THE FIVE INELIGIBLES.

Since the ineligibility of the five Yale baseball players was declared last fall, there has been a steady growth of sentiment in favor of their re-instatement. Unprejudiced observers are convinced that the men disqualified were not guilty of any attempt to break the athletic rules. It had been a continued custom for some Yale men to play baseball for their board at the summer camp in question; like most athletes, they had not read the rules, and were ignorant of the fact that they contained a prohibition of this very thing. It is futile now to blame the committee or the captain or anyone else. It is more important to make a fair and not too, harsh settlement of the matter as it stands.

Undoubtedly it is good for Yale, as it would be for any university, to overhaul its system and see that the rules are literally obeyed. To make the new regime retro-active, however, is somewhat harsh and not wholly logical. To be thoroughly consistent, the men who played on former teams should be disqualified and their games forfeited. Since this is not within the bounds of either thought or execution, why cannot these five unfortunate men,--victims of little else than fate,--be re-instated and the new order dated from the present?

The Yale committee doubtless feels a natural hesitancy in taking such a step, for fear of putting Yale in a false light with other institutions. But there is possible a point of view even higher than that, which would consider the case in the light of pure justice, justice not of the letter but of spirit. The University does not presume to offer advice to Yale; but, since the matter is not yet settled, it may be worth while to set forth the attitude of Harvard men.