THE PROJECTED "AMERICAN HENLEY."

II

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRIMSON:-

DURING the fortnight which has elapsed since the first part of this letter was written, I have learned that Columbia intends to enter an eight and a four, not only in the Metropolitan Association Regatta of Friday, July 4, but also in the N. A. A. O. regatta of a few days later; that Cornell is almost certain to be a competitor in both events on the latter occasion; that Princeton has nine men in training for the same four-oared race; that the proposed prize for class sixes will not be offered before next year; that Newark will probably be chosen as the scene of the regatta; that the college races will probably be a mile and a half straightaway, like all the other races of the N. A. A. O.; and that definite decisions as to these two points, and as to the exact days of the regatta, may be expected by March 15. The probabilities are that the non-collegiate amateur races (which undergraduates may compete in if they wish) will extend through the three days immediately following the day of the college races, and will be contested by oarsmen "representing all the prominent rowing clubs from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, from Massachusetts to Michigan."

Within the last fortnight, also, I have learned with regret that the Harvard and Columbia Freshmen have agreed to row an eight-oared three-mile race "at New London," though the date thereof has not yet been decided upon, and that the challenge for this was sent before the Crimson published my letter recommending that the proposed Freshman race between Harvard and Cornell be appointed for some other locality. If it is too late now to persuade the Freshmen to keep away from the Thames course at a time when their presence there may disturb the very delicately balanced arrangements required for the success of the Harvard-Yale race, I most earnestly hope that they may at least consent to name Monday, June 30, as the earliest date for their race. That will allow the Harvard-Yale crews one chance for postponement in case rough water prevents their rowing on the appointed Friday, and will also, in case no such postponement is necessary, allow New London three days in which, like Nicsics of Oriental fame, it may be "revictualled." I should prefer a date as late as July 4, to remove all danger of interference between the two events, but as one of Columbia's Freshmen will be needed in New York on that day to row in her University boat, June 30 seems to be the latest date that Harvard can reasonably insist upon.

The membership of this Freshman in the University crew of Columbia, which is to compete in the races of the N. A. A. O., of course supplies a reason why the Freshman race between the two colleges could not be arranged as the opening event in the same day's sports. In future years, however, I hope similar races may be so arranged, unless the establishment of a prize for class sixes shall attract the competition of all ambitious Freshman crews, and so render unnecessary the arrangement of special Freshman races. According to a letter of its secretary, dated January 24, and published in the Cornell Era, the N. A. A. O. would be glad to offer flags for a race which the Freshmen of Cornell might arrange to row with Columbia, Harvard, or any other college, as the first event in its regatta for the three challenge cups. I suggest, therefore, that as some of the Harvard Freshmen appear dissatisfied because their proposed match with Cornell was broken off, they agree to compete with those flags in that regatta, in addition to rowing with Columbia. As the Harvard class races are appointed for Saturday, May 17, and the Columbia class races for the previous Saturday, and as the Freshmen of both colleges will be in training for those events, I see no reason why the proposed race between them might not be rowed about the close of May, either at New London or Springfield.

Anyhow, I am bound by my thirteen years' personal experience of the actual and possible dangers, discomforts, and disasters connected with attempts at "mixing things" in intercollegiate boat-race management, to plead as eloquently as I can against the rowing of any such race on the Thames during the seven days which precede June 30, 1879. Without pretending to assert that the rowing of it there at that time would necessarily and inevitably confuse and upset the arrangements for the Harvard-Yale race of a few days later, I do insist most vigorously that it would have a strong tendency in that mournful direction, and that the natural obstacles which the managers have to contend against should not be unnecessarily increased by one jot or tittle. Alluding to one of the lesser of these obstacles, I may say that, spite of all which can be done to prevent it, ''the famine which raged at New London on the 28th of last June" must to some extent rage there again on the 27th of next June. But who can paint the probable horrors of the case if the visitors to the Freshman match are allowed to "eat out the town" on the previous day?

If a University eight or four from Harvard cannot be persuaded to compete for the challenge cups of the N. A. A. O., and if the Harvard Freshmen do not care to arrange a race with their Cornell rivals under its auspices, and if they do make a good showing in their race with Columbia, I venture to suggest to them the propriety of boldly entering for one or both of the challenge cups. That their doing so would not necessarily by presumptuous or hopeless will be made evident by the following record. In 1872 the winning Wesleyan Freshmen made better time than four out of the six crews in the University race; in 1873 the winning Yale Freshmen did better than seven of the eleven University crews; in 1875 the winning Cornell Freshmen defeated six out of thirteen University boats, and in 1876 the winning Cornell Freshmen defeated three out of six. In 1864, also, at Worcester, the Harvard Sophomores made thirty-eight seconds better time than the regular Harvard crew in the University race, and lacked less than five seconds of equalling the time made by the Yale crew in that race. In 1871 the Atlanta six defeated the Yale Sophomores by only nine seconds, and five days afterwards defeated the University crew of Harvard by sixty-three seconds. These were all three-mile races, and it may be assumed that, in trials of half that distance, younger oarsmen are relatively at less disadvantage.

Of the N. A. A. O. itself, it may fairly be said that its annual regattas of the last six seasons have increased steadily in importance, representing an equally steady growth in its own character and influence. It is controlled by an executive committee of nine, who at present represent boat-clubs situated at New York, Newark, Albany, Providence, Philadelphia (2), Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago, and who were all (save the last named) in attendance at the regular semi-annual meeting held in this city, January 11. I myself was present there by invitation, and was impressed by the straightforward, business-like way in which the accumulated work of the evening was disposed of. These men who manage the association do not make any money by it, nor advertise any locality through it, nor grind any axes with it. Their inspiring motive, so far as an outsider of some experience in such matters may judge, is an enthusiasm for the encouragement of honest amateur aquatics, and for the suppression of paid oarsmen at all hazards. The presumption that the college races under their auspices will be satisfactorily managed must be admitted to be a strong one by any reader of the following press comments concerning their regatta at Newark, on the 20th and 21st of August last:-

"The regatta on the Passaic was the best ever held in America" (Times); "in fact, there never was a better managed regatta on these waters" (Herald); "though the crowd was great, - about forty thousand according to estimate, - not a disorderly person was seen, and the races started promptly on time" (Tribune); "all that can be said of the arrangements by the executive committee can be summed up in one word, - perfection" (Star); "it will be long remembered by the inhabitants of Newark as one of the grandest events in her history" (Turf, Field, and Farm); "taking the opinion of veteran oarsmen who have attended every prominent regatta in the country for five years past, we may confidently declare this the most successful in every respect ever known in America" (Newark Daily Advertiser).