would be
put to one form Of athletic traffic.
He has no objection, nor has any other
man in charge of college sport, to let these
men have every privilege Of exercising In
the second university they may choose to
adorn. But that is what few of them are
after. II they haven't been approached by
some person interested they are eager for
themselves to share in the glory that at
taches to being a star mar on a big uni
versity eleven or other athletic team. They
want that because they believe they are
qualified to be big frogs In big puddles'
quite as they were big frogs in small
puddles. That is where the athlete very
often is to blame. Often in just such cases
folks outside blame the college for reaching
out to grab up good men from small
colleges.
Again, Too Many Rules.
The conference, which may be said to
lead in reforms, undoubtedly leads also ir
the amount Of legislation enacted on behalf
of sports. The code OF rules covering what
an athlete may or may not do is no small
list. 1t is entirely too big for a thing
which, after all. is sport. The sport idea
has been rather lost sight of in many uni
versities, it must be confessed. Year by
year the code of laws has grown, so that
the athlete has to be something OF a