728 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



has not so affected the scholarship of the players themselves. 

 But the facts are against this theory. I took the trouble to go 

 through the scholarship record of two decades 1869 to 1888 

 decades which witnessed the great development of athletics. For 

 the first decade the average was 2"67 on a scale of 4 ; for the sec- 

 ond decade it was 2*69. In the various sports the average scholar- 

 ship of the football men was the only one which rose in the sec- 

 ond decade higher than in the first, passing from 2'51 to 2'68. 



Evil No. 2 : Extravagance in expenditure of money earned. 

 Charges of this kind have been made quite recklessly, not only 

 against football but against athletics generally. Knowing that 

 the football teams have earned a great deal of money and not 

 knowing exactly how it is spent, enemies of the game have appar- 

 ently assumed that it must have been spent extravagantly. None 

 of this money goes to members of the team. It is all paid into 

 the treasury of the Financial Union. The treasurer is a graduate. 

 He pays out money according to the orders of the president of the 

 Y. U. F. B. C, or of the manager of the team. The only persons, 

 then, who could possibly be liable to the charges of wastefulness or 

 extravagance are these three persons. The treasurer can be thrown 

 out of consideration. He is simply an agent, and the writer can 

 testify to the fact that the treasurer exercises a restraining influ- 

 ence. Moreover, as the Financial Union holds and disburses, 

 through this treasurer, the moneys of the other athletic organiza- 

 tions, all the officers of that union (who are also officers of those 

 athletic organizations) exercise a mutual oversight and watch- 

 fulness toward one another. This influence is felt for good by the 

 two officers of the university football club as well as by all the 

 others. 



Undoubtedly every year much more money is spent than is 

 necessary. Undoubtedly, also, much more money has been spent 

 on football in the last few years than was spent in the first years 

 of the existence of the game, and a judicious economy might have 

 saved a good deal of this money. But it must be remembered 

 that the age is extravagant ; that more money is wasted in dress, 

 in furniture, in all the vain show of living than was spent thirty 

 years ago. It must also be borne in mind that in the infancy of 

 the game only the fifteen or eleven members of the team were 

 expected to have their unusual expenses paid out of the football 

 treasury. Now there are a second team of regular substitutes, 

 and many possible candidates for either team, whose extra ex- 

 penses are defrayed. Again, the students themselves are aware 

 of the danger, and have selected for treasurer a graduate and a 

 business man who will save hundreds of dollars for the organi- 

 zation, besides by his influence in a quiet way acting as a check 

 on any tendency to unnecessary or extravagant expenditures. 



