, 1877-11-04

County Board shall be limited at least 10 Inc
lawful te1-levy.
"THE NATIONAL GAME" E FRAUD.
Baseball was once respectable, If not
highly-intel1ectual, form of amusement
Since it hns passed into the keeping Of pro-
fessional players, it has been steadily losing
character. It WIS in its balmy days game
for boys. Those were the hilarious times in
which it was customary to choose sides,
first choice being secured by measuring the
length Of q stick, fist over fist, OF by the less
imaginative process of tossing up coin.
The soft ball was in vogue, and the practice
of s.socking it to 'em was wonderful in
centive to activity on the part both Of throw
ers and runners. The character Of the game
began to decay with the introduction
of the hard ball. This was not fit
for the purposes Of tender youth.
It made the hands smart. and stained the
ingenious cheek of childhood with tears and
idle s1nears, born from whacks on sensitive
parts of the body. The noble art of ''sock-
ing it to EN-" which, we hold, constituted
the essence of the original and innocent
game, was abandoned as soon as the hard
ball came into fashion. For it was custo-
mary to have the socker and sockee change
places at stated intervals during the game
and. whenever the hard ball was used, it
was noticed that all the youth were ambi-
tious to serve in the former capacity and
none in the latter. The epoch also was
marked by the growth Of the number Of
spectators. The harder the ball became, the
more frequent were the secessions from the
players to the on-lookers, until the latter far
exceeded IN strength and intelligence the
active participants. This tendency resulted
in handing the game over to hired men, who,
for q certain stipulated sum per annum
agreed to bruise their bodies for the delight
of all who might choose to pay for the priv
ilege.
rhis strictly philosophical account Of the
origin OF the professional game, which has
been suggested by admiration of the methods
of HAI1AM and LEcKT, prepares the way
for trial Of tha whole institution as it at
present exists. The national game, So
called, is now intrusted to number Of ath-
letic young men, who exhibit it for GTeli-
hood. They make business OF it. Unless
there is something ennobling in the pastime,
no person can make business of it without
surrendering something of his dignity and
se1f-respect. There is nothing ennobiing in
it. The act of hitting ball and catching it
OR, far worse, Of not hitting it and not
catching its not calculated to develop the
intellectual or moral nature. It is PROPOSE
ton capable of easy demonstration that the
men who engage in baseball fora living tend
towards low plane Of morality. There are
good and honorable men among them, every
body knows; but the majority of them are
not so. The majority of them would rather
travel crooked road than straight one
when both are open to them. The majority
Of them have low associates, bad habits, and
q contempt for the ordinary sentiments Of
honor. They regard tho outside people who
support them in comparative idleness and
luxury rs geese to be p1ucked, and them
selves as foreordained of Providence to do
the plucking.
The revelations Of fraud in the game which
have Just been made at Louisville and st.
Louis only confirm suspicious which have
been entertained for a long time past by
nearly all patrons of the game. The facts
are worse than wns commonly supposed.
Nobody believed that such clubs as those Of
St. Louis and Louisville were managed by
Chicago gambler, OF that the Chicago Club
contained players who were dishonest. But
there has been widespread feeling that the
national game was unaccountably mysterious
in it's operations; that clubs didn't win or
lose when they ought to; and that certain
players were always doing unexpected things,
to the great profit of some person or persons
unknown. In some instances before players
had been convicted of selling games, and it
was fair to presume that other players not
detected or convicted had been guilty
Of similar practices. The confessions Of
two players at Louisville prove that
this is the case; that unQuestionably the
strongest club in the country sold itself out
for small sum in money and gave the
championship to Boston. One of the players
thus convicted on his own confession was
esteemed Us honest man as any in the pro-
fession. If he cannot be trusted, hardly
any other player can be. It was shown be-
sides that two other players in the same club
we're corrupt; and St. Louis newspaper,
with great show of reason, brings similar
accusation against members Of the St. Louis
and the Chicago Clubs. The latter, if it sold
out at all, must have been more industrious
about it than any other organization in the
country, for in one season it jumped from
the top to the bottom Of the list
LEB's strongest hold is the ''perfection to
which he hns brought the administration Of
his Office" One of his functions is to make
up the record in tax cases, and upon the
manner in which it is done may be quoted
q portion of the decision of Supreme-Judge
WALKER in the suit of THATCHER Cs. The
People, reported in the 10th Illinois Re-
ports, page Cos: =
We find in this and other tux cases the records
are most oungliusly made. They are out OF all
shape for fling, and are extremely inconvenient to