Caspar Whitney on Yale's Ruling.

In the last number of Harper's Weekly, Casper Whitney discusses at length the recent action of Yale in regard to undergraduates on 'varsity teams. Although expressing himself strongly in favor of the effort to exclude all professional element from college sports and denying that Yale's action was taken with intent of "freezing out" the University of Pennsylvania, he does not commit himself as favoring the new rule. He argues with more or less reason that it is a narrow policy to exclude men in the professional school from participating in athletic contests and unjust to the honest student. He admits that with the membership of teams limited to university undergraduates, "the future of honest, pure sport would be assured," but at the same time strongly implies that he would rather favor a broader and more liberal course. He says:

"In my judgment the following would go further in cleansing college sport and giving it a healthful national tone than restricting university athletics to the academic department:

A man is eligible to membership of a varsity team:

1. When he is a bona-fide student, regularly enrolled on the university register, and in good standing.

2. When he has not been a member of any other university or college team, or played on a class team at any other college or university.

3. When he is taking the same number of lectures as are prescribed in the academic course, either in one of the professional schools or as a regular student of the university in any other capacity.

4. When he has not been a member of the university team more than four years.

5. When, if he is challenged, he produces certificates from the faculty of his university showing him to be pursuing the required course.

6. These rules to cover football, baseball, rowing, track athletics, and all other intercollegiate sports."

Whether or not in the light of the last three or four years experience it will be wise to limit university games to under graduates only, is a question which is not by any means settled by Yale's recent actions, although they may prove to be desirable. Even at New Haven there is not unity of opinion. Reports in yesterday's papers stated that the members of all departments of the Yale Law School had met and after thoroughly discussing the situation for an hour, appointed a committee of three to enter a formal protest against applying the undergraduate rule to baseball.

Among the baseball men in the Law School are Bowers the 'varsity pitcher: Graves the football player and a member of the Trinity nines of the past three years; O' Neil, the crack first baseman of the Holy Cross team; Farrell, second baseman on the Exeter nine for the past two years; Norton, last year's short stop on the Yale team; D. W. Parsons, an old third baseman on the Colby University team and for two years a member of the New England League; Foster, another old Colby player; Redding, of last year's Syracuse University nine, and others. These men intended to train for the 'varsity team.

Whether the protest of the law students prevails or not, a team will be organized and at once begin training. It will enter the field as the Law School Baseball Club of Yale University and issue challenges to the 'varsity teams of Yale, Harvard Princeton, and other colleges.