Editors Daily Crimson:

The communication in your issue of Friday in regard to tug-of-war gives one the impression that nothing remains to be said in its favor. Not with standing the forcible objections therein urged, something may be said for it.

In the first place there are few events in an athletic contest which equal it in excitement, and none that surpass it in the interest taken in its outcome. Then the "dangerous character" is not so much the fault of the event as it is of the candidates for the team. When a man thinks of entering a race, a jumping match, or a boxing bout, etc., he prepares himself for it by a long course of careful and faithful training. He does not wait until within three or four weeks, and then by a few irregular trials, each to his utmost capacity, attempt to put himself in good form and condition. As a general rule candidates for a tug-of-war team think that they are, as a matter of course, first class tug-of-war men, and in attempting to prove themselves so, they strain themselves.

There is just as much science and knack required in pulling in tug-of-war as there is in any athletic event, and when this fact is recognized by the candidate the chances of serious injury are greatly reduced. He should prepare himself, as candidates for other teams do, by a careful course of training and coaching. When a man pulls in good form the danger of serious injury is very slight. There are few men, if any, who, by pulling on the rope in good form, can put a greater strain upon the back and legs then they can bear. So great a strain could not be transferred to the back and legs because the rope would first slip through the hands. In three years at Exeter and two here, I know of only one man who was seriously injured.

At the present time it would be inadvisable to request the intercollegiate association to abolish tug-of-war. At Columbia they regard it with nearly, if not quite, as much interest as we do football. They have two of last year's team, and available material fully capable of filling the vacancies. They have already had a series of class pulls. Princeton has practically the same team. It is scarcely probably that either of these will consent to abolish an event the chances of winning which are so greatly in their favor. Then, Yale intends to enter a team at Mott Haven, and a programme of class pulls has been arranged. We know what Yale can do when she tries. What remains for us to do is to try-coupled with a firm determination to win. And if we train carefully and faithfully we can make as creditable a showing in the future as we have in the past.

JOHN J HIGGINS.