The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-14
THAT BULL FIGHT.

To the Editor of the Globe: One
hardly knows whether to take your cd
ttorial in last Saturdays Globe con-
corning the Omaha bull fight seriously
or in jest. If what you wrote was in
sarcasm, the edge of it was so fine it
could hardly be seen; but if it was meant
seriously it's bald brutality could rarely
be surpassed
You quote so-called law Of the sur
vival Of the fttest" in support of the as
serticn that the savagery of the human
race has proved to be its salvation. and
that if the disposition to war were ban
ished the human race as well as the en-
tire animal kingdom would degenerate
and wither from the face of the earth.
Now the law of Christ is true or it is
not; one or the other The Command
ment says; Thou shalt not kill" and
there is no qualification, nor ifs" nor
''ands," nor Butts about it.
The human race has risen to that plane
of mental ability and scientific knowl-
edge whereby all of natures laws can be
and are more or less modified in their
action By playing one against another.
and thus made to serve the higher inter-
est of mankind, instead of being the
any form or manner
A few years ago the celebrated Prof.
Thurston, of the Sibley college of me-
chanic arts Of Cornell university pub
lished magazine article in which he
asserted tfat the world had passed its
crisis" evidently meaning that through
the long ages of investigation and re-
search the scientists and mechanics had
so far mastered natures laws that the
n CT ba do COL
ing back again. except under the stress
of some universal cataclysm
Let man war with nature and conquer
her if need be and not cut the threats
Of his brothers either economically or
physically
a good game of baseball is just as
practical a means for promoting the
physical development of our youth as
the more brutal game of football. or the
crazy savagery of actual warfare.
The fever-debilitated and insane sol
diers returning from Manila, after two
years Of foreign conquest, are not very
good examples of either physical or cere-
bTal development.
The classic physical beauty of the an
Gent Greeks was mainly caused by their
cuadrenn!al Olympic games and the train
ing necessary to achieve excellence or
gain the laurel wreath Of victory Their
taste for beauty in everything led to the
cultivation of high ideals.
have read somewhere that the pres
ent small stature Of the average male
Italian is largely the result Of the whole
Italian people suffering from so many
generations Of warfare, first under the
Roman empire and later in the almost
continual warfare Of the various Italian
oligarehies, misnamed republics And the
Napoieonic wars were such drain on
the NA1le resources of France that the
battle of Waterloo was mainly fought on
the part of France by mere boys. together
with bare remnant of Napoleon's old
guard. The average stature Of French
men has been decreased thereby.
We surely ought to get rid of the hor-
rible idea that we are Obliged to murder
each other, or the poor beasts Of the
field and forest in order to promote our
physical, mental and moral we'll being
Our boosted civilization is a dismal
failure If it does not train out of US the
savage propensity to murder and cruelty
So far from the Omaha bull fight being
an indication of the conservation of our
higher physical development it reminds
me of the old Latin saying, "Paneqn ct
Circenses, -. or bread and the circus with
which the military pirates of ancient
Rome fed and amused the brutal rabbIe
which supported their infamies and OPP
pressions.
If we keep on developing our own bru-
tality,we will surely breed a race of Neros
and Weylers of infamous memory
Thomas G. P Myers