The controversy over the disposition of Jarvis Field is complicated to an extreme. The baseball men maintain, in brief, that to give Jarvis entirely to tennis means, considering this year only, that all decent practice-ground will be taken from the class nines, and, considering future years, that the nine will be put two weeks back of Yale and Princeton in out-of-door practice. Moreover Mr. White, the graduate athletic manager, is willing to take the responsibility of vouchsafing fifteen additional courts on Holmes and Jarvis without disturbance to the diamonds.

The tennis men, on the other hand, say that the field was voted to them by the Corporation; that they were advised to put courts upon it this spring, that they would have found no fault with any distribution of the courts this year if the courts had been laid earlier, but that now it is not practicable to lay any courts except on the hard ground taken by the diamond. The Interscholastic Tournament comes a week from Saturday, and this could not be held here with the present limited number of courts.

The baseball men would have a very strong point if the 'varsity nine here were to be confined indoors two weeks longer each year than their chief rivals, but on this point testimony differs. Holmes Field can never be played upon until late, but the case with Soldiers Field will probably be different. We have the word of a member of the athletic committee, the chairman of the sub-committee on grounds and buildings, that he personally visited Soldiers and Jarvis Fields this year three weeks before the April recess, examined both, and was of opinion that Soldiers was the drier. Such being the fact, the strongest objection which baseball men can urge against devoting Jarvis to tennis, fails.

The present year has, however, to be considered. Things are in a bad state, and somebody will have to suffer, no matter what course is taken. It is a choice of evils. Shall the number of tennis courts remain small until next fall, necessitating the failure of the Interscholastic Tournament; or shall adequate practice-ground be taken away from the class nines? As far as the class series are concerned, these would not alone be enough to justify the retention of Jarvis for baseball, since one of the series has been played, and since there will be two open dates on Holmes Field; but the case of the freshman nine makes matters different. Where it could prepare for and play its games in any satisfactory manner we do not see. Balancing the evils, we believe that the first are less than the second. We believe that since to lay out courts this spring which do not interfere with the diamond is not practicable, all courts should be postponed until next fall.

We recognize that this is asking much of the Tennis Association, but we believe that, if the athletics of the University are looked upon as a whole, this postponement will be seen to do more harm than good. On the other hand, if the members of the Tennis Association are so fair-minded as to appreciate the situation and to relieve the present need, the baseball men owe it to them to make no attempt to keep Jarvis beyond the present season.