"THE BIGGER THEY ARE--"

According to the "New York Times" Coach Heisman of Pennsylvania favors "legislation to stop light men being pitted against heavy ones on the gridiron." He would apply the rule of the boxing ring to the football field, asserting that the fact it "did not apply was one of the defects of the game."

Such a suggestion coming from a coach arouses our curiosity, who, as spectators, have always thought that football was far more of a science than the placing of poundage on the gridiron. We have observed that teams are lined up so as to make the most of weight, and yet not lose speed. That distinction seemed to us part of the scientific aspect of the game,--speaking only as spectators, of course.

But to consider Coach Heisman's plan: the proposed rule being passed, a football team must play opponents in the same class, say 158 to 175 pounds; and every man of the team must weigh in, as in boxing, between these figures. The guards and backfield would tip the scales alike. Such a plan, needless to say, would simply do away with football as it is played today. The game might be played under conditions that appeared more equal, but the tactics would change; and as for a college possessing teams in assorted sizes,--well, all that is not football.

What arouses our curiosity most is how the idea originated. Some people may consider the gridiron a scene of brutal sport, especially those who know little about it. Such people would probably object to the game no matter what conditions prevailed regarding weight. And even they must have observed that the big men are as liable to injury as the little ones. Coach Heisman's suggestion leaves us bewildered. Just what does it prove?