The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-07-12
FOREIGN LANDS
N|ECCAF0R SPORTS.
Athletes and sportsmen Of
America Turn Eyes to
Foreign Soil.

NEW YORK. July 1i--The eyes Of
Ill the sporting world are now turn
ed to England and the Olympic games
& to decide the champions OF Drawn oil
3 the wide. wide world.
1t would seem that there lis com
mon desire for sportsnien of our ma
ton to invade new fields. This populn.
notion of International contests has
been growing and growing until now
1t lis about to bloom forth into q sue
cessful climax. Perhaps 1t was start.
rs ed by the Olympic games Al an rate,
iii has now spread TO racing and pugil-
Ism.
Mike Fisher, of Friso. cheerfully
announces that he is going to take Il
+ team of baseball players to Japan in
Il November to show the Orientals just
how far they are behind in the march
of progress and civilization They wit
also go to Hong Kong, Shanghai asa
Manila, after which they Will come
E hack home.
But so far as pugilism and racing
goes tho move is Il serious one AL
fred Gwynne Vanderbilt and James r.
keene are really the sponsors OF the
movement. and both have established
stables on foreign soil. The blow de-
livered to race-track betting in New
York and other states has had much
to do with the movement
Ed. W. Smith, of Chicago. we'll
known sporting writer, makes the as
Rertion that in three months America
will be denuded of famous and scienti-.
Tic fighters. Whether Mr.. Smith real
~ foresees such a calamity, or whe
sther his dope is overshot the bounds of
truth must be seen later. However, II
is hardly likely. Smith says the craze
to go abroad and garner lourels is
rampant. Tommy Burns Willie Lewis.
Jack Johnson and Jimmy Britt have
set the ball to rolling. Joe Cans seems
to have been bitten by the same germ.
and already Dick Green. Chicago.
scrapper Of some local reputation
has started. Cans would like TO do
we'll abroad.
Some of the arfstocracy of the old
soil still cling to the old notion made
SO famous in Rodney Stone. They like
muscle and like to see II In action and
they are level-headed sports willing
TO wager their esoteric garments oil
the lads of their choice IL such a thing
should be necessary.
No Color line.
Black fighters, it would seem. have
always done we'll abroad. lust why
this Is. is a matter for speculation, but
nevertheless. is the truth. They seem
to be picked UP as heroes for the sim
not foster tho prejudices' against the
race that America does. Peter jackson,
the Australian, was lionzed in a man
ner that must have made him dizzy.
However, he was no exceptional man,
one of superior intelligence and really
deserved especial attention at thcl
hands of the English. Jack Johnson
was not SO classy, but, notwithstand-
ing this, he received q full mead of
an 10 nv
the nobility which is quite an honor.
Another thing, there is not the bar
to fighting In England and Ireland
that one finds in this country. The
old game still holds forth as many
inducements as it did in the good old
days when the ring was stretched in
the open and the aristocrats drove up
in their tallyhoes wearing bottle green
coats to see the near-naked giants
waliop each other with bare knuckles.
But. as was said in, the first place,
the eyes of the entire sporting king
dom is now on England. With the
shooting contests the games are fairly
under way. The American revolver
and rifle team was zone of the first
1ireign teams upon the ground. and
they lost no time in getting down to
practice. which had II whole lot TO do
With their showing in the contests.
Other contestants were England, switz-
erland, Greece. Canada, Denmark,
S4France, Germany, sweden Finland,
Holland and Hungary. The Americans
competed in the individual matches,
and their work spoke we'll for a new
country where. not many years ago.
one had TO know how to shoot If he
wanted to wear full head of hair.
The appointment by the State Depart
ment of James Sullivan as United
States commissioners has made that
worthy busiel than, ever.