Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-02-05
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
THE COLOR LINE IN PUaILISM.

dDOuC the cOlOr line III puSlllSIu, ana tRlS
 seems about as good time as any. A lot of tommy rot has been printed in one
 way or another about this matter, and
 hardly think any of it has hit the-well let's say solar plexus of the subject.
 To begin with, we've got to admit there is a color line and as long as there is
 pugilism in this country, there will be one. Why? Simply because there will always be colored fighters. for the
 colored man is peculiarly fitted to be pugilist in some ways and just as unfit for it in other ways, but there will al
 ways be few of them with both quail
 ities combined.
 You'll hear a lot of men tell you that
 drawing the color line won't affect a
 record. That's all foolishness. It will and it must. because for man to be
 champion in any class he must meet
 all the men who think they have a chance to get the championship away from him, and if one or two of those chaps are negroes, there will always eX- ist doubt as long as he refuses to meet them. claim the middleweightc cham
 pionship and the only reason I hold it is. because, I beat the best men at that weight. No colored man has yet come running up to tell me he thought he could wallop my head off and take it away from me, but if he did1'm inclined to think I'd have 60 give him battle for it.
 Now others are different. When fighter is working along trying to get a whack at everything that stands be- tween him and the top notch you don't only when he gets to sitting on the top step and flaming himself with $100 panama nat that he begins to see any thing funny looking about black hide.
 I guess it's just human nature. A fel- low feels he can get finicky with his likes and his dislikes when he gets near the top, and perhaps it won't do to blame him over much for that, for he's worked pretty hard for his job and can af- ford to take a chance now and then. Not that it's right, however, for it isn't. The laws of the United States say that a black man is as good as a white man. That's as it may be, but the fact remains that if there is an extra good colored man in line for the perch on the top bough, and the champion
 looks at him through a smoked tele- #ope and says he's not meeting colored parties right then. there's whole lot of men who'll sheer in nasty way and say:
 Of course it's all right, but it looks as if he's little bit leary of that black and tan proposition. and maybe he is. From the way the chocolate man talks he's got good stuff in him and So-and-So ought to give him chance anyway"
 That's the talk.
 Understand me, I'm not taking up sides on the question or saying what any man ought or ought not to do. I'm the boy in the lookout taking a peek over the situation. and I know that's the way a lot of the sporting element talk. If there's anything. an American likes. it's fair shake for everybody all around. Mind you. I'm not talking about crooks. short-card men and tin horns. but the American people as class. or perhaps I'd better say the An glo-Saxon people. If a chap behaves himself and is decent in his askings, and gets turned down by the big finger, there's a whole lot of sympathy going around for the down-trodden colored brother. and that's no message from a dream book either That's why say drawing the color line can affect a mans record. because you see it is not proved that the colored man cant knock his daylights out. and while there is no say ing that he can. still there's always the chance that he might. It's not bit of good for Bob FitzsimmOns. we'll say. to stand up and howl through a mega phone that he's the champion if he cant prove fl. The only way he can prove it is to step down of the pedestal. pull on the gloves and go out after that darky and either give or take one good licking.
 I've met negroes and I've always found them so and sO. don't mean that they're easy. for they're not: but never saw one vel that could get away with me anyway. and maybe that's why I'm not refusing any of them tha; have a legitimate claim. a chance 10 get whats coming 10 them.
 JefTries drew the color line and think he made mistake don't want 10 seem 10 be criticisinE Jen in any way. because a man has a right 10 run his own game tO suit himself. but I do think he made a mistake. because it al- ways leaves that opening in a mans record. i man can't be champion for ever. because there's always some young felIoE coming along who has look sn. and he has the rhsncs 70 hand you the punch that vill send you of to the shsd0Vs It's siuays been 90. and while a b, 1f them have stayed a long while. they sIusys get theirs in the end Some Of them try to retire and hand 'he championship over To some other fellow but youU find there's a z,r,nE tied TO 1he zift and thzy Sudder- Iy drag it back again
 Corbett gave the belt oyer to Peter Nzher. but he took it bzcz fr a hurry when hs fouEI Peter hsdr-t the class to hold it Anything that goes to thrO. a shade on fighters record ought to bs ripp@d of and the color line does as much to harm a mans popularity as anything ' think. unIess it's direct charge Of cTooEsdns<s- ard that does1t rome often