In the last issue of the Advocate appears an open letter on the much-discussed subject of allowing college teams, and the nine in particular, to compete with professionals. The general force of "X's" argument must be admitted, but when he declares that our chief purpose in wishing to play professionals is to learn a few more "tricks" he puts the matter in a wholly false light. We do not want to win the championship by tricks, if by "tricks" "X" means anything underhanded or unfair. All the sentiment of the University is against it. As "X" declares, we already know the essentially fine points of the game. What we should hope and expect to receive at the hands of professionals would be a few sound drubbings. It would be the best practice in the world. The nines we have met so far this year have not once called forth our best efforts. With one exception the games have all been extremely one-sided. True, we were almost beaten in the second Dartmouth game, but the only reason Dartmouth got the lead in the first place was on careless playing due to overconfidence. We must learn how to play an uphill game-to be as careful and steady when the score is against us as when it is for us. Our games with Yale and Princeton can be won only by strong, uniform play. This has not been wanting in former years, and will probably not be wanting this year, even without professional practice. The nine deserves much credit for the splendid work it is doing, but at the same time it is certain that its play would be better if it had begun the season with half a dozen defeats from stronger teams. D.