WHAT the merits either of the University or of the Freshman crew will be cannot yet be said. The weather has offered few opportunities for rowing, and pulling together, and the men are in the same crude state they have been in all winter. The Freshman crew, however, promises to be much above the average, and if the spring training is as effective as usual, their chances for winning at Saratoga next July will be excellent. With the large number of colleges in the Rowing Association, and with the increased number of Freshman crews, the Freshman race will be in interest second only to the University.

We hope that the University will not pick its substitute from the Freshman crew. By so doing, they would cause the chances of the Freshmen to be put in great risk; and both crews, instead of one, would be compelled at the last moment to take on substitutes, thus doubling our risks at the regatta. There ought to be, and are, we think, other upper-classmen here who could safely fill the position of substitutes on the University. The only consideration that should lead the University to choose substitutes from the Freshman crew is that of the most imperative and absolute need.