The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-01-27
COLLEGE SPORT
MAY CAST OUT
BIG SPECTACLE
Changes In Standards Of Athletics
Forecast by DR.. LowelPs
Views.
BY LAWRENCE PERRY.
Copyright, 1922, by The Argus.

at hand today leads to the conVlc-
ton that recent outgiyings of DR..
A Lawrence Lowell, president OF
Harvard, on the subject of intercol-
legiate football will be followed by
definite results which DIR. Lowell
may, or may not, have contemplate
ed So far as that goes it is known
that the Harvard president some
time ago submitted his views be-
fore the New England college pres
idents, a body which holds state
meetings. At all events it will not
surprise collegiate authorities If in
the near future this matter of in
tercollegiate athletics is taken up
for serious consideration, not by
athletic directors or such organic
ations or National Collegiate Ath-
letic association, but by those who
are conducting the essential ele-
ments of college work. COMPETE
ton on the field of play among the
various colleges will not be assail-
ed, because the benefits of games of
the sort is thoroughly appreciated,
but it is not at all unlikely that GER
tain outcroppings of the intercol-
tegiate athletic system will undergo
rigid scrutiny.
Educators feel that no better
demonstration of the effects of foot
ball as at present conducted has
been given than at an alumni gath
ering of a great educational insti-
tuition, at which the president of
the college was invited TO speak.
Arriving at the meeting he was
asked to limit his remarks to 10
hood anoah
was to have the center of the stage
for the greater part of the evening.
Another sign of the times is the re-
ported engagement OF 30 Mchlll-
lin, the Centre college star, by a
southern institution which, accord
ing to the story, will pay him $685.
600 for three years service.
1t is felt that if Harvard feels
the keen pricking of present ten
denotes and inclines toward modi-
fication of present conditions, then
indeed the time has come for all to
look to mending their fences. For
such success as is derived from a
successful football system, sue
cessful from the standpoint of vic
tories and it's corollary, financial
returns, has certainly fallen TO
Harvard's lot. She has drawn to
the stadium each year teams quail
fed to attract bumper crowds Sat
urday after Saturday and in jour
neying to the commercial commun-
al festival at Pasadena in 1920 she
set an example and gave a sanction
to long distance migrationS which
has borne fruit of sort apparently
not to the liking of DR.. Lowell or
the University of Cambridge. In
other words it would appear that
Harvard's athletic prestige has
turned to ashes in the mouths of
distinguished Harvard men. This
being so stupendous and far reach
ing, influence of whatever Harvard
may say, or whatever Harvard actu-
ally may do, will be appreciated.
intercollegiate sport has long
been hailed as the chief incentive as
it is the chief means of support of
intramural athletics. Yet at Chica-
20, whose intercollegiate teams
stand high, it is set forth that in
tramural sports have long been
neglected. In fact, thus far this
year they have not been vouched
for at all. Yet Chicago defeated
Princeton at football and is appar-
emily satisfied. Yet whose satfsfac-
lion over sporting matters should
be deeper-Princeton's with 200 or
1900 young men engaged competi-
lively in class, club and group,
baseball, basketball, rowing, track,
hockey, boxing. wrestling, gymnas-
sics and swimming, or Chicago's
with practically no intramural
sport system and a few successful
varsity teams.
From Dartmouth comes word that
sno one who studies the signs in the
skies can doubt that a showdown is
coming. No one questions value of
athletics as a great developing in
strument for many of the most de-
sirable qualities of mental and bod
lily strength. But somehow this
greatest show on earth philosophy
of intercollegiate athletics must be
iolted into reasonableness."
AT Harvard it is believed that
minor sport teams and the system
Of intramural sports could be main
aimed without stadium gate re-
reipts by taxing the students, as is
done in England. However, the
Harvard Crimson believes that this
placing Of responsibility upon the
students would not be welcomed. |
yet" says the educator, playing
Of football games for the financial |
gain alone smacks more of the pro- /
fessional than the amateur. 1T |
was this very principle alone, no
doubt that led to the withdrawal |
Of the annual Army-Navy game |
from the Polo grounds to Philadel- |
phia. Harvard has been bordering |
whether or not all football games (
save that with Yale could be ADAM
doned without loss of favor. No
ioubt they could. Certainly Har-
Eard-Yale game has sufficient pres
tge to stand by itself without a
preliminary bolstering in the shape
IF games against other collegiate
sisters. Financially, however, a
scheme of the sort would require a
lot of readjusting; for the stadium
on Soldiers field is an investment
and presumably must yield a return
Just as the Yale bowl and other
great arenas must yield return on
Investment
Few have realized what a part
the building of a great stadium
plays in the conduct of intercolleg-
late sport. They cost money and
save in the case in Princeton and
Syracuse, whose fine amphitheatres
were outright gifts. they have to
show returns. 1t is perfectly clearl
that Ohio States great million dol