Votume VI. No. 28.
NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1897.
THE CHANGE IN THE CREW.
And the Facts that Led to It—Lang-
ford as Stroke.
About the middle of last week J. H.
Simpson, 97, stroke of the University
eight, expressed to his Captain, Mr.
Bailey, his doubts that he could further
effectively fill the position which he
held in the boat. The reasons which
moved him found their way into print
through a misunderstanding, and con-
trary to Mr. Simpson’s intentions. Some
of the facts which induced him to retire
have been widely circulated, together
with a good many things which aren’t
facts.
After talking with those who have
the best opportunities to judge, and
with Mr. Simpson himself, one can not
conclude otherwise than that this step
was taken with the most loyal regard
for what he believed to be to the inter-
est of the Crew and with the sincere be-
lief that under the conditions existing,
the eight would be better without him.
Itis also very clear that the relations
between Mr. Simpson, his Captain, Mr.
Bailey, and his coach, Mr. Cook, are of
the most cordial and frank nature.
Mr. Simpson’s view of the situation,
when, last week, he was moved to con-
sider the unusual step of retiring from
the Crew, wassomewhatas follows: For
several weeks, as he saw it, the Crew
had been going backwards, instead of
forwards. Instead of the long, strong
swing of the early training on the Har- ©
bor and the speed which easily disposed
of the fast Freshman eight, in trial
spins, the crew was, as he saw it, pull-
ing a ragged short stroke, unsettled in
form, frequently changing in detail.
The rate of retrogression was indicated
‘by frequent defeats by the Freshmen
eight in pulls of about a mile in length.
Although it was within two months of
the time of the-great race, he could not
satisfy himself that distinct principles
of rowing had been established, and he
found himself unable to follow with
any success the different stages of the
training which seemed to him to be
wholly experimental.
Then Simpson went to his Captain
and talked it all over with him, and
asked him whether under those condi-
tions he, Captain Bailey, thought it was
best that he, Simpson, should ‘stay in
the boat. Mr. Bailey asked him to take
plenty of time to consider it and decis-
ion was postponed fora day or more but
without any effect in changing the
mind of Simpson. Finally with the con-
sent and advice of Mr. Bailey himself,
and believing that he was doing the
best thing that he could, he gave up his
position.
This unusual act has started a good
many different reports. One is that an
English coach may be called over, a
man being named, who had expressed
his interest in the Yale eight while they
were at Henley, and intimated, it is said,
his willingness to help polish it off for
this race with Mr. Lehman’s pupils and
the Cornell eight.
that Mr. Cook would retire from coach-
ing. There is nothing to confirm either
of these reports here. No English coach
has been sent for, nor has the step been
seriously contemplated. As faras Mr.
Cook is concerned, he and Mr. Bailey
are in perfect harmony, and Yale’s best
known coach has not the slightest idea
of leaving the Crew,
While the College has undoubtedly
been disturbed by the condition of the
crew, it realizes that there area good
many causes for the poor work which
has recently been done. The change to
the shell, always a disturbing time has
Another story was.
been followed by the introduction of
two Freshmen, enough in itself to con-
siderably disarrange the form of any
crew. Accompanying this, there has
been extremely bad weather, while as
an incident in the generally unsettled
condition, it may be mentioned that
Mr. Rogers, who has been doing good
work at bow, has had to retire for prac-
tically all of last week on account of a
slight attack of malaria. The change
of stroke oar was also another dis-
turbing feature, although the form of
the crew has rallied from that.
It is due to truth to say that Mr. Cook
and Mr. Bailey are confident that the
crew is working on the very best princi-
ple of rowing. They are following the
system which they have mapped out,
and are not despondent about the future.
They expect rapid: improvement from
now on. It is certain that Mr. Lang-
ford has fitted very well into his old
position at stroke and the feeling is
more hopeful, generally. Mr. Cook is
not disturbed by Mr. Simpson’s with-
drawal. He says that one or two par-
ticular points in the stroke as now
rowed have not been clear to Simpson
and that this has confused and dis-
couraged him.
Mr. Simpson’s withdrawal was on
Friday. On Saturday Mr. Langford,
who stroked the crew at Henley, was
moved from his position as starboard
stroke to Simpson’s place. At first that
day the crew was beaten in a mile spin
with the Freshmen. Later in the after-
noon they pulled themselves together
and defeated the Freshmenin a distance
slightly less than a mile, the Freshmen
rowing in a much heavier boat. -
The crew had coaching both morning
and afternoon by Mr. Cook during the
Easter recess. They are now rowing in
the following order: Stroke, Langford ;
7, Griswold; 6, Allen; 5, Bailey; 4,
Greenway ; 3, Campbell; 2, Whitney ;
1, Rogers.
One afternoon last week, at the Boat
House, Mr. Langford was slightly in-
jured in the shoulder while aiding in
lifting the boat. He has not, however,
been obliged to leave the boat for a sin-
gle day.
Mr. Simpson was Captain of his Fresh-
man Crew, substitute the next year on
the University and bow oar of the Hen-
ley eight.
—+0—__—__
The Yale-Princeton Debate.
The annual Yale-Princeton debate
will be held in the College Street Hall,
‘New Haven, on Friday evening, May 7,
at 7 o’clock. The Yale Union desires
that as many of the Alumni as possible
be present, and will be pleased to re-
serve seats for them before the general
sale begins on Monday morning, May
3. All orders for seats should be di-
rected to R. E. Hume, 260 Lawrance |
Hall. The seats are 50 cents.
The subject for the debate is: ‘“‘Re-
solved, That the power of the Speaker
of the United States House of Repre-
sentatives is detrimental to the public
interest.’’ Yale will support the affirm-
ative. Her representatives are: E. H.
Hume, 97; A. EB. Frazer, ’°98 T. S., and
H. W. Fisher, ’98; with C. L. Avery, ’97
i: S:, and E. -L. -Smith, 79/7, as alter
nates.
Princeton will be represented by R.
Ff. Sterling, N. S. Reeves and H. H.
Yocum; with Ivy Lee as alternate.
Each debater will be allowed twelve —
minutes for his opening speech and five
minutes for rebuttal. The following
men are to be the judges: Hon. Car-
roll Wright, Commissioner of Labor;
Fion. Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston,
and Mr. George E. Waring, Commis-
sioner of Street Cleaning, of New York
City.
The Yale men thus far have been
working in general lines, and the out-
look is very promising. There have
been a number of preliminary debates.
Professor Hadley and Dr. Raynolds
have been present at some of these pre-
liminary practices and have criticised
the speakers. '
- dating back to 1650.
Price Tren Cents.
PROFESSOR J. WILLARD GIBBS.
(From a Photograph by Pach.) 7
HE SHEFF. COURSE,
Official Statement as to Professor
Williams’? Paper.
To the Editor of the Yale Alumni
Weekly, Sir:— — ;
The publication, and wide-spread cir-
culation in the Yale Alumni Weekly
for April 8, 1897, of the address deliv-
ered by Professor Henry S. Williams
. before the Sigma Xi Society on a “‘Four-
Year Course in the Scientific School,”’
seemingly carrying with it the weight
of official authority, forces the Govern-
ing Board of the Scientific School to
make an equally public disavowal of.
any Official sanction of the views there-
in expressed.
They would call attention to the fact
that Professor Williams is in no man-
ner connected with the Governing body
of the Sheffield Scientific School and
that his utterances on the subject above
referred to are not to be considered as
in any way representing the sentiments
of the Governing Board.
GEORGE J. BRUSH,
Director of Sheffield Scientific School.
R. H. CHITTENDEN,
Secretary of the Governing Board.
oe ON
Valuable Gift to Library.
Mr. Robert C. Winthrop of Boston
: has presented to the University Library
an exceedingly valuable collection of
autographs and documents. The col-
lection consists of sixty-six letters,
many of them never before printed, and
Among the let-
ters are those written by Roger Wiil-
liams, Cotton Mather, John Smith,
Governors Yale, Eaton, Hooker and
many other noted men of that time.
The collection is bound together and
will be shown to any one interested
in such matters. .
New York Concert.
The annual New York concert of the
Yale Glee and Banjo clubs will be held
in Carnegie Hall on Friday evening,
April 30, the proceeds being devoted
to the training expenses of the Univer-
sity crew. Tickets may be obtained
from J. Sanford Barnes, Jr., 32 Nassau
Street, New York City, and also at the
Manhattan and Windsor Hotels, and
at Carnegie Hall.
The following graduates will have
charge of the concert: Henry E. How-
land, 54; George A. Adee, 67; W. W.
Skiddy, °65S.; William A, Copp, ’69;
Thomas Thacher, ’71; Otto T. Bannard,
"76: Samuel R. Betts, ’75; H. S. Brooks,
86; George G. Haven, Jr., 87; A. Hen-
ry Mosle, ’89; George S. Brewster, ’91;
J. Sanford Barnes, Jr., ’91; Pierre Jay,
92, and William A, Delano, 795.
New Tennis Cup Offered.
The Tennis Association of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania has offered a
cup to be competed for annually by the
Colleges comprising the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association. This cup will be
in no way inferior to the old cup, and
will become the property of the Col-
lege, which is the first to score seven
points, singles and doubles to count
one point each. The cup is offered on >
the condition that the annual intercol-
legiate tournament be held in Philadel-
phia. The increased interest in tennis,
the enlarged gate receipts and the fact
that little interest has been taken in
the tournaments here are considered
good reasons for accepting Pennsyl-
vania’s offer. It is also thought that
a number of Southern and Western
Colleges would join the association if
the tournaments were held in Phila-
delphia. A vote of the Colleges in the
association will be taken at once on
Pennsylvania’s offer.
