Evening star., 1932-04-15
ASSERTS ATHLETICS
PART OF EDUCATION
Famous Sports Leader Here
to Give Congress Views
on Proposed Measure.
BY H. c. BYRD,

Congress will make a great mistake
If 1t puts tax on the receipts of COL
lege foot ball games, in the opinion of
Fielding H. Yost, University of Michi-
gan athletic director. who came to
Washington this week to give the SEN
ate committee now studying the tax
bill recently sent over to the Senate
from the House his views on the mat
ter. Yost was up at the Capitol the
other day interviewing some of his
friends and yesterday appeared before
the Senate committee.
1T seems to me to be one of the worst
moves that Congress could make to put
a tax on the receipts of college foot
ball games, because in such action it
would be taxing education" said Yost
this morning. That is against every
principle Of sound government, so far
as can see, and is a backward step.
When 1t comes to a point where the
Government must tax the youth of
America, then think it is time to call
a halt. The colleges are trying to carry
out programs to reach all their students
with program of health education.
and the main source of finance to take
care Of this program is from foot ball
receipts. Health education is just as
important as any other phase of edu-
cation, and there is no more sound
judgment in taxing one than the other
SIT is not conceivable that Congress
i would ever put a tax on the fees
for a course in chemistry, yet
that is exactly what it plans to do, ap-
p2rently, in the course which has as
its objective the health of the student.
"Of course, 1t may be said that the
public will pay the tax and that college
athletics and the college health pro-
grams will not suffer, but anybody who
thinks that does not know what the
situation is. I doubt very much if peo-
pie are going to be willing to pay the
additional cost of the tax plus the cost
Of the tickets for admission to games,
and if the people do hesitate it means
curtailment of attendance and a les
sening Of receipts. If the college at
tempts to absorb the tax and pay it
out Of the usual price of the ticket it
means that every college health pro-
gram will have to be cut 10 per cent,
or an equivalent of the tax. I cannot
believe that our Congressman realize
just what this tax on foot ball receipts
means to the youth of the country
The financial situation in which the
athletic organizations of some of the
colleges and universities nov find them
selves already is very serious, especially
in some of the Middle Western schools,
where big programs were built up, and
now there are less funds on which to
operate these programs. If these funds
are further depleted through 10 per
cent tax on them, there is simply no
Urou fn fOro%e 80 will
be met. Yesterday before he went up
to the Capitol Yost showed the writer
several kilograms from athletic direc-
tors in big Middle Western universi-
ties. Of which the following is typical:
please tell the Senate Committee
row desperate our situation is and not
to make it any more So"
The tax on foot ball receipts has been
the subject Of discussion among those
responsible for athletics and physical
education in colleges and universities
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Vary
ing opinions have been expressed. Some
caustic comments have been made,
while others have been inclined to re-
gard 1t as just another thing with
which they would have to contend.
I UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND'S la
~ crosse team left yesterday on trip
to Atlanta and Athens, Ga. This
afternoon Georgia Tech Is to be played.
while late tonight the twelve journeys
up to Athens to meet University of
Georgia tomorrow
Despite. the fact it will play two
games IN as many days, Maryland ex-
poets to be victor in both Lacrosse
mas not been developed in either of the
Georgia institutions as it has up here.
Coach Faber took % players on the
trip.
TWO of Maryland's teams play al
l. nome tomorrow. The base ball
squad entertains Dickinson College,
while the track team has Virginia Mill
tary Institute as its opponent.
Notnlng Is known Of the caIiber of
Dlcklnson's nine, but the v. M. !. track
squad Is said to be better than Wash
1ngton and Lee, which Maryland de-
!eated last week Maryland so far has
Iost all Tour ball games it has played.
FIELDING YOST, previously referred
L. to in this column has been taking
Trip through the South the last
month, and 1t would be dollars against
the mole In doughnut that no one
Ctner than his closest and most inti-
mate friends ever would guess what he
has been doing. Showing his old-time
coaching interest in foot ball by visit
ing the Spring training squads il South
esn universities? Not a bit of it. He
Itas been making a tour of the battle
nelds OF the Civil War and STUDYING
en the ground the tactics employed bV
the generals in the various movements
OF army units in those battles
Yost, as foot ball coach, has been
and is one Of the greatest tacticians
and Strategists the game has known
and he takes the same interest in the
problems of the battlefield. To hear
YoSt and Dan McGugin of Vanderbilt
argue about how close Grant came 70
being defeated at Shiloh is a real treat.
McGugin gives all the reasons why
Grant was not beaten there, in which
he says if this and if that, and then
Yost speaks up with, "Oh. yes, and II
that halfback of yours hadns fumbled
just before he crossed the goal line he
would have had a touchdown"
YoSt says that Lees strategy, or what
he terms lack of strategy, at the Battle
of Gettysburg has puzzled him more
than any other thing he has ever
learned about the Civil War. Why Lee