Now that the class races are over and settled, it behooves us to take from them one important lesson. It has always been understood that the class crews were simply a sort of preparatory school for training university oarsmen, and that their whole existence was for this end. When, therefore, a crew decides to row an entirely different stroke than that which the university employs, it is necessary to ask whether such a step does not constitute a dangerous precedent for future crews. While it may be held to be still an open question as to whether the fast stroke is a better one than the old one, still, to most minds, the proof of the stroke is whether it wins or not. And if a crew believe they can win by adopting this stroke, we can rest assured that they will adopt it, if permitted to do so. It is very obvious that if the crews are all to abandon the regular Harvard stroke which has been proved to be the best one for a four mile race, their whole use would be merely nil; they would be worse than nothing at all, so far as helping to keep the university boat full of men is concerned. In view of these facts, we feel sure that we are voicing a sentiment which a great majority of the college feels when we ask that at the next meeting of the University Boat Club, a resolution be passed by the members thereof to the effect that no crew shall be permitted to row any other than the regular Harvard stroke in the annual class races.

In justice to the '84 crew, we would say that while this editorial is, of course, based on their action in adopting the new stroke, yet, in their case, it made not the slightest difference to the university crew, excepting the precedent established.