St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-13
WHY PUGILIsM THRIvEs.

y
Various Professions Upon
Phase of Contemporaneous So
ciety.
The Boston Globe contains nearly q
page of short letters from noted persons
all over the country in reply to circu-
faf sent out containing the following
queries:
for the great interest in pugilism. and pugi-
lists taken by the American and English peo-
pie!
Second is the moral effect OF it
upon our young men?
,fThird--Do you think that boxing is
proper part of the physical training of young
men? II not, what would you substitute
Among others, replies are published
from Rev. Robert Collier, George Will
lam Curtis, Anthony Comstock, b: +.
Guild, James Parton, Rev. Minot, j.
Savage, Hon. John Z. Russell, DR.. B.
O., Kinnear. Josiah Quincy, Lawrence
Tucker, Bill Nye, Richard K. Fox,
George w. Cable, DR.. William A. Ham
Ifiond, John A. Bell, Thomas Went
worth HigginSon and Hon. William
Taylor. ..5.
All of the answers approve of boxing
as means of physical training, even
the ministers and Anthony C0mStOck
speaking with commentator of it. The
replies to the first and second questions
make Interesting reading, and show a
wide variance OF opinion. Condensed,
some of them are as follows:
Rev. Robert COllyer-Your first ques-
ton misleads. You should have said
the great interest in pugilists and pu--
giliSm taken by some people in England
mo tn
would be: Because such people nOurlsh
brutal instincts like those of the old
Romans, Overlaid by thin veneer of
civility, and the modern pugiliSt takes
the place to them of the modern glad
iator.
George William Curtis-I suppose
that the savage is not yet wholly worked
out of the blood.
Rev. Minot j. Savage: because there
is so much human nature in the Amer
lean and English people. What is there
, that all men have always loved quite as
much as contest and the excitement
of seeing which would win?''
Historian James Parton: 1.-THE recent
revival of interest in prize fights may be
a reaction against over culture in special
directions. which tends to effeminacy
and the diminution of the human ami
NAL. We have one Emerson, and posi-
bly, that neceSsitates~ one Sullivan. al
though it was Emerson himself who
said that the first condition of success
full life is to be good animal"
Anthony COmStock: Il desire to state
that l consider your question too broad,
as it implies that the people generally
are interested in this brutal amusement.
/ do not believe that this is true. Those
who find delight in pugilistic sport are,
in my judgment, largely in the minor
ity." .s.3...s-=s se-.ss
DR.. William IA. Hammond am of
the opinion that the great interest in
pugilism and pugilists taken by the
American and English people is inher-
ept, and is due to the hereditary trans
mission. from ancestors who always
within the historic period have taken
pleasure in rough sports and personal
.cOmbatS. :s. 81
Josiah Quincy-The survival in them
of ancestral savagery. IS: -;
b., Editor Bell, Detroit Free Press-The
interest, either i'll principals, or events,
at present felt in international pugiliS-
tie contests is limited and tame in COM
parison with that which was taken a
little over a quarter of century ago,
when nearly all Englan and America
were in fever over the Heenan-SayerS
qlid interest now and the excitement
then marks decadenee in the popular
ity of puglliSm which neither Marquis
of QueenSberry nor John l.. Sullivan
cttn arrest.
:; Bill sNye-I believe the interest in
pagilism here and in England to be
largely due to the fact that neither of
us has had a full-bloWn war for some
time, and consider the indications to be
hopeful. Some day arbitration and
pugilism will take the place Of grim
/ sisaged war. Is e.. .,--- -
l.4S Congressman Russell-Loye' Of pugil-
ISM, boxing and rOugh-and-tulnble fight
ing is characteristic of the inhabitants
Englishman; he will fight with his fists
and will endure all amount of punish
| ment" about the head and face that
would kill Frenchman. The IriShman
is natural fighter with fist and stick,
and seems to enjoy having his eye
BACKED and his head broken. The
Americans, old and young, who take an
interest in puglIism are the descendants
of fighting people. 1t is a simple illus
trati0n of the doctrine of heredity.
Dr.. B. D. Observation-Disclosures has al
ways been characteristic trait of the
British and Americans. That steady
resolution and bulldog pertinacity
which has always enabled them to pos
sess themselves of nearly one-quarter
of the land surface of the globe, and
hold it under free laws and free institu-
tons, is, it seems to me, sufficient to
show in the race love of all manly
sports, including pugiliSm. -. 81
Nearly all the replies are condemna-
tory of prize fighting, but DR.. Hammond
and some others say the practice affords
suffering. - /. : s5-'.'
MAKING FOR DULUTH.