Arizona republican., 1903-10-07
BOXING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
New York Teacher Wants SChooiboys
 to Learn to Box and Wrestie.
in the public schools?

fuSlllSll III tIle puDilC SCUOOlS Not for one moment says James F.. Finegan, principal of the recreation
 center at public school No. IT, Brook
 lyn, who is asking the Borough board of education to allaw boxing and wrestling at No IT..
 "Pugilism," said MT. Finegan, lis as
 far from what we want as the slaugh- ter of battle is from the fine exercise of fencing with foils. Pugilism is fight | ing. Boxing is pleasant exercise
 that makes boys and men temperate in living, teaches them self-control, strengthens the muscles and quickens the eye no other exercise can. Right ly used, it is one of the best sports in
 the world. Wrestling is a little more
 strenuous, but it. too, can be easily kept under control. There is a crying need for these pastimes at the certer.
 I hope the board will let us have them.''
 Public school No. 117 occupies the old armory at Bushwlck avenue and Stagg street. Williamsburg. It is in the old Bushwick neighborhood, which has produced several eminent athletes. On
 every weekday evening the ground floor of the great building is thrown open to the boys and men of the vii cinity as a free gymnasium. The at- tendance never 1alls below 400 and often goes above 700 in an evening.
 To one who knows how necessary physical exercise is to the human be- ing, especially to growing boys. there is something pathetic in the sight of hundreds of youngsters hungrily awaiting their turn at the gymnastic apparatus or the basket ball games.
 MT. Finegan. principal of the recrea- tion center, is a tall, wiry, grey-eyed young fellow from the Adirondack country, who has worked his way through college and is now studying law at the Columbia. The bays look on him as a natural leader. He IS an old center rush at football. Erik w. Ciaeson, his assistant, is an ex- pert gymnast and teacher.
 Eighty small boys faced each other in two lines. MT. Claeson stood in the center of a big mat and called a boy from each line. The two shook hands and gripped each other at catch-as- catch-can wrestling. Prestol One was down and the winner trotted back to his line laughing. Or. if there was no fall at the end of two minutes, Mir Claeson declared the boy who had done the most work the winner.
 Not far away three whooming bas- ket ball games were going on. The writer. who has been in the biggest and smallest gymnasiums in the world, never saw one in which there was such fierce incessant activity. The vast room was filled by a heaving, restless picture of the hunger of youth for strenuous play.
 Any one can see at a glance" said MT. Finegan, "how much good this work does for the young fellows Of the neighborhOod. There are eighteen of these recreation centers distributed among the 13S public schools in Greater New York. l hope soon to see one es- tablished in every school. Our public schools make good citizens. With the help of these playgrounds, places for physical training, they will make bet ter citizens.
 As to the moral and physical bene- in the world better for the temper than the discipline of the gloves and the mat. The man or boy who lets his temper rise in either of these struggles is surely beaten.
 Train man at boxing or wrestling ately begin to lead a clean. decent temperate life. He dare not do other wise, for if he is careless in his habits he will quickly fall to the bottom of the boxing class