William J. Bingham Quits His Post on Council for the Tokio Olympic Games

In line with reports in Metropolitan newspapers, William J. Bingham '16. Director of Athletics, confirmed reports that he had resigned from the committee of the Olympic games and reiterated complaints for the awarding of the games to Japan.

His action came, he reported, because of the latest athletic bulletin of the Olympic games, which, he said, carried a message from the Japanese athletic council condeming China as an aggressor nation and expressing the hope that the war would be wound up by the time that the Olympic games took place in 1940.

In the past Harvard has contributed materially to the Olympic fund, but this year Harvard funds will not be forthcoming as far as Mr. Bingham is concerned. In 1928 and in 1932 funds were allotted to the Olympic games from the general fund o the Athletic Council. In 1936 there was not enough money, and accordingly circulars were inserted in the football announcements of that year which asked Harvard alumni to contribute and promised them that any money which should be sent along with the football tickets would be sent to the Olympic fund. More than a $1,000 was collected in this way.

No solicitation of Harvard men will be made this year according to Bingham who is in thorough disaccord with the Olympic Committee. He also expressed the belief that he would neither hinder or aid the Olympic Committee this year in any way.

The Olympic games were awarded to Tokio after their invasion of Manchuria, Bingham pointed out, in contrast to the German situation when the games were voted to that country a couple of years before Hitler came into power.

At one time there was a rumor that Japan had decided not to accept games, and Finland was prominently mentioned as the foremost candidate for the games. This rumor was controverted, however, by the action of the meeting in March in Cairo, Egypt, which defintely voted that the games should take place in Japan the year after next.

Bingham's announcement came at a Y. M. C. A. dinner Wednesday night when he believed that there were no reporters present.

At the same time he announced that he viewed with alarm the fact that there was a compromise between amateur and professional baseball. He declared that the fact that some colleges allowed undergraduates to participate in professional baseball in the summer sent many to purely professional games instead of college contests.