INTRAMURAL VS. INTERCOLLEGIATE

Mr. William J. Bingham, Director of Athletics, has had two years in which to observe the House Plan and to study the intimation inherent in the project, namely that intramural would take the place of intercollegiate sports. At a dinner of the Harvard Club in New York, l.e. has declared against such complete supplanting of intercollegiate contests. His argument was that notwithstanding the interest of a majority of undergraduates in sports for the game's sake there are others who gain pleasure in developing themselves through hard and rigorous training to transcendant skill which they desire to match against athletes similarly ambitious.

If Mr. Bingham was correctly reported, his brief is singularly tenuous. If the entire system of intercollegiate sports depended solely upon the wishes or whims of the participating athletes, that in itself would be almost a sufficient reason for its abolition. Mr. Bingham, however, probably meant much more than that. It is not only the athletes themselves but the entire body of undergraduates, and most graduates, who still desire and enjoy those contests that have come to hold so large a place in American life. Whether or not inter-House or intramural sports will ever supplant them is a question. It is a question, however, that will not be answered immediately. The especial zest and flavor of excitement and interest peculiar to an intercollegiate contest will continue for some time to mean a great deal more to students and alumni, and spectators generally, than can possibly be the case with House athletic events. All things are possible and the future may bring radical changes. But for the present, and for some years to come, intercollegiate contests will continue.