730 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Before leaving this subject it is only fair to say that there is 

 one form of extravagance of which the football association is not 

 guilty. They do not spend more than their income. They live 

 very far within it. Combining with the baseball association in 

 paying into the Financial Union their earnings, the two organi- 

 zations more than make up the deficiencies of the others. After 

 paying all bills of all the organizations the Financial Union is 

 able to give $4,000 to the field association, $1,000 to the gymna- 

 sium, and still has a reserve fund for future contingencies. 



Evil No. 3 : Brutality. This is the hardest charge to meet, be- 

 cause there is such a difference of opinion as to what constitiites 

 brutality. In the eyes of timid people any collisions between 

 young men in the most properly conducted game would seem bru- 

 tal, though these same collisions would be tame fun to the aver- 

 age schoolboy. Personal encounters of some kind seem absolutely 

 necessary to the education of young men, especially young men 

 of the strongest characters. Such young men, judiciously trained, 

 constitute the best citizens of a State. A State full of such citi- 

 zens becomes thereby the safest to live in, for such men are its 

 best defense. At the dinner given by Colonel Higginson to the 

 teams of Yale and Harvard, it was remarked by Mr. Ropes, the 

 historian, that those nations which practiced semi-military games 

 like football were not only the strongest nations, but that they 

 were the least likely to rush into war ; whereas other nations 

 seemed to carry a chip on their shoulders, ready to fight on the 

 smallest provocation. Certainly those who have been intimately 

 acquainted with students and student life for the past twenty-five 

 years can bear testimony not only to the decreasing brutality of 

 college customs, but also to the generally mild and gentlemanly 

 characters of the football players. They, by their influence and 

 example in the college, have largely contributed to this better 

 state of college life. 



If violent encounters on the football field do lead to the temp- 

 tation of inflicting needless personal injuries on an opponent, they 

 also give opportunities for resisting this temptation, and conse- 

 quently for the development of the highest forms of courage and 

 self-control. According to the observations of the writer, these 

 opportunities are embraced by the majority of the players. Only 

 the minority yield to the temptation, and few of that minority at- 

 tain to prominent places on a team. If the contrary were the fact, 

 football would long ago have vanished from the list of college 

 sports. 



With reference to the evils of public contests gate money and 

 strains and injuries the writer sees no reason to change the views 

 already expressed. 



" If field athletics are to continue, the expense of them must be 



