The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-11

Most of the present wartime agi- tation about reforming intercollegiate athletics is for the far-sighted purpose of seeing that they land on a new comes. The immediate object is to make college athletics a part of and entirely subservient to military train ing, a laudable and patriotic plan. But those who look into the future to that day when peace is ours and intensive intercollegiate competition in sport is once more likely to come about-are dreaming of another col lege sport world than the one which closed in April, 1917. I take it that is the Iong-sighted views of those ed ucators who are doing the patriotic thing now in keeping sport on a more or less informal basis and always sub ordinate to military training at their respective institutions.
 These men know-as we all know that the college athlete as we knew him and in almost a majority of cases was aided either directly or indirectly to gain his education; these men know that various graduates and un- dergraduates, singly and collectively
 were engaged in proselyting school boy athletic stars; and these men be- lieve all this is wrong and that when peace comes our college sport should be free of these things.
 To do away with these so-ealled evils many educators are now giving much attention to so-called reform in college sport. They realize that the present situation makes the time ripe to strike; and striking they are to eli minate the machinery which makes proselyting and professionalism none
 tary and social possible.
 Getting rid of professional coaches,
 of expensive athletic equipment, of training tables and the wiping out of the hipppdroming features of big in- tcrcollegiate games-all parts 6f the present wartime move-have as the
 main objective the getting Of the house iG order for new era in inter collegiate sport following the war. In this come ecuon sporting writers are ccminy in for a shot or two, here and | there, fo1 featuring college athletic | news, matter that automatically takes care of itself if the objective of these educators be attained.
 But attaining this objective is tre- | menGoUS task. It means nothing less ] than changing human nature, for in 1 diVidua!s with money may continue 1 to hold that they have the right to
 use tleir coin as they will according | to each mans conscience and within | the law. They reason that it is legiti-
 mate for them to educate a poor boy even if the selfish purpose is to grolify | the college in an athletic sense, And | they can point with pride to many successful men of today, who by this 1 means, were able to get the educa-
 ton which gave them their start in
 life. Breaking up such a thing is about impossible and if carried too
 far can easily be made to effect col
 lege endowment. So much for that. The fine mentality of the men who
 seek to make a new order of things
 in college athletics after the war is 1 shown in their plan as so far revealed l They do not any longer directly strike
 at the right, of .proselyting; they go | beyond this and seek to remove the
 reason for proselying and consequent | professionalism by wiping out inter | collegiate sport as we knew it up to | the time Uncle Sam decided to cleanse 1 William the Rotten.
 | Nearly everyone knows if the war
 goes a long time-and that seems to | be the general yiew-that our educa- tional institutions will be on a mil itary basis and that sport will be
 nothing more than what it should be-
 subordinate to military work. This i will automatically wipe out big games
 and athletic heroes and substitute in
 their places battles and military com
 manders. Consequently the youth of
 the country will naturally fall into
 line and forget about great football
 players and other college atheltic
 stars.
 Sport on a military basis means
 sport for all. From a commercial
 standpoint it is small potatoes. Army sport produces few stars, ana CTS army