Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-31

not be constructive.
Here, briefly, are some of the mat
tiers discussed and the decisions
reached:
Definitely decided to recommend
10 the colleges and universities
that no man actively connected
with professional foot ball after
September /, 1926. be employed in
any capacity in connection with
college foot ball.
Committee appointed especially
10 study the length of time that
should be allowed each day for
practice. when practice should be
gin in the Fail. and to determine i'll
what way, if any, OVeremphaSiS Is
being placed on intercollegiate and
interscholastic sports.
DO away with all games that
have rs a part of them a purely
commercial aim. such, for instance,
As contests staged with the object
of promotin. real estate ventures
or for some other like advertising
purpose.
Committee appointed to study
proposed participation of colleges
as colleges i'll the next Olympic
games.
Establishment of board of arbitra-
ton to which colleges may appeal
standing that decision of the board
will be final.
Wide Range to Meetings.
The meetings yesterday had wide
range OF discussion. Everything in
college athletics from Summer base
bah to professional foot ball. from
athletics in the elementary schools to
the Olympics, including the proper
Interpretation OF the rule against pro-
feSSionaliSm. came in for more than
ordinary mention. In fact, after some
Of the talks. and almost after the
meeting. one was constrained to re-
mark as others in like situation have
often before remarked in more or less
good grammatical language, We'll,
where are we at?'
After listening to the long discus
SionS, one cannot help but bark back
to a statement made by Walter Camp
a year or two before his death, and
believe that. after all, he was right
when he said:
These discussions are a fine thing.
in that they bring US all together,
make us know one another better, de-
Nelop a better spirit among US and
hold us to cooperate more definitely,
but, as far as thinking you are going
to change college athletics, or elimin
ate all the troubles of college athletics
all at one crack. you are wasting time.
College athletics Is nothing more nor
less than a cross section of American
life, and youll never change college
athletics any more rapidly than you
change American life"
Which is not far from true.
And it forces itself upon one even
more effectively when it is considered
that Yesterday while representatives
of colleges Crom coast to coast were
in one room. as members of the Ma
tional Collegiate Athletic Association,
discussing with important dignity the
subject Of intercollegiate and inter
scholastic athletics, in another room
were members of the American Stu
dent Health Association discussing
with Just as much seriousness methods
of preventing Intercollegiate boxers
and wreStlers developing caulit1ower
ears. Education, amateuriSm and
cauliflower ears, they just don't seem
to mix, but they are a cross section
of American life.
Two Classes of Persons.
After listening to. and in some
small measure taking part in, three
days of discussion about college ath-
letiCs. no definite conclusion is to be
reached except that in athletics as in
everything else, the world is made up
of just two classes of human beings
two-tisted individuals, who always
want to forge ahead. and another class
that Just as determinedly intends to
stand still.
The one looks not sometime as to
where it is going but goes just the
same, the other never goes anywhere
until dragged by sheer force and
against it's will. For the one the world
does not progress rapidly enough, for
the other it goes ahead entirely too
fast And this constant conflict is re
fected in athletics as in every other
phase of life.
As Fred Moore, graduate manager
of athletics at Harvard, said in talk
ing about the overemphasis on foot
ball, Il am not worried about any
so-called overemphasis on foot ball.
Recently in looking through the re-
ports of the president of Harvard
University in 1891. l found that
President Eliot made substantially
the same criticism of college ath-
letics that we hear today, namely,
that it occupies too prominent a place
in college life
A hundred years ago some politicians
were claiming that the country could
not survive that it was going 10 dis
aSter as quickly as others could send
III / a
colored is heard now. And the same
thing will he heard so years from now
and d hundred years from now 1t
is just the cross-SeCtion of Amer
lean life College athletics, as valu-
able as they are in the community
life of the colleges. may hardly be eX-
pected to he any more immune from
reactionary and progressive discus
sions than any other phase of ma
tional life.
Continuing to Improve.
When college athletics of today is
considered as compared with college
athletics of 10 years ago-even of 3
years ago-Conditions are 50 much
better that there hardly is any COM
parison. Five years from today col
lege athletics will be bigger and bet
ter still, and 90 years from today still
bigger and better.
So. Notwithstanding the fact that 1t
is we'll known college athletics is not
entirely free from everything unde-
sirable, it is just as we'll known that
neither is any other phase of life.
In connection with college athletics
lust one thing should always be re-
membered-that a good doctor never
administers medicine to patient until
he is pretty certain that the medicine
Will be helpful.
Gives Fine Address.
In the morning meeting yesterday
President Hopkins of Dartmouth gave
a prepared address on THE Place Of