NEXT YEAR'S FOOTBALL.

Football for another year has already been launched with the election of a new captain, and we congratulate next year's eleven upon a leader who promises to be one of the best of Harvard captains. From the outset Burr will face a more complicated situation than his recent predecessors. Not only must-provision be made for next year's coaching. More far-reaching than this is the demand from undergraduates and graduates that some continuity in football coaching should be assured. We realize that football is not the sum total of our existence. But it is of enough importance to demand that we should make every effort to play successful football,--and that, according to present standards, is something to which we have not attained.

We firmly believe that the new captain will endeavor to look beyond his own year. But with no established system and no foundation for one, his task will necessarily be restricted. There is no assurance that, however far-seeing the captain's judgement may be, another year may not see a reversal of his plans. Athletic committees change in sentiment as well as in open to make-up; football committees are as open to fickle graduates opinion as the captain. It may be best for one of these bodies to take the steps leading to the establishment and continuance of a consistent policy. But what we need most is patience--not the sort which endeavors to smooth over a defeat and immediately tries a new coach as a drastic remedy, but the patience which fixes its support upon one man or body of men and backs them until they win. Only the most strong-minded committee or captain can survive the attacks resulting from the existing feeling of restlessness. With the right sort of confidence a mediocre but enduring system will accomplish more than spasmodic attempts to secure a brilliant player are coach for one year.

We look to the football men and to the Athletic Committee to find the solution of this all-absorbing problem. Further, we look to undergraduates and graduates to offer their views now, and to forget petty criticisms in striving toward that which is the ultimate aim of every Harvard men.