Evening star., 1914-12-20

lway OF taking expenses-sometimes
rather lavish ones. too-for summer
ba.- playing upon local mines % Fos six
tion has discussed this with absolute
ly no result in legislation.
| In foot ball the colleges had for years
upon this issue Professional base ball
| and professional boating rather pre-
pared the way for a laxity of opinion
| in these sports. while foot ball had
continued long time before there
was any question or supposition of pro-
fe essionalism.
1t was purely a gentleman's game.
When. therefore, a man who had played
base ball ayowed1y for money and who
was commonly considered member of
one of the professional league mines for
the coming season undertook to play
upon one of the foot bali teams in the
intercollegiate Association it gave rise
TO storm of protests, and not only
the passage of a rule forbidding pro-
fessionalism among college players, but
also a bitterly fought quarrel whose
our leading college foot ball teams
apart The rule passed at that time
provided that no professional should be
eligible. nor any man who had re-
ceived any pecunlary inducement, dl-
rectly or indirectly; nor any man not
pursuing course of study requiring
Il certain number of hours attendance
each week That same year and under
of Princeton's players. and Princeton
questioned number of Harvard's men.
Feeling ran so high thai practically
neither of the colleges represented has
since brought a single specific chal-
lenge under this rule. Nor has II been
because of lack of cases coming under
il, but because of the vivid memory of
that most acrimonious set of meetings
and the recrimination indulged In for
months thereafter.
This brings us to the vital point. Col
lege men as class are bitterly op-
posed to professionalism, but college
representatives,. iii any law-makinE
meeting. are able to see clearly only
the professionalism in the rival teams
and the rules proposed by each college
are prepared to fit the case abroad
rather than the case at home. Then
when the trouble begins. the college
likely to get the worst of the arrange
ment in the matter of players threat
ems to resign. And what is even worse.
to save their own bacon" at home.
their college is likely to make it un-
pleasant for them anyway.
Fortunately, the unusual publicity
given to the fact that men are hired
in one way or another account of
their athletic ability has always re-
suited in stirring up the better element
among college men to the necessity of
action, and all the colleges then begin
TO vie with one another To discover and
adopt the best measures to attain the
result. Some time ago Yale passed a
rule confining membership in her mines.
teams and crews to undergraduates
and strictly undergraduates, of her
own college. barring out any man who
came from another college. Princeton
adopted a similar rule. Harvard
adopted equally stringent measures,
but not for a year or two. The other
colleges were equally active and de-
termined to stamp out the trouble, so
that there was little doubt apparently
of the final extinction of the greater
part of the evil.
And now we have come to a new
parting of the ways. The summer ball
playing which is productive of gain
and the inducement by similar means
which leads school boy athlete to
he Influenced in his choice of 4 COL
lege are the two problems to be faced
and overcome by some legislation re-
quiring no detective work. The easy
way in the case of summer base ball
is the one now openly advocated by
those who have become discouraged at
any other satisfactory solution-name-
ly. to permit it, The harder way but
the way that should be trod is to de-
wise rules that shall separate into
classes and thus make it possible for
those in the same grade-student ball
players-or ball players who have be-
come students for a consideration to
play on an equality with each other
without subterfuge and fairly. 1t is
doubtful if any other disposition of
the matter will prove lasting.
Copyright. 1914. Otis F. WOODY