The San Francisco call., 1910-04-26

is ready to do anything to remedy pres
ent conditions and bring back to San
francisco the triumphs of the past is
the attitude expressed by Mary w. Kin
caid of the board, in discussing the
plight of the local teams.
Conditions Now Obsolete
Mayor p. H. Mccarthy and William
ii. Metson, president of the board of
park commissioners and who has super
vision of the great stadium in Golden
Gate park, echo the sentiment of all
who have interested themselves in the
present crusade against obsolete condi-
tons in the training quarters of the
high schools. Through lack of proper
facilities the impression is strong that
many of the schools and ultimately the
universities lose their best material in
the poolrooms and billiard parlors of
the city. Out of the defeat has been
spelled the word duty, and the sugges-
tions now being made are expected to
check this evil and save the vitality or
the city bred boy.
The present conditions are to be eX-
pected when one reviews the athletic
development of the youth of the city.
The boys who faced defeat at Stan
ford were facing that defeat when they
entered the grammar school with It's
cramped play yard and it's two and
feat is due to the careless, if not sim
full, neglect of the passing generation.
Their athletic future has not been fore
seen or prepared for and the result
has been inglorious defeat We should
remedy things Immediately. No schools
should be erected over one story high.
No school lots should be purchased less
than a solid block in size and every
provision should be made for play
ground and cinder tracks. We have
paid high price for our indifference
in this loss of youthful vitality" said
President Bannerman yesterday.
PHYSICAL TRAINING POOR
The mental training of the girls and
boys" he continued, has been given at
tention at the expense of their physical
welfare and this in some measure, l
may say, has been dangerous. In
stead of erecting buildings and buying
property on which our children could
develop into healthy beings, we find
all over the city antiquated school
structures, three and four stories high.
in which the students are expected to
climb miles and miles of steps to get
to and from their classes. We must
bring these children back to nature.
Let them get acquainted with the earth
and the flowers. Every school should
have its grass plot, shrubbery and
board is making every endeavor to ac-
quire entire blocks of property on
which to erect the new schools. The
physical well beng of the rising genera
ton demands this at all cost. The
young girls and boys must be developed,
not only mentally but physically. There
is something else in life besides intel
igence, and that is health.
Fairgrounds, Fairgrounds at any
cost" declared r. !. Whelan, in dis
cussion of the problem confronting the
board What is the cost today of a
few pieces of land, in which to bring
up healthy generation of men and
women, compared to the cost we VIII
pay if we neglect our school children?
Let us have more room for them to de-
velop in ] would suggest public play
grounds big enough to accommodate
all the children in the neighborhood.
This defeat suffered by the boys of the
high schools is only a reflection of con-
ditions as they are. How can we eN-
pect them to do battle to the hardy
boys from the bay region who have
their swimming holes to dive IN. their
fields to play ball in, their hills to
climb and sunlight to grow in. Our
boys are splendid little fellows for try
ing to go against the game. Their ap-
neal couched i'm the letters that spell
defeat, is eloquent. and we can not be
deaf to it, If we haven't tie facilities
we should get them for the boys. Edu-
cation should go hand in hand with
health. and there is only one way to
bring that about--put education and
health on the same plane. There seems
to me little virtue in any argument
against the plan for greater physical
development Individually, every par
ent in the city will indorse the scheme
TO help the girl or boy who goes forth
daily to our overcrowded schools. We
have been building our structures on
the south line of the small lots, with
the result that the play yards. small
and boarded over, arc dark, cold and
cheerless places at best. Let us give
them ground to play on and sunlight to
develop in
AGAINST PAID COACHES
President Piexotto of the Pacific
athletic association, in surveying the
situation, makes a fiat declaration
against the paid professional coach
and insists that all the high schools
in the city should have regular salaried
physical instructors to train the stu
dents and to prepare them for the
tests and trials of the field meets in
which they have met so many defeats
I'VE must have no more paid profes-
sional coahces. They send the boys In
tired with spectacular training and
stale in their events. We want system
attic development, SO that our boys Will
not be spurred beyond their endurance