Athletic Sports (extract)

The Physical Proportions of the Typical Alan sports to the smaller colleges and city clubs, and the total would foot up in the mil­ lions. The object of this outlay is to vanquish some rival club, to win a championship, to beat the record, or to furnish recreation and amusement to those who are willing to pay for it. With the representatives of our in­ stitutions of learning, and with a portion of the intelligent public, the object of the en­ couragement given to athletics is to coun­ teract the enervating tendency of the times, and to improve the health, strength, and vigor of our youth. This being the fact, the questions at once arise : How large a proportion of young men in the land systematically practise athletics ? Probably less than one per cent. How large a proportion of those who are members of athletic organizations take an active part in the sports fostered and patronized by their respective clubs ? Probably less than ten per cent. In the opinion of the writer, the cause for so little active interest in athletics is an increasing tendency with us, as a people, to pursue sport as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end. In making excellence in the achieve-