The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-10-29
e 81 Happens
EFs Hsso.

y several states i'm this Union bills
are now pending TO put boxing
back among the legal sports. ana il
IS 10 be hoped that some of them VIII
so through, AT least. l wan, 10 say
right here that there was he.er any
real reason To begin with way pugi-
lism should have been debaued, had
il not been in most instances tor Ike
work of crooked sporting men. Wac
used the game as a lever TO Jimmy
themselves into some easy money Per
haps thai statement sounds u little
strong but ! believe il just tie same
Naturally | believe that the fighting
game is all right because I've got a
good bunch of what money i nave D%
it, ard / know there are lot of peo-
pie who are going 10 rise up and c&ll
down all kinds of hard things o. m,
because / think So. A whole Tot or
them viii say right off the bat. tlias
I'm brute, that I'm naturally preJu-
diced and that my opinions won't be
Of any value anyway because I'm an
interested party; but / think my word
viii go as far as that of a narrow
minded man or woman who doesn
know anything about pugilism, never
saw "A fight, and couldn't be dragged
within hail Of one with yoke OF
oxen.
Boxing is a good game and I don't
care what those opposed TO IL may
say. The talk of brutality is tommy
rot to begin with, for there are more
men hurt In one year on the football
field than are or have been damaged
ia boxing or sparring i'm twenty That
is an absolutely fair statement, and IL
can be proved uD TO the hflt lt Is
only necessary TO reach the papers TO
find out just the average number OF
injuries that occur on the football
field. and to notice how very seldom
you hear or see anything that goes
wrong i'm the prize ring.
To begin with, the men who hight
with their hands are men who know
exactly what they are doing and just
how many chances they are taking
They know that a punch on the nose
won't do any harm, but sometimes will
DO them a world of good: they know
that a sound walloping will leave them
stiff and sore for some days. perhaps,
but that they won't be any the worse
for il a week later. Another thing,
sparring makes a man keep his tenn
per as a rule. I'll guarantee you never
saw a successful nugilist who had a
mean or quick disposition. He's got
10 keep his head, or get knocked into
the middle of next week. It's great
II ali4iEr TOO the HShllllS game Ab4
II does whole lot of things for a
man.
I've generally noticed that it's the
anaemic, specialized, pale-faced, near
men who kick about the bru-
tally OF the game. and they
are assisted by a few excellent dele
gates from the Old WOman's home, who
think it uu-Christian 20 lift the hand
To. another human being. / suppose
of Vic - OH Z
you'll show me a country that can use
its fist, and does use il to settle its
petty quarTelS, I'll show you a nation
that comes pretty near 10 keeping il
self on top of the heap all the way
around the circle. The men who grab
for a knife or a gun the minute they
hit a streak of trouble are generally
towards. and they are also the kid
that treat women badly, and in addition
they show deceit ill-breeding and
whole lot Of degenerate features that
we don't think so much OF over here.
] think that ever since man was pat
on this earth he's had 10 do more OF
less fighting, and if all the old timers
tell US about the days gone by Is true,
he usually took mighty good care Of
himself. We've improved on his sword
and his dirk and his AK or club since
those times, and we've gone back to
the weapons that Nature handed out
10 Us in the first place, and when yoI
see a man take of his coat and du-
uounce that he's willing TO abide by
the who's the best man" theory. you
can come pretty near being sure that
you've got a fair specimen of the An
glO-SaXOn 10 deal with. We don't think
so much of the Chinamau. the Italian,
the German OF the FrenChman these
DAYS, because We know they won't
fight as a general rule. but we ALov
il isn't safe to stir no the Irishma1.
The ScOtChmau, the Englishman or the
Yankee too Gar unless we can prove
what We say on his front teeth.
To me that's a healthy spirit To
the good folks who try to stop the
game it's rank degeueracy, but they're
wrong and they always viii be wrong.
I'm for legaliZed boxing principally
because / think it's the finest aud
healthieSt sport i'm the world. but OniN.
Just 50 long as il isn't degraded by n
lot of rank Grafters, like those vh'
killed IL in New York. Don't NJu ieg
anyone Try 10 convince you that wien
New York passed an anti boxing Jaw
il was a fine sentiment of decency OF a
proper decision that brutality was be-
ing carried too far. because il wasn't
anything of the kind. There would be
boxing in a good many states today
If the crooks hadn't got i'm and tried
az NtA tiA' INNS va eiNNA 5'oA" ~ ti'-
Ciples. You can't bunco the patrons Of
any game all the time-With the eN-
Ception, maybe, of life insurance and
expect them to stand for it. and Il was
that way with the lighting game. TIE
grafters found they could make a good
thing out of it, and they couldn't he
satisfied with, il on that basis, but had
TO go and put up piking little jobs 10
steal the money a little faster. They
had IN DIG around and Get hold a. z
good old fighter and stack him up
against raw ringer that they Insisted
was an Irish champion when rs a cold
fact he was never nearer 10 ireland
than West street in New York city, u
less it was COney Isiand
The public got sore. OF course; who
wouldn't? And the crooks pulled JUST
a few more such things as that arOund