The morning call., 1893-02-28
WHAT THEY THINK.
Local Sporting Men Give Their Views
on the Prize-Figtnt Law.

WHAT THEY THINK.
Local Sporting Men Give Their Views
on the Prize-Fight Law.
A bill to prohibit prize-fghting in this
State has just passed both branches of the
present Legislature and is only awaiting
the Governors signature to become law.
With view to ascertaining the indiyid-
ual opinions of those most interested In the
matter THE CALL has interviewed some of
the most pomnent among them. The
opinions are many and diverse.
Said the well-known BILLY" Jordan:
This law doesn't hit at the evil 1t is in
tended to In the right way.
"Low, ill-managed contests are tie direct
result Of poolr0om betting, and it is against
the poolrooms that laws should be enacted.
The men who run the poolrooms look at
glove contests simply from money basis.
and it makes no difference 10 them how the
fight is conducted In order 10 get betting
involved. they will bring together contes-
tants, who are unpTeDared and un-
trained. to stand the fighting and let
the affair be managed by unserupu-
lous persons. l hope these organizations
may be put down but there is no reason
why one honorable club such as the Califor-
MIA shouldn't continue to exist. There is
never any trouble in such a club, for an
honest referee is present who stops the
fight when he considers either contestant
in danger.
j. G. Chesey Secretary of the California
Club-On the whole l am glad that the
law is about TO pass. The only way to
get rid of these dlsreputabe and dis
graceful affairs which all condemn Is to
take sweeping measures. Bar out prize
fighting altogether. Nothing can be accom-
plished by halfway laws, in which one
kind Of priZe-hghtlng Is distinguished from
another. There will always be found
way to evade the law unless the whole prac-
tice of boxing contests. in which money Is at
stake, is wiped out. There can be no half
way measures. Had l been legislator
when the bill was proposed. should cer-
tanly have given my vote to its support.
Said mike" Smith think it's an ex-
cellent idea to stop prize-hghting ia which
betting is concerned, but / doubt much
whether passing laws viii stop 1t. The
laws may be enforced and they may not. III
they are you may depend upon 1t that the
men who want 20 see match will find some
means OF getting one up. They VIII take
to having the matches on barges anchored
just OF snOre or Will move from one county
TO another. And in such case the lighting is
usually of the most brutal character. Tie
contestants will fight with bare knuckes,
and do everything TO satisfy the spectators
for the trouble they have had in getting at
the fun.
As for stopping glove contests altogether
that don't think ought to be done. Let
matches be held and conducted by honest
men on a square basis. And let the prize,
if one is necessary to encourage emulation,
be silver cup or trophy OF some kind
not money.
William Greer Harrison OF the Olympic
Club said: l consider the bill very good
and proper one and am delighted TO see the
favor it has received, as pTiZe-hghtlng for
money is degrading in every way. 1t at
tracts a low element about il, and 1t Is not
countenanced by decent people. OF course
boxing match Is another matter. But a
boxing match cannot be conducted where 1t
is made the subject for betting and pools.
The bill certainly ought to be signed aud
become law.
Harry CnIbett said: OF course the pass
ing of this bill will interfere materially
with my business interests, but neyertne-
less l must say that | am heartily In SYM
pathy with ii. This betting on fights has
been overdons, and il IS due time That halt
was called. The measure has another side.
Beyond doing away with badly managed
and dIshO1orable prize contests IL Will
surely Kill the low poolrooms that exist
solely OH the proceeds of these little TWO
for-a-csnt matches.
The low poolrooms and the low fights are
mutually dependent and IL one is done for
then the other cannot exist without 1t.
law is good law.
Harry Maynard, the veteran sport spoke
thus: The notion Of discouragng boxing In
any way does not seem to me at all proper.
Boxing is an art, and an honorable one, If
INDUCED in by honest men. A pugilst has
TO work just as hard 10 attain fame In his
profession as any other man.
Then, too, boxing should be encouraged
as an incentive to civic peace aud quiet. for
IL every man were interested in pugilism
and good boxer there would be no more
knives and pistols and b!oodshed. When a
person felt himself insnlted he won Id
knock down the one that insuted him aud
that would be the end of it.
believe that everything possible ought
! to be done TO encourage boxing.
j. j. Jamisom said: | am not in position
to discuss the technical merits of the BILL
not having had opportunity to read it care
| fully. Il seems TO me though that from
what | have heard of it there is nothing
new In the measure. The present law covers
everything equally we'll and has not been in
any way improved on.
By the true definition a prize-fght is a
contest between men with bare knuckles.
and such is felony already. You can't
stop legitimate contests on the ground that
! they are DriZe-fghts when gloves are used,
and the proposed law doesn't regard these
definitions. Ii the law we have now isn't
sufficient don't believe the new one will
be any better, ard it strikes me very
strongly that the man who framed such a
bill was not quite as well Informed on the
subject in hand as he might have been.
Peter Corbett expressed an opinion coin
| Gliding with his brother. He said The law
| is good one and certainly ought to become
law. A respectable fight is not what is
aimed at. It is these degrading affairs that
have become so frequent here of late which
will suffer. The clubs that manage them
have no object but to make money out of
them, sither honestly or dishonesty, as the
case may be. The reason so few good fights
have been held in San Francisco is right
there with the dishonest and grasping spirit
of many Of the local athletic clubs. Any
thing that kills these organizations is a
| good thing"