ball team that we had in the four years, in addition to paying a
large sum for a coach, reported a considerable balance in the
treasury at the end of the only successful season from a financial
standpoint of the four.
Right here it might well be said that the writer does not mean
to place the financial side of college athletics above the athletic
side, but it is his intention to discuss merely the one side of the
question and at the same time to show that it will in no way be
detrimental to the other. In fact, the reader will readily concede
that an improvement cannot do aught but simultaneously improve
college athletics from the athletic standpoint itself.
In but few instances is the manager entirely responsible for the
outcome of a season. His success or failure can almost invari
ably be traced to those who elected him. A certain Roman emperor
made his favorite horse consul, but this empty act did not fit the
incumbent to fulfill the duties of the office. Similarly the mere
elevation of a man to the responsible post of manager of one of
the several departments does not and never will fit him for the
position.
If the students of State are content with such " ring " politics
as have of late years controlled,. more than anything else, the
election of athletic managers, they must be content with the re
sults which they themselves, knowingly and after due considera
tion, bring about. If, through the political manipulations, with
which you are all as familiar or perhaps even more so than the
writer, good managers were elected, the present condition would
not be so objectionable, but consider the results. Of the nine
unsuccessful candidates above mentioned, only one was an inde
pendent candidate, while two of the three successful managers
were independent candidates Does not the comparison of these
figures speak for itself ? The writer is entirely familiar with the
details of a recent political deal involving the election of a man
ager for the foot ball and one for the base ball department—a deal
which cost the Athletic Association $4OO in round numbers.
The introduction of an Advisory Committee into the Associa
tion has made expenditures of " $9O for chewing gum, etc.," a
thing of the past, although it cannot entirely overcome the evils
due to the incompetency of the manager. When politics cease to
be a factor in the election of managers, when a ,man is elected,
not because he is " a good fellow," but because he is a good