THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT

President Eliot's Report begins, as usual, by reviewing the services of those officers whose connection with the University has been severed during the year under review by death or resignation. The deaths mentioned are those of Edward William Hooper, Overseer and late Treasurer, John Fiske, Overseer, and Charles Carroll Everett, Bussey Professor of Theology and Dean of the Divinity School. The resignations recorded are those of Christopher Columbus Langdell, Dane Professor of Law, Joseph Henry Thayer, Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, William Watson Goodwin, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, and Rev. Alexander McKenzie, Secretary of the Board of Overseers.

Athletic Success and College Growth.

Various statements that have been made from time to time concerning the effect of success or failure in athletic sports on the resort to colleges have induced President Eliot to prepare tables of statistics giving the actual results, in terms of victory and defeat, of athletic contests between Harvard and Yale and between Yale and Princeton in each of the last ten years, and the registration of students in the subsequent academic years corresponding therewith. In commenting on the tables. President Eliot says: "One might suppose that the most immediate effect of victory or defeat in athletic sports would appear in the number of preliminary candidates and of final candidates for admission in the following year. Examining first the column of preliminary candidates, it will be seen at once that there is no relation between athletic victory or defeat for Harvard, and the increase or decrease of preliminary candidates in the following year. Thus, the years 1894, 1895, and 1896 were years of uniform defeat; yet, on the whole, the number of preliminary candidates increased substantially. The year 1899 was a year of victory; but no increase in the number of preliminary candidates took place. The column headed Final Candidates exhibits a similar result -- declining fortune for Harvard is followed twice by small losses and thrice by good gains, and rising fortune is followed once by a small loss, twice by small gains, and once by a large gain. The last four columns of the table permit a comparison between the entering classes at Harvard and those at Yale. In 1893 defeats and victories were even, and in the following academic year Harvard College lost twenty-six Freshmen and Yale college gained sixteen; the Lawrence Scientific School gained forty-six Freshmen and the Sheffield Scientific School gained twenty-two. After the next year, 1894, when Yale was uniformly victorious, the freshman class at Yale College gained nothing, while at Harvard College that class gained sixty-three; the Lawrence Scientific School gained fifteen, and the Sheffield Scientific School, with increased requirements for admission, lost one hundred and three. After 1895, when Harvard was defeated in every sport, Harvard College lost forty-six, whereas Yale College gained twenty-four; and the Lawrence Scientific School and the Sheffield Scientific School each gained twenty-three; but after 1896, when Harvard was successful in not a single sport, Harvard College gained fifty-five, whereas Yale College lost fifty-five; the Lawrence Scientific School gained three and the Sheffield Scientific School gained seventeen. After 1899, when Harvard won in every sport except football, where there was a tie, Harvard College gained only thirty-nine and Yale College lost but eight; the Lawrence Scientific School lost twenty-four and the Sheffield Scientific School gained twelve. In 1900, Harvard lost both rowing and football to Yale, but in the following academic year Harvard College gained fourteen, Yale College gaining twelve; the Lawrence Scientific School gained two and the Sheffield Scientific School gained forty-six. In short, it is impossible to trace any clear influence of success or failure in athletic sports on the comparative resort to these two colleges as this resort appears in their respective Freshman classes. Looking at the whole period, the Freshman class at Harvard has gained a much larger percentage than the freshman class at Yale, although Yale has been decidedly more successful in the athletic sports, and particularly in football and rowing, which are the sports in which colleges and schools, and the general public take the strongest interest.

"The other table compares the results at Yale and Princeton, the competitive games being confined to football and baseball. Here again, if the whole period be considered together, Yale, which has been the most successful in the sports, has gained in the ten years a much smaller percentage than Princeton, so far as the college and scientific school freshman classes are concerned. In this table, however, the fluctuations in the size of the freshman classes correspond rather better with the fluctuations of victory and defeat than they do in the Harvard-Yale table. The figures for the scientific schools of Yale and Princeton cannot well be compared, because in 1894 the Sheffield Scientific School lost numbers temporarily on account of a distinct increase in its requirements for admission; and during the next three years the Princeton school of science had a similar experience.

"If the American colleges and universities could satisfy themselves that success in athletics is not indispensable to college growth, or better still, be persuaded that too much attention to athletic sports, or a bad tone in regard to them, hinders college growth, there would probably result a great improvement in the spirit in which intercollegiate contests are conducted: they would come to be regarded as the by-play they really are, and would be carried on in a sportsmanlike way as interesting and profitable amusements."

The Degree of Bachelor of Arts.

President Eliot calls attention to the unique policy of the University as regards the degree of Bachelor of Arts. This degree is now required for admission to all of the Harvard professional schools, except the Dental School; and the persons receiving the degree of A.B. at Commencement now number nearly half of the thousand, and more, recipients of degrees. The policy of the University is to make the degree of A.B. the fundamental primary degree of the University, and to use no other in competition with it. The President proceeds to note these facts:--The greatly increased requirements for admission to the Harvard professional schools during the last thirty years; the increased requirements for admission to Harvard College during the first twenty years of this period; the corresponding elevation of the standard of secondary schools; and the determination of the governing boards of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to maintain the degree of Bachelor of Arts in its full significance as the degree representing a general liberal culture. He then goes on to say that in view of the improvement which has taken place in secondary schools, and the fact that the standard of daily work in Harvard College is but a moderate one, a diligent student, or one of unusual ability, can readily meet the present requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in three years without any lowering of the present standard of the degree.

The Appointment Committee.

The President gives a comprehensive survey of the work of the Appointment Committee,--an institution copied with modifications from the Appointments Bureau of the University of Oxford, which acts as a medium for obtaining employment for graduates and undergraduates of the University, and keeps a systematic registry of applications for employment. The Report shows that the Committee, which renders its services gratuitously, has obtained situations for a large number of graduates,