Letters
Defines An Amateur
To THE EDITOR:
Forty-five years ago the writer learned to detest ringers, and to question the sportsmanship of institutions that traffic with them.
A letter published in the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE for December contains several rather broad hints that since everybody is enlisting ringers a few ringers might not be a bad idea about five miles from The June.
There was an agitation over the matter of professionalism among college athletes about 1915, which involved a college catcher who had taken compensation for playing on a summer team in connection with his work as a bell-hop to earn his way through college. In the fray he was suspended from college and almost lost his degree, in spite of the fact that he was a Y.M.C.A. secretary and later became a clergyman in accordance with plans predating attendance at college.
The old question of what constitutes an amateur has never been answered with clear justice to the fellow who has to earn his own way through college. The theory that a man ceases to be an amateur the moment that he accepts any compensation for his athletic ability and that forever after he is a professional is like unto caste, which assumes that because an individual has been noble upon some specific occasion his family must be from then on. Both assumptions are equally ridiculous.
We would do much better to make a definition of the amateur to conform with the old adage: "Handsome is as handsome does." Any economist who recalls his definition of capital "Capital is wealth devoted to the production of more wealth"—will recall that the wild goose flying through the air is a natural resource, in the hunter's bag is wealth, in the butcher shop is capital, roasted and on the table is again wealth ready to be consumed.
Let us have common sense. The athlete is an amateur when he is giving his athletic ability to any good cause, whether it be the prowess of his college team or to charity. He is a professional only while he is taking compensation in cash or kind for trying to win in an individual competition or in a series of competitions. Let us recognize the fact that the athlete who gets a scholarship from the class of i960 for playing end on the 1970 squad, is a professional. Let us recognize the man who earns the cash to come to Dartmouth for a college education, whether in the ditch or on the diamond, and is ready to give the ability to winning for Dartmouth as an amateur. Let us have an end to caste in athletics and justify our vaunted Dartmouth democracy.
If it earns us the right to more winning teams, so much the better.
Brookline, Mass.
A Famous Race
To THE EDITOR
The recent death of Ellis '89 recalls an incident which may be of interest.
I entered Dartmouth sixty years ago last September. I was lost in admiration of the splendid class Of '87; I have never modified that opinion. In the world many of them made good emphatically. A member of that class was Charles Eastman, a Sioux Indian—tall, straight, good-looking. Like many Indians he was a runner. For three years he had walked away with the 2-mile run. It was assumed he would do the same at the fall meet his last year.
At that time all athletics were held on the college green. Sometimes the campus was athletic field, again football, again baseball, the sides lined with tennis courts.
Ellis played football and for the remainder of the year wore the suit given to him. At the fall meet he appeared in football togs as opponent of Eastman. He had quietly gotten into condition by running over the hills at night.
The track was on the campus, six laps to a mile. As they started, Ellis made no effort to pass Eastman, but followed him like a shadow. During the tenth lap Ellis suddenly shot ahead at the pace of one running the 100-yard dash. In vain Eastman tried to reach him. Ellis lengthened the distance and won easily. Fleetfooted Eastman was dethroned.
Lowell, Mass.
Some Statistics
Miss Mildred Saunders, College Archivist, has unearthed in The Dartmouth of 1873 the following summary of alumni achievement during the first century of the College. Of special interest will be the listing, among 3,785 graduates of the academic department, of one so-called Communist, only one man who ran away from his wife, and one "lunatic" (born before his time) who had his marriage ceremony performed under the spray of Niagara Falls. The Dartmouth's summary of the fruits of Dartmouth's first century follows:
SOME COLLEGE STATISTICS
The graduation of the hundredth class from Dartmouth has suggested the propriety of making a brief examination of the fruits of this century of work as these are exhibited in the Triennals and Memoranda Alumnorum that have from time to time appeared.
First, then, we find the College has graduated from all its departments the grand total of 5369 students. 3785 of these have been from the academic department. It is concerning the graduates of this department in particular that we propose to give some statistics. From the last Triennial it appears that 1192 deaths have occurred in the one hundred classes that have completed the Academic course. The average number in the classes at graduation is thirty-seven. The largest class contained eighty-five members, the smallest, two. This was the second class, that of 1771. The members following the various callings are as follows: Lawyers, 1172: Preachers, 917; Physicians, 317; Professors of Colleges and Theological institutions, 221; Teachers not Professors, 217; army officers, 134: merchants, 91; authors, 70; farmers, 65; editors, 63; manufacturers, 24; bureau clerks in Washington, 15; officers in the navy, 10; book-sellers, 4; brokers, 4: planters, 4; real estate dealers, 4; engineers, 13; fire insurance agents, 4; publishers, 4; number who "struck ile" in the days of petroleum, 3; P. O. clerks, 1; postmasters, 8; Collectors of Ports, 2; portrait painters, 2; bank presidents, 2; railway presidents, 1; do. superintendents, 1; do. contractors, 1; "drummers," 2; landlord, 1; boardinghouse keeper, 1; inventors, 2; druggists, 4; officers in State militia, 5; British soldier, 1; Confederate soldiers, 3; music teachers, 2; engaged in mining, 3; mechanics, 3: exhibitor of "dioramas," 1; telegraph operator, 1; machinist, 1; bank clerks, 6; missionaries, 22; professional lecturer, 1; lumber-dealer, 1; surveyor, 1; Catholic priest, 1; collectors of internal revenue, 2; persons of African descent, 3; Indians, 5, of whom two were chiefs; private soldiers, 12; lecturer on Oratory, 1; College lecturers, (not Medical), 5: Professor of Law, 1; oldest graduate (at time of death), 103 years; youngest at time of graduation, 12 years 8 months 10 days; number killed in battle, 12; murdered, 1; killed in duel, 1; lost at sea, 12; insane, 4; ran away from wife, 1; Communist, that is, believer in communism versus marriage, 1; Mormon, 1. The gentleman who enjoys this distinction is Mr. Albert Carrington, of the class of '34. He is living yet in Utah, in the enjoyment of polygamous bliss. The Communist is J. H. Noyes, class of '30. He presides over a community occupying 600 acres of land near Oneida, N. Y.
The following is a list of the number of dignitaries of various kinds that Dartmouth has produced. Presidents of Colleges, (other than Dartmouth), 35; D.D.'s, 83; LL.D.'s, 68; Ph.D.'s, 4; Judges of County and Circuit Courts, 67; State Chief Justice, 32; U. S. Senators, 13; members of U. S. House of Representatives, 56; Governors of States, 15; of territory, 1; U. S. Consuls, 2; U. S. Ministers, 4; F. R. S., 5; Professors in Theological Seminaries, 13; Presidents of the same, 3; State Treasurers, 4; Secretaries of State, 2; Secretary of State of U. S., 1; Speakers in legislatures, 11; Presidents of State Senates, 9; Attorney General of U. S., 1; Supreme Judge of U. S., 1; Associate do., 2; Secretaries of Treasury of U. S., 2; do. of Navy, 1; Lieutenant Governors, 2; U. S. District Attorneys, 7; P. M. Gen., 1; Supreme Judge in Canada, 1; Queen's Council, 1.
Dartmouth has furnished 133 professors to other colleges. These colleges are located in almost every State of the Union. This number, added to the 217 who have made teaching a life-work but were not professors in colleges, comprises but a small part of those who have taught more or less. More than fifty per cent, of the graduates have taught one time and another, while of those who became lawyers nearly eighty per cent, taught before entering into the practice of their profession.
We will close with a few curious facts gleaned from the College records. It is stated that Mr. M. Sturtevant, '46 completed the course though totally blind, and was considered a fine scholar. Rev. David Merrill, '21, published a sermon on Ex. 21, 29, which had the unprecedented sale of 2,500,000 copies. A member of the class of '14 had the same Christian name that had been borne by his father, grand-father, great-grand-father, and great-great-grand-father. This distinguished person bore the euphonious name of Humphrey Hobson. A lunatic in the class of '47, had his marriage ceremony performed under the spray of Niagara Falls.
