El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-28

EOR many years the physical con-
dition of students in schools, col
leges and universities was so neg
lected that the very word student
suggested an attenuated. hollow-eyed,
stoop- shouldered individual, who STUN
bled when he walked and had far less
strength than. the average youth. Then
came the demand for athletics, and
soon every college and university in
baseball, football and other sports call
culated to call into play the entire
muscular system of the body.
Within 25 years the change has been
so great that now the athletic depart
ments of a school or college is of rec
ognized Importance by the students,
faculty and general public. To the stu
dent, athletic supremacy frequently
seems to be OF paramount Importance
and, in some institutions, scholastic at
tainment appears to have taken a sec
ondary place. Thus the pendulum has
swung from one extreme to the other
and it now seems likely to reach it's
middle, or proper. position.
Becomes Menace to Health.
College athletics have become so Sc
rious a menace to the health as well
as to the lives Of those participating in
tnO COulCSIS do ~ Cd11 1Ot SUING 4Al1IuC-
date remedy. Each year begins new
enrolment of men and boys carried off
the football field dead or crippled for
life, and public indignation has be-
come aroused so frequently that some
change in athletic arrangements must
be made in the near future The col
leges themselves, to a certain degree
at least admit this, and the director of
athletics Of the University of Pennsyl-
vanfa advocates doing away with much
of the severe training now required for
a member of an athletic team. which
frequently, at the close of. the contest,
makes man morose or historical
Requirements Too High
It Is claimed that the athletic re-
quirements Of the modern colleges are
too high. The average student real
ICES that he Is outclassed and so fore
goes the game he ought to be able to
enjoy with physical benefit. The train
ing of the picked athlete separates him
from his fellows. He is given separate
quarters and a special diet is provided
for him. These provisions lead to spe-
cia1 privileges which are sometimes
abused to the great detriment of the
school discipline.
The publicity given TO the game fire.
quentIy is allowed to react harmfully
upon the SIuQenIS participating. LIE
athletic game becomes a spectacle,
which people pay large fees to see.
Consequently the students instead OF
playing for the enjoyment of the game
and their own physical improvement
are placed in the attitude of perform
ers who must please an audience To
win the game at all hazards is consid
cred more desirable than observing the
law of fair play, and often unfair ad-
vantage is taken of an opponent
which would not be permitted if the
game were played strictly for it's ath-
1etic value
Seeking Remedy.
The remedy for these evils. in the
opinion of most college authorities.
consists in lowering the standard of
athletics so as to keep them within
reach of more students, and then dis
coura ging undue training. To large
extent the separate table and other
distinctions made between the regular
student and the athlete must be abol-
ished If athletic games are to be made
of first benefit to the students partak-
ing in them, instead of being simply
a means of public entertainment 1t
Is held that there should be less atten-
ton given to winning the game and
instead, there should be cultivated the
higher sense of honor to be found in
clean. manly sport. The sting of de-
feat should be as nothing compared
with the consciousness of winning IN
fairly
Extravagance Is Scored.
The director of athletes at Harvard
University scores the scandalous ex-
athletic contests. The expenditures
are frequently so large that even the
enormous gate receipts do not permit
a team to meet all of its obligations.
While changed conditions necessarily
require greater expense than could
have been imagined by a former gen.
GRAFTON, there is no excuse for the ex-
pensive banquets, the unlimited taxicab
service and many other items which
now mark the conduct of a large inter-
collegiate game. While 1t is perfectly
legitimate to provide against accidents
by securing the attendance of skilled
physicians on the ground, and the en-
tertainment of the visiting team in a
respectable manner, thousands of dol
lars are squandered each year in a
way that is positively detrimental to
the student.
Expensive sweaters and uniforms are
purchased and often discarded after
one wearing. Photographs of many
kinds. large tips for service that is
unneeded, If 1t ever is rendered, not
to mention the large number of alco-
ho1ic drinks frequently furnished to
the contes tantS at the end of the game,
are all items of expense which could
be done away with to the profit of the
students.
While the popularity of college
games al public sports will necessarily
retard the progress of the reforms ad-
vocated, the leading colleges are care
fully considering them and already
changes in the training system are
scheduled. The difficulty has been that
the students and faculty have consid
cred athletics from a different stand
point, and but little has been done
to unity them. To large extent the
students themselves have been less re-
sponsible than the faculty for the ath
letic standing Of the schools, since.
while physical exercise was COM
mended by the faculty and a coach or
trainer frequently paid out of the
school treasury, athletics were not con-
sidered a department of learning and