There seems to be no doubt but that the athletic committee of the faculty in pursuit of an ideal state of athletics will forbid the nine to hire a professional trainer for next year. We are very sorry for this. The reasons for pursuing this action in spite of the strong opposition of men whose minds are not swayed by college feeling and who are known for their sound judgment, do not seem to us clear or considerate of the best interests of the university. The committee state that they see no reason to change their opinions of last year, and that they are satisfied that their action was successful in so far as it went. We confess that we do not see in what it can be called successful, except in making the nine a failure and a disgrace to Harvard College. But the committee, though they agree the nine was not a success, think that it failed not because of the want of a trainer (and here we wish to state clearly that the following judgment of the nine is not invented by us, but that it is the faithful expression of the individual views of members of the committee) but that in the first place the nine was not well trained or captained, that they were not faithful in regular work and that despairing of success they played hopelessly and feebly from the beginning. We must confess that looking from an extreme outside point of view the committee's views have great plausibility and some real strength. but we can only say that to the best of our knowledge the nine trained faithfully, except that they were allowed to smoke; that the captain, laboring as he did under great personal disadvantages and though he did not have the sympathy of certain "know-alls" who croaked and condemned the nine at every step because the captain was a sophomore, made every effort to bring a good team into the field; that the members were only absent when sick or injured ; that, though they were naturally dispirited by their misfortunes, the nine showed by their splendid fielding record that they played for all they were worth and that where they failed was in their batting. Now batting is only very rarely a natural gift and must be taught and developed by careful training. Now a player can not learn, however willing he is, to bat against poor pitching or even against pitchers whose curves he knows. The Committee however think he can if he tries hard enough, but batting needs a good teacher and this is what the committee won't allow for these reasons: First, that they wish to raise the tone of athletics and make them ideal games for ideal gentlemen to play.

If athletics ever had been nearer perfection than at the present day the views of the committee would receive the support of every right-minded man and would be welcomed. But athletics never have been ideal and never will be, and for a committee of the faculty of a university, as censors, to butt against a vast majority can do but little good.

Secondly, that by these moves the committee, wish to reduce the standard of good playing in base-ball and that then every body will be encouraged to play and that the players of base-ball will no longer be continued in close corporation. If such would be the case, the advantages would be readily admitted by all. But we doubt if such would be the case. by lowering the standard we have no chance to beat Yale, and it would immediately work to diminish the interest taken in base-ball. It is known as a fact that if the nine is poor the interest taken is small Therefore if the standard is reduced, base-ball instead of being played by more men will be played by less, and no interest will be taken in the game.

Thirdly, that a professional is demoralizing to the men's moral character Considering that the faculty pay no attention to the morals of the students and plan no restraint of any sort upon them this reason seems ludicrous.

Fourthly, that too much time is spent by the players in practising and that the committee do not desire gentlemen to play as well as professionals. Perhaps too much time is spent on base-ball, but it might be spent worse, and we can assure the faculty that unless we have a good nine in the future the game rather than increasing in popularity will diminish and will not be played with a "manly spirit." In regard to doing the best a man can with his powers, we remember a saying of Fox's, the orator, who was a most pains-taking man. Hearing that some one was greatly surprised at the capital way he played tennis when quite an old man, he laughed and said that it was only because he had done everything in his life just as well as he could. We believe in the nine's playing base-ball just as well as they can.

We trust the committee will reconsider their action of last year, taking the opinions of prominent players, and that they will not cling to their hope of making athletics ideal by novel and unheard of rules which can only result in ill-feeling and, what is worse than having no rules at all, covert violation of such existing rules.