THE DEMOCRACY OF ATHLETICS

Those who contend that college athletics are only for the few were refuted recently in the statistics presented before the meeting of the National Collegiate Association in Chicago. These statistics, covering the general field of collegiate activities, unquestionably prove that it is the many who derive the benefits of systematic athletic training. Harvard is a typical example. While there are only eighty-two men in the University who have won their "H", the actual number engaged in athletics is over 1,300. Similar facts are evident in all large universities. At Cornell there are some 625 men competing for the varsity teams and 425 for the freshman teams, in addition to the 700 men registered in other athletics. There are few men who do not at some time or other compete for a team, and there is no man so poor that a try is not worth while. Such has been the general attitude. This would seem to silence any doubts of those who deplore "an athletic aristocracy."