The Washington times., 1930-12-23
IDEA Fl AILS
To PLEASE
COLLEGES :

NEW YORK, Dec. 23.-The pa
tient may be pretty sick, but if he
took the remedy prescribed it
would kill him, and besides he
may live a couple Of hundred
years anyway.
That was the answer written to-
day to the proposal Of DR..
Nicholas Murray Butler that gate
receipts for athletics, especially
football, be abandoned and an
athletic League of Nations"
established to keep college sports
amateur.
College presidents and athletic
directors from coast to coast
showed interest in the proposal of
the president Of Columbia Uni
versity, but a majority of them did
not think the plan to have alumni
advance funds to finance sports
would work out. Many thought
the present National Collegiate
Athletic Association could act as a
centralized bureau in place Of the
proposed league"
Yale, Harvard and Prince
ton, as usual, remained alOOf
and refused to even comment
on DR.. Buffers idea.
The impression given out in
New England was that there is
nothing the matter with football
as conducted at the three big in
stitutions. In fact, one cleaned
that the mere suggestion that
everything was not as it should be
in New England was utterly alb
surd, if not positively repulsive.
Dartmouth Interested
Dartmouth alone in New England
commented, viewing the plan as
worth consideration"
Sectionally the country showed
the East of the general opinion
that football is sick from too
much frenzy and commercialism;
the middle West thought itself
pretty well organized and pro-
tected against commercial aspects;
the Southwest and South could
rot see the idea of almuni endow-
ing athletics; the Rocky Noun
tain region feared abandoning Of
athletics would follow any at
tempt to do away with gate re-
ceipts, and the Pacific Coast did
not agree with Buffers diagnosis
or treatment.
Some Favor Plan
Those who were the most sym.
pathetic toward DR.. Buffers plan
included Thomas S. Gates, head
Of the University of Pennsylvania;
Er. Frazier Metzger. dean of
Rutgers; w. w. Comfort, Haver-
ford College head; Brother Leo,
president of st. Mary'S College of
California, and DR.. Frank II.
Aydelotte, SWarthmore.
The graduate manager at
Cornell commented that "the
patient is SICK" as pointed out
by Butler.
Athletic directors or presidents
at Notre Dame, Southern Metho-
dist, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Ne
braska, Northwestern, Chicago,
Denver, Colorado, Stanford, Cali
fornia and Illinois either ridiculed
DR.. Buffers plan or say it was
not practical.
Sympathy Shown
At New York University and
the college of the city of New
York the Butler proposal was
most Sympathetically received al
though there was some doubt as
to whether alumni could or would
, finance college sports. There was
! no comment at Fordham.
At the meeting of the Ma
tiOnal Collegiate Athletic AS
SOciatiOn here next week
1 some action toward checking
football frenzy may be taken
although today q promised
fight over proposed change
in the point after touchdown
rule looked like it might
> OvershOw everything else at
the conference.
Coach w. A. Alexander, presi-
4 dent Of the American football
Coaches Association, has proposed
elimination of the point after
touchdown. A bitter battle may
center around Alexander'S plan.
The early concensus, however,
was that no radical change will
: be made in the rules this year.
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