APPOINTMENT OF MANAGERS.

Both Yale and Princeton during this week have modified their methods of selecting managers. By the changes introduced they have increased the element of competition, but have not completely abolished the old method of election by popular vote.

By excluding Freshman managerships entirely from the athletic system, Yale imposes on the university managers the direction of all sports in the college. For each of the major sports there are a manager, an assistant, and four second assistants. Of the last named, two are selected by the freshman class in the Scientific School, and two are selected by the sophomore class in the college, from their own ranks, to compete for the desired position.

Princeton has applied the same principle in a modified form. The personnel of the staff is the same: a manager, an assistant-manager, and four second-assistant managers. In the spring the freshman class nominates four competitors for football second assistant-manager candidates; and the sophomores nominate at mid-years four candidates for the track department, and four for baseball. By a committee, consisting of the captain, the manager, and the assistant-manager, in conjunction with the General Treasurer of the Athletic Association and the chairman of the Board of Athletic Control, the winner of the competition is determined.

To make the appointment of managers truly democratic the method of selection must be competition in the unqualified sense. By introducing a greater degree of competition Yale and Princeton have progressed, but their modifications could well be more radical. So long as the prestige and other rewards of a manager provide sufficient incentive to draw the best men into this field, nomination to the competition is not only uncalled-for, but may exclude the efficient man who has not come into the popular vision.