Show eliot condemns the game as now played new york dec 27 president eliot of harvard has declared himself in favor 0 stopping intercollegiate football for in order that the game may be modified and a reasonable game devised and demonstrated in practice he expressed his views in a letter chancellor mac cracken of new york university in replying to an to harvard to attend the conference of college on football to be held here today president ahot after saying that the invitation had been referred to the faculty committee on athletics added 1 I avail myself of this opportunity to tell you that my own belief Is that intercollegiate inter collegiate football should be stopped for one year so that the individual colleges may demonstrate in practice each on its own grounds a reasonable game of football for myself I 1 find it impossible to believe that the committees coaches and umpires who have ruined the game are to bo trusted with its reform or replacement the fundamental difficulty with the present game is the bad spirit in which it is played to get rid of this vicious spirit I 1 think we must stop intercollegiate football for a time on the whole therefore I 1 favor separate action by the individual colleges and not conferences feren ces and conventions or other attempts to continue inter collegiate football under new regulations this is the first official declaration of the spirit of the harvard authorities toward the game heretofore in answer to all inquiries the statement was made that president eliot would deal with the whole matter in his annual message to the university corporation in february but that the initiative in any action tor or against football did not lie with him but in the overseers of the university the intercollegiate conference will oyen at the murray hill hotel this morning it will be formidable in she and national in character colleges from every section will be represented including one as tar west as leland stanford university of california and as far south as vanderbilt university of tennessee none of the colleges represented on the present rules committee will send delegates but harvard through professor white chairman of its faculty committee on athletics has expressed its sympathy with the movement the university of minnesota Is the only one of tho western big nine likely to be represented the president of the university of iowa in reply to the to attend wrote as follows we belong to the western conference and are under pact to comply with abo rules it may promulgate it would not be honorable tor us to make other alliances while holding to this chancellor does not expect the university of chicago to be represented jn addition to the 13 colleges forming the inviting body ea col have accepted tho invitation and a majority have named their delegates |