The morning journal-courier., 1908-04-17
Harvard's Head, in Annual Re
port, Declares Exaggeration
Of Sports Remains a
Crying Evil.
THINKS FOOTBALL USELESS
Urges That intercollegiate Games be
Reduced 10 Two Per Season for
Each Sport--pacc Too
Intense,

'dOlDIluS', MaSFu NNTll lu' ~ lllu
opinion Of President Charles w, Eliot
of Harvard university las embodied In
his annual report to the board of over
seers to-day, the exaggeratlon of ath-
letlc sports IN schools and colleges re-
mains n crying evil. In an extended
criticism of college sports President
Eliot reiterated his previously eX-
pressed opinions regarding football,
classing II ms "the least useful of all
the games"
President Eliot'e report says.
THE eXaggeration OF athletic sports
lr schools and colleges remains a cry
Ing evil, and there are no clear signs
that any cffcctual remedy Is taking Of
feet, The strong tendency Of the high
~ competitive, violent games Is to re-
duce the proportion of boys and young
men who play them, and to impede the
universal development of wholesome
sports accessible TO all To he sure,
playing on teams Is now confined to
school years and three years in college,
fessIona schools; but these limitations
have no tendency to make the playing
Of football. baseball, hockey, and
basketball more general among school
boys and students, for the fierce COM
petition makes these games so intense
that they are unsuitable for any but a
small proportion Of the school boys and
the students
"The college sport most popular with
| spectators and newspapers, namely,
/ football, Is the least useful Of all the
Z games; because n smaller proportional
number of students arc ht for that
sport than for any other, Another OBJ
| lection to all the violent sports Is that
they cannot be played after the coll
lege period. port which will be
useful to any healthy man until he Is
( sixty Is much more valuable college
sport than one that he cannot play af-
ter he Is twenty-thrce. Every intelli-
gent youth ought 10 cultivate sports
that he knows will serve him until he
is old, rather than those he cannot keer
up after he leaves college. The moder-
ate. generally available, and LONG
available sports are also much more
wholesome than the violent sports
which only few can endure, and these
few only while they are Young.
THE means of repressing the pre-.
vailing cxaegeration Of athletic sport;
are obvious. AS was stated in the last
report. The number Of intercollegiate
contests should be reduced to two II
each sport during any one season, the
rest Of the competition in each spor
being exclusively home competition
The most successful sport at Harvard
as regards bringing out many competi
tors for honors IN tho sport Is row
ing; and 1t has been ahundantly prov
cd that tho interest In rowing can HI
fully maintained on two intercollegiate
competitions IN the year. In order t.
give this policy chance to succeed /
would he necessary for two or NOR
colleges to agree that they would per
nit only two intercollegiate contest
IN season In each sport; for II would
nf course. he useless for a college team
IlltI NdN NtItllllltu blllN lND lIiltIt'l
eelate contests In season to Compet
with college team that was permit
etd ten or twenty. To turn out on tn
right day the most perfect team possl
bic in any Que Of the intense sports,
a piece Of administrative business {
which much money, tho best expert ad
vice, the skill Of professional teachers
and the whole life Of the players 70
months must he devoted One featur
Of this business Is watching the per
formances Of school teams all over tn
: country, and securing the best ho
players by Offering them favorable or
portunities. pecuniary or other. Col
leges which go heartily into this busi
ness will almost certainly succeed i
athletic contests more frequently tha
y college which do not. Whether the
y viii SO promote the real objects fc
y which colleges exist, is a different mat
: ter Many commercial interest
: strongly promote the oxaggeration
: athletic sports in schools and college
u as, for example, the hired manager
il Continued on Fourth Pagc)
n