REED PRESIDENT CONDEMNS THE PAID
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ii 3f UK. WILLIAM T. FOSTER,
Ircsidetit of Reed College. in Atlantic
Monthly for November.
ATHLETICS are conducted either
for education or for business.
The old distinction between ama
teur and professional athletics is of
little use.
"When athletics are conducted for ed
ucation the aims are these three: (1)
to develop all the students and faculty
physically and to maintain health; (2)
to promote moderate recreation, in the
spirit of joy, as a preparation for study
rathep than as a substitute for study:
a) to form habits and inculcate ideals
of right living.
When athletics are conducted for
business the aims, are these three: (1)
to win games to defeat another person
or group being the chief end; (2) tc
make money as It if impossible other
wise to carry on atHetics as business:
(3) to attain individual or group fame
and notoriety. These three, which are
the controlling aims of intercollegiate
athletics, are also the aims of horse
racing, prizefighting and professional
basebal
Two Purponett Contra Med. -
These two sets of aims are in sharp
and almost complete conflict. Roughly
speaking, success in attaining the aims
of athletics a. education is inversely
proportional to success in attaining
the ai'ns of athletics as business. In
tercollegiate athletics today are for
business. The question is pertinent
whether it is a legitimate function of
schools and colleges to promote ath
letics as business.
.Nearly all that may be sard on this
subject ahout colleges applies to sec
ondary schools. The lower schools,
as a rule, tend to imitate the worst fea
tures of intercollegiate athletics, much
as young people in i raterrtities tend to
imitate the empty lives of their elders
that till the weary society columns of
the newspapers.
If the objection arises that intelcol
legiate athletics have educational value,
there is no one to deny it. . "Athletics
for education" and "athletics for busi
ness" aro general terms, used through
out this ciscussion in the sense already
defined.
;. Many Believed Neglected.
Exceptions there may be. Only the
main tendencies are 'here set fortn.
The whole discussion is based on my
observations at no less than 100 uni
versities and colleges in 38 states dur
ing the past five years.
Opposed to the three educational
aims are the aims of athletics as busi
ness winning games, making money
and getting advertised.
To achieve these ends the dominant
Idea is excessive physical training for
a few. especially those who need it
least, to the neglect of the many, es
pecially those who need it most. Th;
coach is the embodiment of this ideal;
it is the first article of his creed; he
succeeds in the work of managing ath
letics for business to the extent that ho
neglecs athletics for education. The '
ends of intercollegiate athletics are best j
served by the neglect of those In great- !
est physical need. !
AllliiKton Rfinark Quoted.
In our country we often quote the
remark of the Duke of Wellington,
that Waterloo was won on the playing
srouuds of Kton. It is well for us to
observe that the Duke of Wellington
did not maintain that Waterloo was
won on ihe grandstands of Eton.
A graduate of Cambridge University,
England, on a visit to Syracuse Uni
versity inquired how many crews there
were.
"Three, possibly fcur," was the an
swer. "Is that so?" said he. "At Cambridge,
in my day. we had 105."
At some collores all students are re
quired, to pay fees for the support of
intercollegiate athletics. The biUs are
rendered and colltcted by the college,
with tuition and laboratory ciiarges,
but students are not required to-participate
in games for their own benefit.
Thus, in such colleges, athletics foi
business are compulsory; athletics for
education are elective.
I-ok of Grounds Condemned.
If our universities had grown up
with the ideal of athletics for educa
tion they would not have been content
with athletics by proxy. What do we
nnd? One university with 3000 a omen
students and no playground for women,
another university with 5000 students
and less than 40 acres of campus in
fact, only a fev large universities in
all America with fields sufficient for
conducting athletic games in the inter
ests of the bodily health and develop
ment of all their students.
When we add to all this the fact that
the ideals of athletics for the select few
are ant igoniblic to the ideals of ath
letics for everybody, we understand
why. as a matter of fact. Intercollegiate
athletics have failed to promote the in
terests of athletics.
But intercollegiate athletics are
everywhere defended on the ground
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that only by such contests can interest
in athletics be maintained. The theory
is that boys from 16 to 25 years of age
cannot be induced to play out-of-door
games for fun or for their bodiiy de
velopment, but will play if there Is any
hope of "making a varsity team." This
theory, is flimsy. In the first place, it
is sn affront to youth. A boy, un
spoiled by athletics for business, would
rush that theory off the gridiron.
In the second place, the theory is in
consistent with known facts. A "busi
ness proposition' coach can quickly
eliminate the greater part of a student
body as unfit for his purposes.
Although the present system of ath
letics by proxy has had unbounded op
portunity to demonstrate what it can
do for the entire student body and has
proved, on the whole, a failure, ath
letics have had no fair opportunity in
America to demonstrate what they can
do without the hindrance of business
aims. '
Educational Experiment Favored.
This, alone, is a sufficient reason
why a few institutions should experi
ment. No theory of education at vari
ance with popular practice can ever be
tested while institutions are confined j
to imitation.. The fact that all schools
pursue a given policy in athletics or
in anything else- does not prove them i
right. We all know that, but we find J
It difficult to act in accord with our ,
belief.
The history of education is one long
story of educational procedure univer
sally accepted as sound by one genera
tion and condemned by another. Doubt
less the schools of this generation
teach various matters besides our ab
surd spelling, which will some day be
discarded. Doubtless we are worship
ing some false gods: one of these may
be Intercollegiate athletics. Why not
overthrow it and see what happens?
Nearly Every Student Participate.
Reed College has ventured to do so
by adopting this settled policy out-of-door
games in moderation for all stu
dents and faculty, especially those who
need them most, instead of the ex
cesses of intercollegiate athletics for a
few students, especially those who need
them least. This plan for athletics was
adopted by Reed in 1910. when there
were no buildings, no students, no fac
ulty, no alumni, no traditions.
Last year every student in Reed Col
lege, men and women alike, with but
six exceptions, took part in athletics
for recreation, health and development.
Last Spring 60 per cent of the men of
the college played baseball in a series
of intramural games; 95 per cent were
engaged in some form of out-of-door
games.
About 74 per cent of the men and
about 60 per cent of the women took
part in some form of athletics five or
six days out of six. All but seven of
the total of 234 students took part in
athletics at least two days out of the
six.
CoMt of Systems Compared.
How much does it cost the student
body to enjoy athletics by participation
instead of by proxy? Let us ask first
what it costs students to pay for inter
collegiate games in institutions famous
for grandstand athletics including
membership tickets, subscriptions and
special assessments to say nothing of
taking trips and making bets to "sup
port the team." Is it less than $5 per
student? In some colleges it is more
than 520. At Reed College last year
there were series of football games,
basketball games, baseball games,
track meets, tennis tournaments, hand
ball tournaments, games of volleyball,
gymnastic exhibitions, a tug-of-war
and other athletics. There were not a
dozen students in the college who
failed to participate in these games.
In payment for all this the average
amount collected from the students and
expended, according to the report of
the treasurer of the athletic associa
tion, was 16 cents.
Total Expense 16 Cents.
No money for trainers, coaches, ban
ners, badges, silver cups or other
trinkets, no money for training tables,
railroad fares and costly uniforms to
be carried away as trophies; no money
for advertising, grandstands, brass
bands and, rallies. The "necessities" of
athletics for business would have cost
the Reed College Athletic Association
$16 per student instead of 16 cents.
Fortunately, it is the unnecessary ex
penditures that pile up the burdens
"the foolish squandering of money," as
Coach Courney says. The amount that
need be spent annually on athletics in
the interests of the health, recreation
and character of all the students
comparatively small. The economical
policy is athletics for everybody; the
wasteful policy is athletics by proxy,
Almost invariably -the arguments of
students in favor of intercollegiate
games stress the business aims and ig
nore all others. "Win games! Increase
the gate receipts! Advertise the
college!
These are the usual slogans. Thus
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX. PORTLAND, OCTOBER 31, 1915.
Drl Foster, in Atlantic Monthly, Says Colleges Must Break Away
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the editors of one coilegre paper In the
State of Washington reprimand the fac
ulty for even hesitating to approve a
trip of 1500 miles for a single gams
of football.
Importance Considered Small.
It is' a typical football argument. It
attempt to prove the necessity of the
proposed trip by showing that It would
tend to perpetuate the thin the value
of -which is under dispute.
In like vein the students of Cornell
complain because the faculty did not
grant an additional holiday in connec
tion with the Pennsylvania football
:ame. Theirs is the familiar cry
'Support the tea-m! Win games! Adver
tise the college."
After all, how important is this end
for which such sacrifices are made? To
hear the yelling of 20.000 spectators
one might suppose this aim to be the
only one of srreat importance in the
life of the university. .Yet, who wins,
who loses, is a matter of but momen
tary concern to any except a score or
two of participants; whereas, if there
is one thing that should characterize a
university it is its cheerful sacrifice of
temporary for permanent gains in Dr.
Eliot's tine phrase, its devotion to the
durable satisfactions of life.
S7,tem Declared Curse.
The making of money through inter
collegiate athletics continues a curse
not only to institutions, but as well to
individual players. - Only innocence
or blindness need - prevent American
colleges from seeing that the rules
which aim to maintain athletics on
what is called an "amateur" basis, by
forbidding players to receive pay in
money, are worse than useless because,
while failing to prevent men from play
ing for pay, they breed deceit and
hypocrisy. There are many ways of
paying players for their services. Only
one of these, and that the most honor
able, is condemned. Hundreds of boys
know that they are paid to win games
and keep silent; they -are hired both
as athletes and hypocrites.
The sporting editor of one of the
leading daily papers said recently: "It
is well known that the Northwest col
leges, are at present simply outbidding
one another in their lesire to get the
best athletes. . Money is used like
waiter. It is a mystery - where they
get it, but they do."
Gate Reeelpta "Hoot ( Evil."
Xo eligibility committee knows where
all the money comes from or even has
the right to question motives. But
the objectionable motives themselves
can be eliminated by one act. With the
subordination of winning games as the
chief end in athlellcs falls also the
money-making aim and its attendant
evils.
All the serious evils of college ath
letics center about the gate receipts,
the grandstand and the pakl coach. Yet
the aim of nearly every college appears
to be to lasten these evils .upon the In
stitution by means of a costly concrete
stadium or bowl and by means of more
and more money for coaches. When
the alumni come forward, to "support
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thelr team" tney usually make matters
worse.
The extent to which interest in ath
letics lu deadened by paid' coaches was
Hhown last Spring when a track team
from one university, after traveling
more than 25" miles at the expense of
the student body to compete with the
team of another institution, took off
their running shoes and went home be
cause the coaches could not agree on
the number of men who should partici
pate 1n the games.
Paid Coach Blamed.
Could there be a more abject sacri
fice of the educational purposes nf ath.
lelics? Consider the spectacle. A glo
rious afternoon in Spring, a perfect
playground, complete equipment in
readiness, two score of eager youth in
need of the health and recreation that
come from sport pursued in the fine
spirit of sport. Could anything keep
them from playing? Only the spirit of
modern American intercollegiate ath
letics and the embodiment of that
spirit, the paid coach, who knows that
he can commit but one crime that of
losing a. contest.
The athletic policy of many an insti
tution is determined by a commercial
aim the supposed needs of advertis
ing, much as the utterances of many
a newspaper are dictated by the busi
ness manager. But' does the advertis
ing gained through intercollegiate ath
letics injure or aid colleges? At one
railroad station 1 was greeted by a
real estate agent who offered to sell
me "on easy terms a. lot in the most
beautiful and rapidly growing city in
America." (Thus I safely- cover its
identity.)
Advertising Considered Costly.
Among the attractions he mentioned
the local college. He was proud of it;
he said it had the best baseball team
in the state. . Apart from' that he had
not an intelligent idea about the in
stitution or any deaire for ideas. The
only building he had ;visited was the
grandstand. He could not name a
member of the faculty or a course of
Instruction. College advertising which
gets no farther than this is paid for at
exorbitant rates. ;
The people of Tacoma discovered re
recently that college athletics con
ducted as a business are too costly.
They brought college students 1403
miles to play a football game at Ta
coma on Thanksgiving day for tha
benefit of the Belgian refugees. Th
charitable object or the .game was
widely advertised and there was a
large attendance. After they had paid
the expenses of the "amateur" teams,
the coaches and the advertising they
announced that there was nothing left
tor the Belgians. .
The condicta frequently arising be
tween ' faculties and students over
questions of Intercollegiate athletics
are the natural outcome of the inde
pendent control of a powerful agency
with three chief aims winning Karnes,
making money and getting adver
tised which are antagonistic to the
From "Athletics for Business.
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chief legitimate ambitions of a uni
versity faculty.
No self-respecting head of a depart
ment of psychology would tolerate the
presence in the university of persons
working in his field, in no way subject
to him and with aims subversive of the
aims of the department. No professor
of physical education should tolerate a
similar condition in his department. It
is one of the hopeful signs in America
that several of the -men best qualified
to conduct athletics as education have
declined to consider university posi
tions unless they could have - control
of stude its, teams. coaches. alumni
committees, grandstands, fields, finances
and everything else necessary to res
cue athletics from the clutches of com
mercialism. .
I have a copy of the letter of one of
the ablest teachers in America, declin
ing to accept a certain university po
sition under the usual conditions, but
outlining a plan whereby, as the real
head of the department of physical ed
ucation, he might begin a new chapter
in the history of American athletics.
IMan Finally Rejected.
His plan was rejected not because it
had any defects a3 a system of educa
tional athletics, but solely because it
would cause a probable decline in vic
tories, gate receipts and newspaper
space. That university continued the
traditional dual contest of coaches and
physical directors with their conflict
ing ideals.
Recently I received a letter from the
professor of physical education who
did accept the position, himself one of
the aolest athletes among its grad
uates, declaring that he would not
longer attempt the impossible In an
institution that deliberately prostituted
athletics for commercial ends.
We hear much about the value of in
tercollegiate games for the "tired busi
ness man" who needs to get out of
doors and watch a sport that will
make him forget his troubles. It is
true that for him a game of baseball
may be a therapeutic spectacle.
Xeed of Spectators Question.
The question is whether institutions
of learning should conduct their ath
letics or any other department for the
benefit of spectators. Doubtless uni
versity courses in history could pro
vide recreation for the general public
and make money If instructions were
given wholly by means of motion pic
tures. But such courses would hard
ly satisfy the needs of all students. Is
it any less important that departments
of physical education should be con
ducted primarily for all students rather
than for spectators?
We do not insist that banks, rail
roads, factories, department stores and
Legislatures jeopardize their main
functions in order to provide recrea
tion for the tired business man. Uni
versities are institutions of equal im
portance to society, insofar as they at
tend to their main purposes. Athletics
for the benefit of the grandstand must
be conducted. &s business; athletics for
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the benefit of student;. V..
ducted as education.
It is when v.-e rightly estimate the
possibilities of athletics as education
that the present tyranny of athletics
as business becomes intolerable. Is it
not an f-nomaly that those in charge
of our higher institutions of learning
should .'cave athletic activities, which
are of such great potential educational
value for all students, chiefly under the
control of students, alumni, coaches,
newspapers and spectators?
Usually the coach is engaged by the
students, paid for by the students and
responsible only to them. He is not
a. member of the faculty or in any way
responsible to the faculty. The fac
ulty has charge of the college as an
educational institution: athletics arc
for business . and therefore separately
controlled. Why not abandon faculty
direction of Latin? Students, alumni
and newspapers are as well qualified to
elect a professor of latin and admin
ister the department in the interests
f education as they are to elect coaches
and administer athletics in the inter
ests of education.
Faculties Agree In Objection, He Says.
A few of the more notable coaches
of the country are aware of the possi
bilities of athletics controlled by the
faculty for educational purposes. Mr.
Courtney, a Cornell coach, spoke to
the point:
"If athletics are not a good thing. "
he said, "they oujrht to be abolished.
If they are a good thing for the boys,
it would feem to me wise for the uni
versity to take over and control abso
lutely every branch of sport; do away
with this boy management; stop this
foolish squandering of money and see
that the athletics of the university are
run in a rational way.
Have I exaggreated the evils of in
tercollegiate athletics? Possibly I have.
Exceptions should be cited. But I am
convince I that college faculties agree
with me in my main contentions. My
impression is that at least three
fourths of the teachers I have met the
country ever believe that the Amerlcar
college would better serve its highest
purposes if interccllegiate athletics
were no more. .
At a recent dinner of 10 deans and
presidents they stood up one by one
and declared confidentially that they
would abolish intercollegiate athletics
if they could withstand the pressure
of students and alumni.
Tenm Incidental Is View.
Is it therefore necessary for all in
stitutions to give up intercollegiate
athletics permanently? Probably not.
Let our colleges first take whateve
measures are necespary to make ath
letics yield their educational values to
all students and all teachers. If in
tercollegiate athletics can then be con
ducted as incidental and contributory
to the main purposes of athletics, well
and good. But first of all it must be
decisively settled, which aims are to
dominate those of business or those o
education. And it will, be difficult.
if not next to impossible, for a college
already in the clutches of commercial
ism to retain the system 'and at the
same time cultivate a spirit antagonis
tic to it.
Athletic Suspension Proposed.
Probably the- quicker and surer way
would be to suspend all intercollegiate
athletics for a college generation by
agreement of groups of colleges, dur
'ing which period every effort should be
made to establish the tradition of ath
letics for education. If an institution
could not survive such a period of
transition, it is a fair question whether
the institution has any reason for sur.
vivaL
Typically American though our fran
tic devotion to intercollegiate athletics
may be, we shall not long tolerate a
system which provides only a costly,
injurious and excessive regime of phy
sical training for a' few students, es
pecially those who need it least. The
call today is for inexpensive, healthful
and moderate exercise, for all students,
especially those who need it most. Col
leges must sooner or later heed that
call; their athletics must be for educa
tion, not for business.
Warden Saves 2 Doe Driven
by Hound Into Surf.
Hanters Spot Official First and Re
main I nder Cover While He lilves
Crame Chance to Escape, -
NEWPORT. Or., Oct. Za. (Special.)
An incident has just come to
light whereby the timely appearance
of a game warden saved the lives of
two doe that had been chased into the
ocean surf by dops.
Last week as Game Warden Emery
was hiking along the beach near Otter
Kock, some eight miles from Newo.nT.
two doe almost entirely eihauslrti
rushed from the brush that lines the
cliff at that point and plunged into
S
SYSTEM
the surf. C:o:e behind followed a.
hound that was gaining on the doe at
every Jump till they reached the water.
Baffled by the Inrolling waves and
frightened by the presence of a strange
man, the hound abandoned the chase
and ran back into the brush.
The warden kept right along on his
way as though he had not seen the
deer or dog. till he turned a jutting
promentory which hid them from sight.
He then climbed the bluff and watched
the animals, thinking perhaps the
hunters might appear that were run
ning deer with cogs in violation of the
law.
While he waited the doe picked their
way down the beach, just within the
line of surf, till they realized that
danger had passed. A few quick jumps
took them to the bushes and they dis
appeared. It afterwards was learned that the
hunters had seen the warden and while)
he was watching the deer they were
watching the warden, rot daring to
take a shot at their escaping quarry.
The deputy was unconsciously follow
ing Mr. Shoemaker's theory that an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure.
Undue Repression Will Hurt
Child's Self-Conf idence.
Hnmble.ru or Diffidence Is Stern
Disadvantage Should Be Treated
as Dae to Sensitiveness.
T CAN'T bear
X herself sue
that child, she gives
was a remark overheard, and up to a
certain point it was true. The child
who is "too sure" of itself is inclined
to be obnoxiously precocious. But just
as obnoxious is the child who, like
Uriah Heep. is always "so 'umble."
Humbleness or diffidence is a stern
disadvantage for any child to carry
with it through life. The worm will
always be trodden upon. Sometimes a
child is a "worm" from sensitiveness,
in which case it should be doctored
until it gains confidence in itself. Bat
often it h kept down, subdued, because)
it is thought necessary to get rid of its
"airs and graces" and bombastic be- -havior.
But you can go too far with your
pruning. If you chop away all those
little sprouting twigs of natural pre
cocity, you will take away the protec
tion which nature lias provided for the
career of that individual soul. If you
drive away self-confidence, you admit
incompetence and a tendency to "lean. "
which you will find deplorably difficult
to eradicate later on.
The child who is sure of itself, who
has a little bit of temper, Is the child
who Will get on in life. If it hasn't
got them naturally, let your child cul
tivate- a few "airs and graces." they
will never harm, but will certainly ben
efit it later on, for it is always safe to
remember the world will do any pumice)
stoning of its character that may be '
necessary.
DEER SCARED HALTS AUTO
Dazzled by Headlight Animal Fails
to Get Out of Car's Way.
NEW YORK. Oct 22. Archibald .1.
McClure. of New York, had a narrrrw ,
escape on n lonely road several mile
out of Lakewood, N. o., when he ditched
his automobile to avoid running into a
deer, that blocked his progress. He
was unable to get the machine out or
the ditch and had to walk in the storm
to the Laurel House, where he is a.
guest.
Mr. McClure was traveling at a fair
rate of speed when the deer came from
the woods only a few rods before him.
It appeared to be frightened by the
glare of the headlights and stood still
until after the brake had been applied
and the car ditched.
EGG LIKE PEANUT IS LAID
Would Clicken Hatched From It
Have Had Wasp IVaist? '
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 23. There
eotne question as to which of his hens
had such a grotesque idea of what an
eggr should look like, but anyway an
eg? that bore the Kereral contour of a
peanut and is a tit less than two
inches from tip to tip was found in
Robert Arnold's hen roost here.
The kind of chicken that ultimately
w nuld have emanated from, such :n
will remain a matter of mystery, for
the e-r wan eaten. But Arnold now
It.-"!.' iuv -it would have been a towi
with a wasp-lik waist.