The New York herald., 1922-01-19
University Head Hints That
Only Yale Game Might
Be Retained.

sssosus DsssotcA 10 TIE NEW YorK HmALD
CAMBRipGp, Mass. Jan. 1s.--President
a. Lawrence Lowell OF Harvard. in his
annual. report issued to-day. indicates
that perhaps it might be best for Har-
Yard football that only the game with
Yale be played. the other contests gem
orally. leading up to that climax be
abandoned and intramural contests be
substituted. DR.. Lowell, In. speaking
about football, declares:
"A more difficult question Is raised
BY the nature of the intercollegiate foot
ball games The public interest, which
was formerly concentrated on the Yale
game In q greater degree than 1t Is now.
has extended to those with other col
lagos; and this year the attendance at
the whole series has been larger than
ever before. Although the severity or
the injuries suffered, and especially the
danger to- life, have been materially d.
minished by the changes in the rules
nades a dozen years ago. football re-
mains rough and strenuous sport In
which injuries are often received that
impair the efficiency of the players for
couple of weeks. or more.
I'm order. therefore, to keep them in
good condition for the two principal
games with Princeton and Yale at the
close of the season 1t has been the habit
TO keep out of the games with other col
Ieges some, or In many cases all, or the
members of the first eleven, playing In
fact second team. This has been a
source Of complaint. To arrange match
with another college and then not put
on the field our regular team, but an
eleven composed of substitutes, has been
criticized as unsportsmanlike; and yet
what else can be done II to play in these
games is almost certain to cripple some
members of our team before 1t has
reached its maturity in training?
Criticized for Being "Home Team.
''Criticism has been directed also to
our refusal to play games OIL our own
field except with Princeton and Yale.
Such a policy has been alleged to be ex-
elusive IL not arrogant. Besed upon the
same feeling Is the demand that Harvard
ought to play with more teams rom
other parts Of the country; and at IT'S
last meeting the Associated Harvard
Clubs passed q vote urging that our
eleven should play with one of the great
colleges Of the middle West In alternate
years at the stadium and on the field
OF that college.
eff. like the professional baseball
leagues, the object OF the college foot
ball teams is to carry on a contest for
nationaf championship 1t is not quite
clear how these demands can be proved
unreasonable But the faculty, assuming
that education Is the prime object of the
college, is of opinion that the members
OF the team, their substitutes, managers,
&C. cannot be absent from Cambridge
more than they are now without detri"
rnent to their studies.
'~rhe present policy In college football
has not been the result Of a deliberate
IA nv u pnpQidarQ
ton of the questions presented year by
year and is not based upon any principle
recognized as imperative by faculties.
alumni and spectators. The public In
terest In the sport as spectacle has
become general over the country and
has increased markedly since the war.
Il has tended to give excessive inpor-
tance to college athletic contests.
value of Athletics.
That intercollegiate matches have
distinct value in stimulating sports,
which are the best form of physical ex-
eicise In youth, few people would De
inclined to deny; but the single boat
race between Oxford and Cambridge on
the Thames and the cricket match be-
tween those universities. supplemented
in each case by a series OF intramural
contests, has been enough to stimulate
unflagging interest in those sports
among the students.
Judging from the effect Of the race
Mt New London one may ask whether or
rot the same plan would be sufficient
in football. The necessity of maintaining
Tor this purpose a public spectacle at
tended by thousands of spectators every
Saturday throughout the autumn Is GER
tainiy not clear. and whether 1t ought to
be maintained for any other object is
matter worth consideration.
Like many other questions touching
the direction OF undergraduate life this
Is one that affects all American colleges
end 1t would be we'll for faculties, ad-
rpinistrators and governing bodies to
consider afresh the proper place OF
public intercollegiate athletic contests in
the scheme of education"