The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1895, Page 10

10 T ¢ HE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1895 : R % oRfil S California FHorses. By HENEY J. CROCKER. I have hardly the time at my disposal to com- | p est for an essay of 1t to be written apropos | of the blooded reless I am inter- s and believe importance that I sm priviiege of b I have seen it s ccintive editorial W sco horse show was the putting $100,000 in circuletion fu this City. do not believe these fig: t ought to y were needed, for the nor profound. t recently, by ter, that the means of 1 in & large measure, of the agricultural f ch is, to & certain extent, alocal affai erprise, being centrally I accessible t0 & gre ople, and & usands i dreds. T eater nur nstead of h r of exhibi! . There p aents passed upon merit, and the awards or, both the cash prizes and the From & ow is Mo this has been the r In this City the inst ve accomplished as alresdy dome h more in great extent. | too young to | direction, but | mething, and will do | line if continued. One One may best kept, how best | itted in the various be of last n how horses are cted and best out es, and much else benefit to the lover of h themselves. Asageneral rule it i n that shows stronge: he winners, but there are many re horses have been picked up at small prices ani so and put through their paces that they prizes on conformation, sp horses go into the arena rth $500 and come out with the blue ribbon worth $1000. show should be per- | become & permanent State, not merely the fad of the greatest climate in the ,end our stoek farms and the greatest an e. One b ¢ to glance curso tock farms of C de the enterp: b of t ate are famous he Palo Alto farm; the | ames B cin, on the | \ he Kern Cou a spec of fine he farm of Theo- Whitney, at Rock- er class of horses are re famous breeding-farms. Thousends of dollars are invested in them, and their products add not a little to the fame of | th ate. Then there arc a number of special- | in fine horses that ought to be mentioned | an article ke this, I suppose. Walter | bart’s place at San Mateo, where one can find the best examples of well-handled, tnoroughly broken and properly equipped | horses, is certainly a credit to the State. The: are the thoroughbred farms of W. O’B. Ma donough, Adoly p and J. Naglee Burke, all of which have added luster to the fame of California horses and may bedepended | upon to sustain their present high standing— | even to exceed it. William Corbett's and Mon- Toe Ealisbury’s ferms, where standard-bred trotters are made a speciaity of; Mrs. Lang- try’s farm at Lakeport; John Parrott’s and H. Hastings’ farms, which go in for hackne; all these ma! splendid showing for Califo: pia when one considers what this State lacks in years, nd this is only a beginning. As I have seid, we have the climate here for breed- ing the finest horses, and I do not think it is rash to hazard the predistion that one day Celifornia will be the most famous spot in all the world for blooded horses. One thing that is helping us greatly at pres- ent is the fact of our winter racing. This | serves to keep alive the interest in blooded | stock that might otherwise be lax for half the year. Visitors to California, especially these who come here to spend the winter months | away from the Eastern frosts and snows, are | always struck with our climatic conditions--I | mean, of courtse, when considered wholly from | | H the horse * standgoint. They find yearlings i ornia advanced as far as the | -olds in the tates. This fact | in itself hasset many of the horse fanciers to | thinking, and ihe result of their cogitations | has been that they come out here seeking—and | finding—suitable locations for their stock s. Some heve come in the past; many more will come in the future And a permanent horse show, such as I hope will be established here, will serve to keep up the interest in bree and help along the | good work in many ways. The horse show, in connection with the winter racing, tends to make San Francisco a Mecca for people inter- | ested in horses from all parts of the country. | These people bring money to the coast and put money in circulation, benefiting our trades- | peaple not a little. Let us consider now something of the finan- cial end of the horse show. Allsorts of opin- 1ons, favorable and unfavorable, have been ex- pressed regarding this enterprise, and some criticisms have been made upon its manage- | ment. I think no one connected with the horse | show will seek to claim perfection for it. That | + was an unqualified success from every point | of view is & generally recognized fact,I be- lieve, and a sufficient fact, I take it, to more | than answer all attempts at adverse criticism. | But I started to speak of the financial end of the horse show. In this connection I have some figures which may be interesting: EXPENSES. Fitting pavilion for show Rent of pavilion Printing and ad !’Y'ls“’lg Muslc and attractio: Salaries. . Prizes n cas] Expenses during year—rent and salaries. Tot: 5 RECEIPTS. ¢ of arena boxes at $125 each. ry fees for Lorses. Stallrent............ Tncome from advertisin Sale of privileges.. & In programme. $20, To which add recelpts from daily admis- | sions znd reserved seats: | First day. 1,760 | 1400 | 37 31200 | 52,100 ‘These figures are merely approximate, as it | was all we had to rely upon. | be will be some time before the actual results will own and & belance struck on thé books. eTe ere some classes that were notu filled, hence there is a gain for the association. Of | course, we can do mo more than offer the prizes, and if the classes do not fill we even- tually eliminate such classes and put the oney into the classes that do. The Horse how Association aims to give the horsemen 2 chance to exhibit and compete for prizes be- stowed for merit, and thus to educate the orse-loving public on correct ideas as to out- fits—benefiting at the same time the trade in- terested in such matters. It seeks to add, as well, another week to the winter gayeties and 10 clear enough to meet all expenses. It will be seen from the foregoing figures that if the admission were lowered to 50 cents we would heve to have not less than 60,000 patrons in order to clear expenses, if that I have seen pay one dollar a head tosee & 20,000 peo game of football that lasted 70 minutesand | was got up at & nominal cost. These same people consider the same price too much to f show that cost an s have also been made on the fect that the hox-holders have the best positions around the arena. I wish to say in this co fon thet horse shows have been utter fa wherever they de- pended uy he general their sapport. However, I do t any of the criticisms made served seats for not believe hav. been deep ous d ssociation. On the contrary, there is much, I eve, 1o encourage the association and move it to greater efforts in the futare. with Western Wheelmen. By FRANK H. KERRIGAN, The sport of sports, to my mind, is wheeling. Isay this advisedly and from personal experi «ce, for I have peen more or less intimately nected with the various outdcor sports for vears and have & personal knowledge of pains and pleasures, their uses and their ends. And the place of places for wheeling §s Cali- fornia. This is so for many reasons. Our long of pleasent weather, interrupted by ient to keep the roads in the ion which thelr construction is ceptible of, and the variety of scemery access of almost all the wheeling \ave helped to render the pastime here popular and frui peculiar efficacy of our climate as an element in training for athlettcs ot all sorts is lately being emphasized particularly in this regard. This latter fact is just beginning to be appre- ciated by the Esstern riders, who are now present in our midst in greater numbers than at any former period, and the outlook for broken records in the mext few months is promising indeed. The guardien of the sport throughout the United States is the League of American Wheelmen. This, the largest amateur athletic organization of the country, is composed of nu- | merous divisions, one for each State or Terri- tory, except in the case of California, where, ! on accountof the immense State area, there are two. The North California Division has within its jurisdiction that portion of the State north of Tehachapi, the South California Division covers the remainder of the State. The league was organized in Calhfornia in 1836, and the North California Division has now a membership of nearly a thousand. This 1epresents a doubling of the number of its members for the previous year, and the out- look is promising for 2000 members before the | close of 1896. Probably the league has done more than any other agency to establish the rights of the | bieycle and to effect an adjustment of the privileges of the road between pedestrians, the wheel and other vehicles. It is not easy for the rider of to-day, spinning along in confi- dence on a crowded thoroughfare with the feeling that the roadhog who would run him down is the exception and not the rule, t ap- preciate the struggles which the league has had to make to bring this state of affairsabout. The time is not so far remote when & wheel was considered a nuisance on a public road, and the wheelman bad to teke his chances against the determined oppositicn of almost every driver. Now, however, drivers and wheelmen are united ina common cause, the securing of good roads, and have learned to accommodate themselves to each others’ needs. The distinction between the wheel and other vehicles is now iast disappearing, and with theadvent of the horseless carringe wheelmen may look for another ally in their efforts to accomplish the ends that they are seeking. To tell what the league does for its members would take & volume. Suffice it to suggest here that race meets are under its supervision, and thus the sport is being kept remarkably | clear of professionalism; it employs an attor- ney who looks out for the legal rights of its members as wheelmen whenever they are trenched upon; it agitates good roads and good streets in & united and systematic man- ner only possible to a numerous and well-or- ganized body. These are its main objects, but a host of minor advantages are offered to its members. A local consul isappointed for each town in the State, to whom any traveiing mem- ber can go for information. Concessions are obtained from holels thraughout the State, end it publishes & road-book each year containing maps and descriptions of the principal roads inthe territory covered by the division. While the League of American Wheelmen exercises a supervision over ell track-racing, another important and popular department of the sport is not within its jurisdiction. Road- racing in this State is under the charge of the California Associated Cyeling Clubs, an organ- ization composed of all the principal wheeling clubs of the State. This class of racing has de- veloped in California to an extent unequaled by any other State in the Union, and tne an- nual relay race of 100 miles around the bay, | given under the auspices of the Associated bs, is an affair that awakens & National in- st and enthusiasm. This relay rece requires greater preparation | from & greater number of wheelmen than any other event contested on the coast. Including | the actual riders, their trailers and assistants, fully 300 persons took part in the last race, | and it seems probable that the next event of this nature will involve some 400. As to the number of wheelmen in California it is almost impossible to determine, with any definiteness. The dealers estimate the num- ber of wheels sold during this year alone at from 50,000 to 100,000; and to this number must be added those who are riding wheels purchased in previous years. It is the inten- - PRSRTININRC edmissions or re- | i of pleasure; while the | i w tion of the league during the coming year to establish a register of wheelmen for the terri- tory embraced in this division, whether they are league members or not. Such a list will be | extremely useful to wheeling interests in gen- | eral, as it will render accessible to distributed | literature every one interested in the sport, | and it is hoped will bring into the league itself | & large proportion of the total number. | Of the California wheelmen the proportion that belong to organized clubs is not as great, | in my opinion, as is generally supposed; but | the number is increasing with marvelous ra- | pidity, most of the clubs having doubled their { memberships in the past year, and the number of clubs themselves having more than doubled. | The oldest cycling club proper in the State is | the Bay City Wheelmen. This club was organ- | ized in 1884, and was an outgrowth of the San Francisco Bicycle Club, the oldestorganization ofitskind in the United States. Since its in- | ception, it has, without doubt, been the most prominent figure among the bicycle clubs of the State, both in the councils of the wheelmen and on the path. The strong point of the or- ganization is the fraternal feeling that exists among 1ts members, which is the secret of the long continued success of the club. San Jose seems to be the Springfield of the Pacific Coast from & racing standpoint, and it is 2 natural enough result that the largest in- dividual eycling organization of the State should be founa within its limits. The Garden City Cyelers has nearly 400 members, and has mede its influence felt in all racing matters. Among the other clubs that are prominent in wheeling affairs, probabiy the strongest from neerly every point of valueis the Cali- | fornia Cycling Club. It has the largest mem- | bership of any club in San Francisco, owns its own gymnasium, and has developed the social | side of its club life most delightiuily. In this regard it receives no little assistance from the Alphas, the first cycling club to be organized by the ladies in San Francisco, and reciprocal entertainments are affairs of frequent occur- Tence. The bahy club of the State is the Olympic Cyclers. It was organized at the end of this vear, but has already nearly a hundred mem- bers. Itisan outgrowth of the Olympic Club Wheelmen, and from that organization its pro- moters gained much of the experience and Te received much of the assistance that has | enabled them to place the club at this early | period of its existence on such a satisfactory foundation. It is impossible within the limits of this article even to enumerate the various cycling organizations of the State that are adding their support to cycling and making their influence felt in wheeling affairs. Some of the strongest and most enterprising that I have not already mentioned are the Imperial Cycling Club, which has developed a number of good ra men; the Camera Club Cyclers, whose n indicates the special field of their endeavor; the San Jose Road Club, patron of road-racing and possessor of the World's champion of '94, Ziegler, and the coast class A champion of this year, McFarland; the Acme Club of Oakland, one of the originators of the great relay race; the Reliance, agitators for good roads; the San Francisco Road Club, with the five-mile world’s road record already mede by George | Hamlin, 11:11 nd at least one club for almost every interior town of any prominence. The territory covered by the South California Division of the league has not developed the club spirit to any great extent, but has pro- duced some of the most prominent individual | the southern counties is daily becoming more | popular. One of the most notable features of the South California Division is the numerous good rac- ing tracks throughout the ter are fine tracks at Santa Monica, Santa Ane, Riverside, Rediands, fan Diego, Pomona, Pas- | one good track built ! hat at San Jose. This | seems the more strange when we consider the universal interest in the sport here and the support received even witlr the present inade- | quate track facilisles whenever a race meet is given. 1 think that during the coming year much will be done in cycling circles. The League of American Wheeimen, as I have already inti- mated, will make a serious attempt to unite in one orgenization every eligible wheelman in the State. With such an essociation we will be in a position to voice our needs with an emphasis that Town Councils, Boards of Super- visors and even the Legislature itself cannot afford to pass by unregarded. The wheelmen and the drivers for pleasure will unite with the farmer in the demand for good roads, and with the merchants of the towns and cities for | good streets, and from it all universal benefit will arise. G cartfH¥ 2 A0 G On the Gridiron. By GUY COCHRAN. Football is not the same thing to all persons. A great intercollegiate match has as many aspects as there are interested classes of people that do or do not understand the game. To the intense partisan from one of the col- watches what the individual effort of each is accomplishing, who knows the game and ap- preciates the finer points of the play, itisa brilliant, scientific exhibition of individual athletic ability and of the harmonious working riders of California, and the sport throughout \ There | In Northern Cali- | leges, who knows every man in the Varsity and | ofa team of eleven men. He sees the instan- taneous way in which one side adopts new | tactics to offset some particularly effective method of the opponents in advancing the ball. | He sees well-planied purpose in what may | appear as an indiscriminate scramble to | get through the iine or pasta few men. He | sees the little guard that must bear the brunt of impetuous plunges and protect the man with the ball while he essays to get ciear of the mass for a run down the field. The defensive work, the interference of those that cause an opening for the runner, the tac- tics and the successive selection of plays by each captain are all taken account of by the enthusiast, who has for weeks watched the de- | velopments of the team’s play and acquired more than a brotherly interest in each defender of the college colors. To the general lover of football with less in- tense partisanship the game is the ideal exhi- bition of two opposing groups of physically most knowledge and skill in a spectacular struggle for the glory and athletic supremacy of the alme mater in a legitimate match of | generalship and ability. To the ordinary spectator it is a display of what appears to be a perilous onslaught and impact of human beings incited, not by mer- cenary motives, but by a rivalry in which he sees the excitement and caring that makesa circus ring attractive to the masses, that cause any contact of strength and skill to be inviting to mankind. He will look on, maybe, with disapproval, but he will not stop looking. There is something contagious about a grid- match that draws every one into the irrepres- sible demonstration of wild enthusiasm. They know that there is no deceptive scheme with pure amateur sport and that the varsities are fighting ouly for glory, and they are uncon- sciously drawn into the thrilliLg waves of depression and elation that pass over the sup- porters of each team. To the outsider who has formed his opinions from what the timid and unversed spectator has told him of the play, or who, more often, has acquired his adverse prejudice from dis- torted articles in the public press and from appalling illustrations of the imaginary dead and dying that add life to a story heightened and prepared for sensational effects—to such a one football is cruel, brutal, dangerous to life and limb and fraught with all the evils of the old-time gladiatorial contest or the Spanish bull-fight. . A runner is thrown to the ground and one or more persons hurl upon him. Men come together with a rush and there is a | sudden hard contact. server, but to the men trained through a care- | ful progressive season of practice there is very little danger. The best trained men and the best players are seldom hurt. It is the | novice, who disregards his physical unfitness | and early rushesinto hard play, that is oftenest hurt. After all, the men that have had a good course of football are benetited. They are made self-reliant in moments of danger. They are schooled to self-control by the exactions of the training season and by the rules of the | game that punish the physical resentment of | even the mostaggravating insult from an op- | ponent. And there is something very manly | about self-control when the individual has the | physical strength and courage to resent imposi- | tion. It isa manly sport. Football will not be understood by the masses on sccount of the science and strategy that is necessary in & contest. Itis | the object of the open game to make the plays more evident to the spectator, and | that is one reason why big human wedges and | many of the mass plays were abolished. Mass plays are good for short gains, and very few men are ever hurt in them, dangerous as they look; but the spectator does not see the side workings of such a jumtle of men. End runs will always be appreciated, as the spectator needs no one to tell him what the man with the ball is trving to do. The kick- ing game will keep to & great extent, al- though it has & tendency to make too much depend upon the ability of one man in the team. The spectator’s desire to know what is the purpose of each move will naturally ceuse legislation toward a style of play that will tend to open, spectacular effects. The time of play used to be divided into halves of forty-five minutes each, with an intermission of ten minutes. This season the halves have been reduced to thirty-five minutes. They ought really to be twenty- five or thirty minutes. The long-continued intense strain and exertion are too much to demand of the players. Oceasionally a man plays as well at the cnd of & game as he did at the beginning, but such cases are rare, and the usual game lags during the last ten or fif- teen minutes because of the general exhaus- tion of both teams, The present system for different points scored is not in proportion to the effort im- plied in securing them. A touchdown, the re- sult of the persistent and concerted efiort of eieven men, should count five instead of four. A goal kick, executed by one man without any opposition, shounld count only onme and not two, for it does notrepresent half of the effort of the touchdown and makes too much depend upon the part of {one pleyer. A drop kfck, that seldom | executed but desperate try at a field gonl, should count four instead of | five. It is a beautiful exhibition, but its very uncertainty should not receive greater ‘}'cn'(iil than a touchdown. The safety made by ‘downing the opponent with the ball behind | his own goal might well continue to count two | points. The collegiate game is still young and unde- periected young manhood exerting their ut- | iron field during the progress of & big college | It looks rough, it | would bealmost fatal to the fearful or timid ob- | veloped on this coast, but the advance since its practical inauguration five years ago shows what can be done here and opens up the possi- bilities. Coeches from the East were necessary for us five years ago and will continue to be so until the game is on a level with the Eastern play. It is the only way that we can get a good foot- ing. Afterward we can draw upon our alumni for instruction. Itisdifficult to compare the Eastern and the Western games, because they are so different. Our game is about what the Eastern game was three or four years aco, except that the men in the East work harder than we do. There a player works all the time as hard as he can; here he exerts himself just enough to defend his particular position. All Easterners are surprised at the great de- | velopment of the game on the coast, ana from the reports of those competent to draw com- | parisons we need bow in respect only to “the big four”—Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Penn- sylvania. Kennedy, for several years fullback on the Stanford team and now & graduate stu- dent at Harvard, asserts that he 1s corfident that the team that defeated the University of Chicago at Los Angeles last New Year's could “wipe up the earth” with this season’s Har- vard Varsity. Kennedy was asked to play fullback on the Boston Athletic Association eleven, which is one of the strongest teams in America, but he declined. Athletic teams are not satisfactory to college men, because they play anybody they wish to | by making him an honorary member. They do not train so well as college players, for they are usually a different type of men, and are not together so as to be controlled, as candidates for varsities are. The athletic club players on this coast have in the main been much above the standard and the methods associated with Eastern clubs, and that fact has helped to keep the game in the far West clean and free from the ruinous taint of professionalism. The Butte eleven is the nearest approach to a professional football team, and its policy must have a bad effect upon the game. A very rich man has taken a great interest in the Mon- tana team, with the result that he and other enthusiasts have secured several good players from other States by offering them employ- ment in or about Butte. | Such work can and will be kept out of college teams. A few colleges hired men this year, but that will not last long when so much objec- tion is raised on every hand. college games, but it would not be neutral ground, and for that reason it is impossible to have the play where one team will have the ad- vantage of the home grounds. Then there is | the financial question. The match must come | off where the most people can attend it, for of all the branches of college athletics football alone pays. game must maintain baseball, track athletics and other branches of sports. It ic a legiti- mate means of defraying athletic expenses. Tours, however, are not very desirable. It is too hard work to travel and train, and the element of fun is greatly reduced when a men has to subject himself to such experience while he is not in fit physical condition. The University of California and Stanford | play much the same style of game, and natur- ally, for both have been coached by Yale men only. California otten has more star players and less substantial team material and team play than Stanford. Good team work and plain footbail can ac- complish much against fine individual play- ers and trick plays. That is exemplified in Yale's record against Harvard. Harvard has just as good material as Yale at the opening of | the college year, but about a month before the | big game the team begins to try all sorts of new | trick plays to the neglect of substantial foot- | ball, and the result is that Yale wins by play- ing the game that in the long run is most ef- fective. | The small number of preparatory schools on this coastis responsible for a general ignorance of the game on the part of men just entering college. Belmont, San Mateo and the Oakland High School are practically the only places where football is learned. In the East five out of six of the candidates for the varsity have had from two to four years’ experience when they enter college. Iere, and particulsrly at Stanford, as was shown in the intercollegiate freshman matches, we deal with men new to the game. - The California Varsity ought to have no ad- vantage over the Stanford Varsity, notwith- standing the preliminary knowledge of football possessed by many of her freshmen and the average groater size of natives of this State. Stanford draws a good deel of material from the East. Whether it is due to the equable climate or to some otner cause, California men seem less nervous, slower than their Eastern brothers, and they do not play so plucky or gritty & game. At Harvard a freshman is not eligible to the varsity, and it is a wise regulation. In the first place most men on entering college are too young to endure the vigorous training and nervous strain. In the next place the rule ef- fectively prevents men being brought to col- lege simply to play football. No enthusiasts are going to pay & man’s college expenses for a whole year before his services are available to the team. No man ought to play on his college team after the completion of his regular under- graduate course of four years, and the four-year rule is intended to meet that end. The increased thousands that attended the big match each Thanksgiving in San Fran- cisco, no matter what the weather, attest to the growing popularity of the sport on this coast. It remains withthe players themselves - N N GUY COCHRAM. STANFORD Sheo Faick RELIANCE 1 The campus would be the ideal place for all | The surplus from the ennual | to have that popularity maintained. They can do it by keeping the game free from con- duct unbecoming a gentleman, and, above all, free from the taint of professionalism. Foot- ball is the greatest of all manly amateur sports and is pre-eminently a college game. Track Athletics. By WALTER A. SCOTT. Away back in the seventies Jack Belcher ran & quarter of & mile in 50 3-5 seconds, which is yet the Pacific Coast record. Bob Haley, | genisl “Bob,” whose innate good-fellowship | ecut him off in his prime, ran 100 yards in 10 seconds, which has been equaled but never excelled on this coast. Peter McIntyre, since a protessional and now trackmaster of the Olympic Club, ran a mile close to 4:40, which at that time crowded the American record, and the Olympic Club un- successfully endeavored to match him against the premier distance runner of the New York Athletic Club. . These and other meritorious performances were accomplished in the face of great diffi- culties. Little was known of even the rudi- ments of training, competitions were few and far between and were held on rough, heavy horse tracks, with horse stalls for dressing- rooms and stable buckets for shower baths. Hired “rubbers” had not been thought of. Haley and Belcher, with McIntyre as trainer, | were sent by their club to compete in the Na- tional championships. Horace Hawes, an- other Olympian, accompanied them on hisown account. The trip and the Eastern weather | prevented their reaching their true form and their trip was a failure. The old half-mile track on the Cliff House road, and later the Recreation Grounds at the Mission, were favored spots for the Spartan band. In the early '80’s the Olympic Club opened the Fourteenth and Center street grounds in Oakland, and for the first time Pa- cific Coast athletes had a racing track, but the bulk of their training still haed to be done on this side of the bay—principally at the Bay District Track. Those of us who recollect “stripping” in the judges’ stand and adjacent stables while the 40-mile breeze drove the fog through the knotholes and cracks, then pelt- ing around the dreary mile circle, sometimes sinking to the ankles in the loose earth, and again jarring our vertebraon the fiinty stretch, | later taking turns at rubbing each other down, feel that we have been “triea by fire” and are entitled to the full meed of credit for the per- formances accomplished under such adverse | circumstances. There was no club or college | rivalry to spur us on, no unset diamonds or suits of clothes to arouse our financialinstincts, simply the enjoyment and rivalry of honest competition. The Fourteenth and Center street grounds witnessed the lowering of the distance records and the advent of the peerless Schifferstein, | who ran 100 yards in 10 seconds and cieared 23 feet 2}¢ inckes in the running broad jump. His club sent him to compete in the National championships. He won the Western cham- plonship in the 100 yards at St. Louis, was second in the 100 yards and running high jump in the Canadian championships at To- ronto and won the broad jump in the National championships at New York, coming within less than two inches of the world’s recosd; he was third in the 100 yards at the same meet- ing. The sudden change in climate and tte con- troversy between the A. A. U. and the N. A. A, A. A. interfered much with the success of his trip. After the formation of the Pacific Athletic Association, the first real rival of the Olympic Club was the Merion Cricket Club, of which at that time William Greer Harrison was presi- dent. The Merions won the championship banner the first two years, 1885 and 1886. The Olympics took first place in 1887, with the Golden Gates second and the University of California third. 1n 1888 the U. C. had be- come a formidable rival and was defeated by the Olympics by only e few points} in 1889 and 1890 the Olympics again defeated the U.C., the Alpine A. C. taking third place in the latter year. After 1890 the Amateur Ath- letic Union, which hed absorbed the Pacific Association, abolished the giving of team prizes, and the four handsome banners which now hang on the U. C.’s wails are mute wit- nesses of the time when the supremacy of the Olympic Club in track athletics was unques- tionea. Té the old-timers the perfectly appointed grounds opened by the Olympic Club in 1890 south of Golden Gate Park came like a dream, but from that year—I say it with re. gret—dates the beginning of the decline in Pa- cific Coast track athletics (so far as the athletic clubs are concerned), which has terminated in their present “4nnocuous desuetude.” The college men, by friendly rivairy, have accom- plished wonders, and the University of Califor- nia now possesses one of the strongest athletic teams in the United States. Stanford Univer- sity also has many star performers on the path and field, and when their track is completed will doubtless push the Berkeleyans for the athietic supremacy. During the past summer the University of California team made a highly successful East- ern trip, defeating meny smaller colleges, as well as Princeton and University of Pennsyl- vania; they also made a splendid showing in the intercollegiate championship against | heavy odds. Our athletic records will in future be greatly bettered from the fact that an association has been formed of the various high and prepara- tory schools in the victnity of this City. This association holds yearly competitions, which turns the attention of our boys to athletics much earlier than in former times, when they bad to wait until they were old enough to at- tend a college or join an athletic elub. Itis the promising youngster of 15 or 16 who de- velops into the record-breaker of 19 to 21,and this earlier introduction to athletics cannot fail, in a few years, to produce a great improve- ment in the performances of our athletic teams. . The present Pacific Coast records in the vari- ous events included in the championship pro- gramme are as follows: ENE = & =4 é%i: § =3 g EE&- a 3 £ g 2 = & 8 B e = i SEtg Y ~<E558 = moCERES £ mERlee [ rReEafeesier g H 552525 g oL § "8 gdzeteg L] s B =l / An analysis of the foregoing records shows eleven held by Olympic Club men, six by Uni- versity of California and one by Stanford. A few remarks on training and the results thereof may here be not out of place. I maintain that long-continued training for middle and Jong distances produces abnormal development of the heart and lunes, which makes it dargerous to cease all exercise and follow a sedentary occupation. The lungs reach so far up toward the points of the shoulders and =0 far down on each side of the sbdominal cavity that unless they are kept in active use by continued exercise decay is likely to take place in the extremities of the chest cavity. I would cite &s an instance in point the death of Walter C. Dohm, the groate est American middle-distance runner of his day. Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Los Angeles and many of the smalle coast cities now support thriving athletic cinbs, and the membership of the Pacific Association of the A. A. U. is nearly ascore. Athletic club athletes are av e great disad vantage in competition with ecollege athieres in that they usually have alivelihocd-to earn, and must needs train either early or late in the day. wkile the college man can do his athletic work at or near the time of day at which he will compete. 1claim that all things being equal, a team of college athletes should defeat a team of athletic club athlete pally on account oi the superior possessed by the colleze men in trai: t00, there is more esprit de corps among the members of a college than those of an atoletie club. It is true, however, that the club man often has an advantaze in the way of experi- ence, which offsets the superior condition of the college man. Many aspiring athletes lose sight of the necessity for faithful training, absolute sobriety, continuance and proper sleep in reaching the highest, form. The average athlete ce ebrate: his success—or failure—by a “iittle time wtth the boys,” little realizing that he is thereby placing a handicap upon his system, which it must overcome ere he can