Boating at Princeton.

Since the season of 1882 rowing has been entirely dropped from the list of athletic sports at Princeton. The cause for this is not far to seek. In the first place Princeton's boating facilities are exceptionally poor. There is no water within reach on which a crew can practice except the Delaware and Rantan canal. Practice on "dead" water, such as that in a canal is sure to make a crew lack all snap and life, and this has been the trouble with almost all Princeton's crews in the past. No one could ask for a better place than a canal on which to develop a crew's form, but no one could find worse water on which to train a crew to win races, and it is victory, not form that the crew wants.

In the second place the crews have never been well supported at Princeton. A heavy load of debt has always rested on the management, and it has been hard to get the college to subscribe enough to pay the running expenses of the crews. And this difficulty has been increased by the fact that from '70 to '82 Princeton put but one crew on the water that made even a respectable showing; in the twelve years Princeton won only one intercollegiate contest, and that by default.

In spite of all the difficulties and disasters of past years, however, there has been of late considerable discussion among the students and the alumni of Princeton over the advisability of putting a crew on the water during the coming season. There seems to be little doubt that the undergraduates are infavor of so doing. But before taking final steps in the matter it seemed best to get the opinion of the graduates; and for this purpose the Princetonian sent out letters to prominent graduates asking what they thought of the advisability of the scheme. In these letters the Princetonian suggested that once a week the crew might go on to Philadelphia and row on the Schaylkill so as to get the advantage of practice on "live" water. Ten replies were received which were published in full in a special edition of the Princetonian. Of these ten, six were distinctly against the resumption of rowing and four favored it. All spoke well of the plan of having the foot ball men and other athletes row in barges for development and training.

Here, however, the matter rests. The Princetonian has not given up the project, and it seems quite probable that it will not allow it to go by default at any rate. The old boat house on the canal is still in good repair, and the Iona Boat Club of the Schuylkill Navy has extended an invitation to Princeton men to use the privileges of their club house in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, so that if the project is taken up on the lines suggested by the Princetonian, everything will be in readiness.