PHILOSOPHIC CONSOLATION

Without doubt, the University golf team is seriously handicapped, and occasionally embarrassed by having no course of its own on which to practice and to develop inexperienced players without membership in nearby clubs. But golf has the misfortune to require an unusually extensive and costly equipment from which, unlike the case of the much discussed football stadiums, no financial return can be expected. On the contrary, the upkeep is one of the largest items of expense.

The misfortune, of course, attaches to the devoted followers of the sport in the University and to those ambitious youths who would like to become devotees if they had an opportunity. A game, which, like squash, can be continued in later life with all the benefits and eagerness of youth golf deserves every facility and stimulus which can be given it. But two hundred thousand dollars looms rather large on a college horizon--and even if some generous benefactor should present the entire sum with no strings attached, such as a Chairman in Anglo-Saxon poetry or India philology it might not be justifiable to sink it in a golf course. Universities require many things; this one in particular has certain pressing needs which seem to follow a sort of Malthusian law with to yard to the supply. The golfers will gave to be philosophic like the swimmers, the gymnasts and the polo-players.