That we are rapidly becoming an athletic nation, and that physical education is fully recognized, is apparent to any one who visits the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo this year. Many features will long be remembered by those fortunate enough to visit the Exposition, and from a spectacular standpoint in comparison with the Chicago and Paris expositions all admit that the Buffalo electrical display stands preeminent. But with its position as leader in electricity acknowledged, there is one other feature that will live in the memories of the many thousands years and years after the electrical display is forgotten, and that is the recognition of athletics and the building of the Stadium.

The American youth is being educated now at school, at college and in clubs to follow athletics, fresh air and recreation as a means of building up a sound body, knowing perfectly well that a sound physique will naturally give to an intelligent mind a better working foundation.

Athletics at the Pan-American Exposition have been thought over and worked out for a year or more, and the name of Mr. W. I. Buchanan, Director-General of the Exposition, should be added to the roll of honor in future athletic history, for I have been reliably informed that he is the man who conceived the idea of having an Athletic Congress during the year of 1901 in the city of Buffalo which would eclipse any athletic carnival heretofore attempted, with the object that athletics should become an important part of the expositions established in the future.

A few words now about the Stadium. It is without doubt the largest and most imposing athletic arena ever erected in this country, and it is to be regretted that it cannot be left in the city of Buffalo permanently as a monument to athletics. I fear, however, it will share the fate of all the other buildings. It is modeled a good deal after the ancient Stadium at Athens, but is somewhat smaller. It covers a plot six hundred and seventy-eight and one-half by four hundred and fifty and one half feet, and has a quarter-mile track twenty-two feet in width.

To the knowing ones it seems marvelous that such a grand athletic amphitheater could possibly be erected in such a short space of time, for in the latter part of April the entire arena was one mudhole and to an inexperienced mechanic it looked as though the arena would never be finished. Talent was secured, and as a result the Stadium today is beautiful, and any one who visits Buffalo without seeing it will miss a rare treat. The infield is entirely level and sodded. The track was built by an expert, and it is without doubt the fastest and best-built track in the world. The seating capacity of the Stadium is between ten and twelve thousand. The front of the Stadium is most impressive. The entrance is through a two-story building covering one hundred and seventy feet by fifty-two feet of ground space. Much time and labor have been spent on its adornment. Its color is animated, and from a sculptural standpoint it appears massive and artistic. The amount of money that has been spent on the Stadium is about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and it has certainly been well spent. What has the Exposition done for athletics? It has given to all kinds of champions an opportunity to compete and win handsome trophies that will be cherished long after club emblems are forgotten. It has given to thousands an intelligent idea of athletics and of what the brawn and muscle of America represent. No doubt many who go to Buffalo who have no idea of ever taking part in or enjoying sport of any kind, will become enthusiasts. Almost every kind of sport is represented here, and the interest thus aroused will be of lasting benefit to the country. Thousands are seeing and learning things that heretofore were as strange to them as the hieroglyphics on Cleopatra's Needle.

The program scheduled from May to October is an elaborate one, the most elaborate ever arranged by a corporation or an individual in the civilized world so far as our records can go, and up to the present writing it has been successfully carried out.

The shorts opened within the Stadium with a game of baseball between the Carlisle Indians and the Cornell University team. This was followed soon after with an intercollegiate track meeting. At this meeting all the leading American athletes displayed their ability. The great Arthur Duffy won the one-hundred-yard dash in ten seconds on a new track. DeWitt, the young Hercules, displayed his ability as a hammer-thrower. Beck won the shot-putting event, and the Eastern champions for the first time competed with the Western intercollegiate champions. Cornell's fine team secured the greatest number of points. It was, however, on June 13th, 14th and 15th that the principal athletic features of the year were decided most successfully, those days being the junior and senior dates of the Amateur Athletic Union championships and a handicap meeting. The handicap meeting preceded the championships and brought together a great many of the crack American athletes, the Knickerbocker Athletic Club securing the greatest number of points. On the second day the junior championships showed the Pastime Athletic Club of New York city as the premier junior organization. In the senior championships the honors went to the New York Athletic Club, with its magnificent team of crack athletes. At this meeting, Sears, of Cornell, who is certainly America's coming sprinter, won the one-huudred- and two-hundred-and twenty yard runs in grand style. He ran the one-hundred-yard dash in nine and four-fifths second, record time, but it is doubtful if this record will be allowed, as a slight wind aided him. The field event, brought together the athletic giants of America - Flanagan, Edgren, Sheridan, Beck, Henneman, DeWitt, Gunn and Gill. In throwing the discus, the ancient Grecian game, a young man from Canada, Harry L. Gill, threw the missile one hundred and eighteen feet five inches; the effort of Richard J. Sheridan, the second man, measured one hundred and eleven feet nine and one-half inches; John Flanagan was third with one hundred and nine feet four and one-half inches, and Henneman was fourth, one hundred and six feet, ten inches. These instances are cited merely as an illustration to show the supremacy of the American athleteand his ability to master any sport athetically, no matter how intricate. Throwing the discus was unknown in this country until the return of Mr. Robert Garrett, of Princeton, in 1896, from Athens, where he competed with the famous Grecian discus-throwers.

To the surprise of all, he not only won the championship there but beat the Grecian record which had stood for
centuries. On his return to America he brought with him the discus. It was immediately copied and manufacttired here, with the result that to-day America has the greatest discus-throwers in the world. It was at the junior championship meeting that Jerry Pierce, the famous Indian runner, made his appearance. He won the junior distance run in handsome style, but he was defeated by Frank Kanealy, of New England, an older runner, in the senior event.

In basketball, which is apparently America's coming indoor game, the championship contests were held in the Stadium on the 17th and 18th of June. No fewer than seven teams from all parts of the country assembled, and the display of basketball given was very creditable. Teams from New Jersey, New England and New York strove for the honors, but it'remained for a Buffalo team, practically unknown theretofore, to win the coveted trophy.

The early part of July saw as interesting a series of lacrosse matches as was ever played in this or any other country. The Capitals, of Ottawa, Lyon the Canadian series and the Crescents, of New York, won the American series. On the afternoon of the Fourth of July, with ten thousand interested spectators gazing on them, the champions of each country strove for the Pan-American honors. It was a good game, but the Canadians were certainly more adept at lacrosse than the New York city boys and won easily.

On the same day the all-around championships of the United States were decided - the blue-ribbon event of the athletic arena. It comprises ten events and is scored by percentage, each athlete receiving credit for his performance in each of the ten contests, the athlete securing the highest percentage to be the winner. The entries for the all-around championships are always small; in fact, there are very few men in America who can go through the ten events with any degree of success, because a man is compelled to run, jump, walk, throw the weights and pole-vault, and a specialist has no business in the event. The contest this year was close between Adam Gunn, of Buffalo; Dau Reuss, of the Knickcrbocker Athletic Club; McK. Hall, of Buffalo, and J. T. Mahoney, of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club. Gunn, the Buffalo lad, finally won.

The Stadium without a Marathon race would be like a Romeo without a Juliet. For this Marathon race twenty-five miles in length, one mile to be run on the Stadium track, twenty-three miles out in the country and one mile on the Stadium track at the finish, more than a half-dozen entries from the best distance-runners of America and Canada were received. It was a hot day, a day totally unfit for such a long race; nevertheless all the starters finished and won prizes. After being out some three hours and sixteen minutes, Samuel A. Mellor, of the Hollywood Inn Club, Yonkers, New York, made his appearance at the Southern Gate with an American flag in one hand and a Pan-American flag in the other, and the thousands in the Stadium arose en masse and cheered him as only the victor should be cheered. His performance was certainly good.

The school-boys' events received exceptional attention, because the school-boy element in athletics today is an important one. Our college, club and championship entries come from the schools, and it is only fair that this preliminary training ground of the athlete should be given a day. The honors went to the Hill School, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, whose athletic interests are being looked after by Mr. M. J. Sweeney, holder of the world's amateur record of six feet five and five-eighths inches for the high jump.

Owing to the fact that it was found utterly impossible to build within the Stadium a tank for the swimming races, these events were held in the Park Lake off the Life-Saving Station, and they were, no doubt, the most successful swimming-chanpionship contests held in the past twenty years. Schaeffer, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, won three events, the one-hundred-yard, two-hundred-and twenty-yard and four-hundred-and-forty yard, making new world's records. Otto Wahle, the Austrian champion, who lately arrived in America, gave a splendid exhibition of swimming in the one-mile race, making a new American record for the distance. In this race it is only fair to say a good word for the American who pushed him so hard, J. W. Spencer, of Columbia University, who stuck closely to the leader and also broke the American record. The final day of the water sports was given over to water-polo, and the grand team of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, for years the American champions, gave a fine exhibition of the game and Avon without much opposition.

The program which has been so brilliantly started and continued through event after event., will no doubt be carried on successfully into October according to the schedule. Two weeks were devoted to bicycle races in August, when the American and international champions met, and then will follow a firemen's tournament, Irish sports, gymnastic championships, Association football games, and the Pan-American world's championships in September, as well as a cross-country championship and a week of automobile races and exposition. The month of October will be given up exclusively to football among the leading colleges of America.

From those who are not athletically inclined I have heard criticism that so much money should be spent on athletics. That is natural, but to those who have been giving up their entire time and life for the advancement of athletics in the hope of building for the future of our race, the amount spent has seemed too little. Why should not the advancement we have made in athletics receive the same recognition as the advancement we have made in science, art and literature? By glancing over the "Clipper Almanac" for 1875, which was then the recognized authority on records, the progress made by the American athlete is seen in black and white. In the recordbook that year among the amateur running and walking records from one hundred yards up, we cannot find the name of one American athlete as a record-holder, all the amateur records being held by Englishmen, Irishmen or Scotchnren. What a change to-day! Pick up an athletic almanac for this year and look over the records in running, jumping, walking and weight - throwing. What do we find as to the nativity of the holders? That nine-tenths of the records are held by Americans. Is not that enough reason for any exposition to incorporate a display of athletics in its list?

It is to be hoped that at St. Louis in 1903 a Stadium will be built; that it will be a permanent one, one that will be left to the city of St. Louis; and that they will there endeavor to eclipse the good work that has already been done, mapped out and carried through by the Pan-American Exposition.