COLLEGE ATHLETICS TENDING TOWARDS SPORT FOR ALL RATHER THAN INTENSIFIED TRAINING FOR FEW

The trend of college athletics this spring is visibly toward that form of sport which effects the general development of all students rather than the intensified training of a few. Though formal intercollegiate contests were abandoned early in the fall by many of the larger colleges, the recent tendency is to conduct games as usual, though with an object, not of victory, but of physical development.

The value of this movement has been recently brought out in a bulletin issued by the Y. M. C. A., which pointed out the immediate need in military camps, both in the United States and in France, for college athletes above the draft age who possess the ability to promote and organize sports for large numbers of men. More than 300 physical directors are now in the camps, it was stated, and 100 of these are already in France. An additional 100 are wanted at once and at least 30 each month thereafter.

A meeting of prominent delegates from about 15 colleges was held at the University Club in New York City earlier this week, at which a committee was formed to assist the Y. M. C. A. in securing the necessary instructors. It was declared at the meeting that eventually every college in the country will be represented on the committee.

Usual Schedule at U. of P.

The University of Pennsylvania is going ahead with the usual athletic schedule with the feeling that it is an especial duty to the country to promote the physical vigor of the undergraduates by keeping alive an unflagging interest in sports. Quite recently, in an address in New York City, M. J. Pickering, graduate manager of athletics at the University of Pennsylvania, justified this policy by attributing its adoption to the outspoken appeal of the student body for participation in various branches of sport in order that they might fit themselves for military service.

At Cornell, preparations for the inauguration of the University lacrosse season will begin on next Monday, when the initial practice will be held. Although the team will have a nucleus of only three veterans, athletic authorities intend to lay special emphasis on lacrosse, as it is one of the intercollegiate sports strongly advocated by the Government as valuable training for future soldiers.

Academic and Athletic Work at M. I. T.

Academic work is going on at M. I. T. with an extremely small falling off in attendance. For the second half-year, 1,650 students have registered, as against 1,700 for the first semester. The fact that M. I. T. has been able to hold this number,--90 percent of its normal registration,--in spite of the war, is due to the fact that stress has been laid upon the need for trained engineers, both during and after the war. In recognition of this need the Government has granted temporary exemption from the draft to students pursuing certain courses in technical institutions throughout the country.

In athletics, M. I. T. is at present primarily interested in swimming and track, though in the latter branch attention is being paid only to the Freshman team, which will hold a dual meet against Lowell Institute Saturday night. As the upperclassmen are for the most part engaged in preparing to enter Government service, track athletics finds no more of their time than as a body-building measure.

Tomorrow evening Technology swimmers will meet the Amherst team in the Boston Y.M.C.A. A later contest is scheduled with Wesleyan at Middletown and arrangements are being made for taking up the races with Yale, which were postponed because of the fuel shortage. Yale is now tied with Princeton and Columbia for the swimming championship between those colleges.