The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-02-27
TOO MUCH PRIZE FIGHT.

(frOm the Chicago Tribune.)
1t might be feasible plan for the
newspapers of the country to get together
and petition their subscribers who are
clamorous for all the preliminary details
of the coming prize fight to give those
persons a fair chance who want to read
other news. Ever since the Nevada legis-
1ature abandoned all pretense of self
respect and threw wide open the entire
state as a haven of refuge for unprinci-
pied thugs whose brutal exhibitions had
been put under the ban in every other
part of the United States the thousands
of people who secretly sympathize with
and encourage these degenerate practices
have been forcing into the columns of
newspapers a mass of fight literature
daily There seems to have been no way
to avoid the stuff. 1t has infected every
source of news like virulent disease. As
soon soon as the wires begin working at night
whipped a dog here, or "Corbett wrest-
led with his trainer and a Nevada beef
steak there or some other highly i'm
pOrtant circumstance somewhere else, and
SO it goes through the night, until when
the newspapers hnaLy appear, IN spite OF
immense condensation and wholesale
butchery, there yet remain columns of
space filed with this unpleasant matter.
The present congress is drawing to a
close, and the final proceedings are full of
interesting action. Inauguration day Will
be here soon and the preparations for it
and the event itself call for extensive pub
lie ccHsidera ton Then will follow the
first days of the new administration
winch viii be replete with incidents of
tional Importance There are people in
terested in these affairs. There are many
persons who want to read all about them,
for they are events which will appear in
the imperishable history of the Nation.
But people who want these details will
have little chance to obtain them unless
they bring some commanding influence to
bear those fellows who are stuffing
the newspapers with plans for the prize
fight. What is the reason for this facti-
tious demand for the latest Intelligence
from the seat of the prospective carnage?
Nt1farn hn e 10 lrTG
this fistfc episode. It won't be even
good fight from the thugs point of view.
the rarified atmosphere. 1t will be impos-
sible al that lofty altitude to sustain an
The principals will be unable to show off
to full advantage under the adverse con-
ditions. 1t is bound to be partly a fake
even as an exhibition of the lowest hui
man instincts. There is something to be
state celebra ton 1t marks the arrival of
Nevada at the bottom of the toboggan
down which it has been sliding. The state
cannot sink any lower, unless the citizens
and lawmakers possess greater ingenuity
in devising discreditable institutions than
they have been given credit for. In black
ening the states reputa ton by legalizing
prize fights at 81, 900 per DETACHMENT they
have left nothing of commonwealth hon.
or that is susceptible of injury. The uni
que circumstances may be responsible
for some of the interest in this event
There may be students of degeneracy who
of the death throes Of Nevada as a decent
member of the sisterhood of states But
their interest is special and limited and
does not justify the surrender of so much
newspaper space to its qualification. The
evil is growing daily and if it is to be
mitigated a determined effort must be
made at once. Let an earnest and COM
bined appeal be made to the instigators
of this flood of unwholesome literature to
moderate their output. Let a last effort
be made to touch their sense of gener-
osity and consideration if it be not too
badly blunted. There great events
happening in the world and others of
great import on the programme that will
happen soon, but unless some sort of COM
promise is made with these imperious
fight Stuff manipulators the daily
record of these affairs will be swamped
by pictures of Nevada's prostitution to
ViciOuSnesS.