Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-03-27
tcopyright, by Joseph 3. Bowles3
A PLEA FOB pua111sM.

among the legal sports, and it is to be hoped that some of them will go through, at least. want to say right here that there was never any real req son to begin with why pugilism should have been debarred, had it not been in most instances for the work of crooked sporting men, who used the game as a lever to jimmy themselves into some easy money. Perhaps that statement sounds little strong, but I believe it just the same.
 Naturally believe that the fighting game is all right. because I've got good bunch of what money have by it, and know there are a lot of people who are going to rise up and call down all kinds of hard things on me because ! I think so. A whole lot of them will say right of tne bat, that I'm a brute, that I'm naturally prejudiced and that my opinions won't be of any value anyway because Pm an interested party, but think my word will go as far as that of a narrow-minded man or woman who doesn't know anything about pugilism, never saw a fight, and couldn't be dragged within hail of one with yoke of oxen.
 Boxing is good game, and I don't care what those opposed to it may say. The talk of brutality is tommy rot to i begin with, for there are more men hurt in one year on the football field 1 than are or have been damaged in box i ing or sparring in 20. That is an ab- solutely fair statement, and it can be proved up to the hilt. It is only nec- essary to read 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 in the prize ring.
 1 To begin with, the men who fight with their hands are men who know exactly what they are doing and just how many chances they are taking. They know that punch on the nose won't do any harm, but sometimes will do them a world of good; they know that sound walloping will leave them stiff and sore for some days, perhaps, but that they won't be any the worse for it week later. Another thing,
 sparring makes a man keep his tenn
 per as a rule. I'll guarantee you never saw successful pugilist who had a mean, or quick disposition. He's got
 to keep his head, or get knocked into
 the middle of next week. It's great
 training, too, the fighting game, for 1t
 does whole lot of things for man. K I've generally noticed that it's the
 anaemic. spectacled, pale-faced. near
 men who kick about the brutality of
 the game, and they are assisted by a
 few excellent delegates from the Old
 Woman's Home, who think 1t un-
 christian to lift the hand to another
 human being. suppose their point oi
 view is all right, but If you'll show me
 . country that can use its fist. and does use it to settle its petty quarrels I'll show you nation that comes pret.
 ty near to keeping itself on top of the heap all the way around the circle The men who grab for a knife or 2 gun the minute they hit streak ol trouble are generally towards. and they are also the kind that treat womer badly, and in addition they show de ceit, ill-breeding and whole lot ol degenerate features that we dont think so much of over here. I thinl
 that ever since man was put on thil
 earth he's had to do more or less fight
 ing, and if all the old timers tell ul ] about the days gone by is true, he usual
 ly took mighty good care of himself
 We've improved on his sword and hil
 dirk and his ax or club since thosl times, and we've gone back to tn,
 weapons that Nature handed out to u in the first place, and when you see 1
 man take of his coat and announce that he's willing to abide by the who
 the best man" theory. you can com
 pretty near being sure that you've go
 fair specimen of the Anglo-Saxon>t t' deal with. We don't think So mucl
 of the Chinaman. the Italian. she Ger ! man or the Frenchman these days, be
 cause we know they won't fight as
 general rule. but we know it isn't saf : to stir up the Irishmen. the Scotch man. the Englishman or the Yanke too far unless we can prove what VI say on his front teeth.
 To me that's a healthy spirit. n the good folks who try to stop th . game it's rank degeneracy. but they'r wrong and they always will be wrong I'm for legslized boxing. principall because I think it's the finest an healthiest sport in the world. but onl just 70 long ss It isn't degraded by
 lot of rank ersfters. like those vh
 killed it iu New York. Don't you le
 anyone try io convince you that vhel
 New York parsed an anti-boxing la- : 1t vas a fine sentiment of deceney or proper decision that brutality vss bs ina carried too far. because t vzsa' anything of the kind There would , boxing in . good many statss to-da . if the erooks haint eot tn and trie to run the thing on green goods prir : cipIsss You can't bunco the patrons ( any zane all the ine-vith the q esption. nayhe. Of life inszrzncs-sn sxpsct thsn to stand for-i and t VI that way with the lighting zane n
 rrafters found they could make . goo
 thing out of ft. an they eosIdnt
 satisfied vifk it ca that basis. bat hs ! to % and uf Ep pikins Etfls iohs