For several years many men prominently connected with the subject of physical training have been declaring that college football teams suffer far more often from the demoralizing effects of over-training than from any greenness due to insufficient work. Time and time again, it is claimed, players have sustained both mental and physical injury from the excessive amount of hard work to which they have been subjected.

This fall both Harvard and Yale announced at the beginning of the season that the work of the elevens would be comparatively light. Up to this time the practice on Soldiers Field has been so. Before the game last Saturday the coaches naturally felt some doubt about the ability of the men to last through the second half. But as was evident to all who were on the grounds, the Harvard men were much more able than their opponents to stand the test of hard playing. For one week more, then, it was determined that the system of light work with as much variety to it as possible, should be given a trial. If, at the end of this week the men are in a satisfactory condition, the present method of training will in all probability be adhered to. There is of course a danger that the new idea may be carried to an extreme, and that the men may not get enough work to teach them good football. But surely it is to be hoped that experience will prove there is a less severe way to prepare for an important contest than that which has been followed in the past few years. One of the strongest of the arguments against competitive sports will then be answered.