SAYS PROBATION IS TEAMS'S BIG MENACE

"Probation is becoming a serious menace to Harvard athletics," said Assistant Graduate Treasurer T. J. Campbell '12 of the H. A. A. to the gathering of baseball candidates yesterday afternoon. "A stiffening of college requirements may have something to do with it; but the main cause continues to be abject loafing."

Mr. Campbell's statement was the sole surprising feature of the meeting which ushered in the 1924 baseball campaign. He informed his listeners that five or six very promising candidates had gone on probation at mid-years and emphasized the fact that the first baseball battle was with the April hour examinations. In conversation with newspapermen after the meeting Mr. Campbell argued that public mention of the scholastic difficulties of athletes might spur them on to more serious study. He was aware, he said, of the practice of quieting reports of men being barred from competition because of classroom deficiencies, but he was of the opinion that those whose downfall was due to their own lack of study deserved little sympathy.

Time To Stop Yale Losses

Dr. Channing Frothingham '02 explained the new coaching system and expressed high praise of its personnel, "We have lost to Yale two years in succession," he concluded, "and that is enough."

Captain Percy Jenkins '24 and Coach Slattery also spoke briefly. The former emphasized the importance of beginning serious work at once and bearing in mind constantly that Yale must be beaten. Coach Slattery outlined the course that practice will follow for the next few weeks, explaining that the squad would be divided into two groups in order that all men might get more individual drill.

All candidates have been asked to report in uniform this afternoon at 2.14. Division will probably come tomorrow, and it is likely that each group will practice only three day's a week at present, as the battery candidates have been doing for the past six weeks.

The attendance at yesterday's meeting was meagre for a major sport, as only 27 men, exclusive of the pitchers and catchers, were present. Many of the absentees are, however, engaged in other sports.