Evening star., 1909-02-14

to that of Hughey Jennings of the Tigers.
as some Of the supporters of the signing
Of Latham are doing. Hughey Jennings
Is the manager of crackerjack base
ball club, which he himself had the most
to do with in the matter of turning 1t into
a crackerjack ball club. He never start
ed in to pose as funny man. First
and foremost. he Is manager getting
that he let's out of his system is sponta-
neous and involuntary He never really
meant it to be so blamed funny, and was
surprised when the fans began to look
upon it as funny. Well, that's all very
different from Latham's case. Latham
is being employed solely to do funny
coaching. He is dragged from the OBJ
scurity in which he has reposed for many
years solely and expressly for that soil
tary purpose. He will have no more to
or the advising Of the players than the
boy who attends to the water barrel.
1t remains to be seen, therefore, how
the fans will take to his stuff. The
chances appear to be that they'll tire
right from the go-off from the ancient
funnyisms Of the funny coacher, and that
he'll be canned for the good of the serv-
fce'' even before the umpires have to fix
their stern gaze on him and order him
to do his little Marathon Off the diamond
for good and all.
Recently a New York city assembly
man introduced a bill in the legislature
of the state Of New York making the
teaching of boxing In the public schools
Of New York compulsory.
The bill was squnched. Good thing.
Let 1T be permanently squnched. The
assemblymen who did their little share
toward smothering the fool bill knew
what they were doing.
Because, you see. there are altogether
too many young boneconks in this town
now who are on their muscle. or what
they think is their muscle. New York
city Is fairly stuffed and cluttered from
the Battery to High Bridge with young
fellers who think they're there with the
fight stuff and who are trudging around.
in consequence, with chips on their
shoulders.
There are gymnasiums attached to
these young fellers-most Of whose names
read like list of Rhine wines-get to
pulling the weights and tossing the ball
around for a few weeks, and then. when
little knob Of hard stuff about the size
Of young pimple appears in the region
where their biceps ought to be. why, they
promptly reach the conclusion that
they're as strong as the very old dick
ems, don't you see. and promptly they
want TO go out into the street or on an
elevated or subway train or ferry
boat or theater cr some place and lick
somebody. Yes. indeedy, they want to
waliop the everlasting daylights out OF
inoffensive folks. just because, you under
StanO, Cney We SOTt D nO0CneQ around
gymnasium for a little space of time
They get the big head SO badly because
they occasionally put on $2.39 athletic
suit In a gymnasium that they become
offensive and aggressive and ugly and
bulldozy and browbeaty. and all like that
It is pleasant thing to be able to record
that most of them get themselves sound
ly paddywhacked quite frequently by
other young fellers who wouldn't know
the inside of a gymnasium from the in
terror of Turkish mosque. But this
isn't the point.
The point is that the free physical
training that is already provided for them
by a generous city government gives
them all of the swelled nut that they
can possibly use in their business. and
makes them believe that they are ba-ad
and wicked and tough and hard to handle,
and all that sort of syllabub.
If so be as it happened that this PIN
headed assemblyman's bill did pass and
become a law-which it never. never will
and these clippish young fellers re-
ceived, at their schools, free instruction
in the art of boxing. this town couldn't
be lived in by quiet individuals within
the space CT two years. The whelps
with the consciousness Of their little
boxing knowledge would be making a
pretty fine sort of a stab at running
the hull thing and being the hull thing.
Even by making 1t point to attend
strictly to your own business day in