Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-10-05
Judge Grace Says Boxing
 Ought to Be Taught Every American Boy
POINTED LETTER
Says Sentimentalists Started Move ment for Want of Something
 Else To Do.

of the most eminent jurists in Ark
 ansas and regarded as a man of ex-
 ceptionally fine Judgment, recently
 addressed a letter to the Chicago
 Daily Examiner in which he declared
 that boxing ought to be taught every
 boy in America over ten years of age,
 and taught in the public schools at
 that. by competent instructors. He
 offers this as a solution to the "pis-
 tol totin' evil that has taken hold of
 the country to some extent. The
 letter of Judge Grace was, in response
 to a second one, which he received
 from the Chicago journal, the ii st
 requesting him to become member
 of the National League of Lawmak-
 CTS to stop prize fighting.
 The letter to Judge Grace read in
 part: "The organization, which has
 as it's sole object the abolishment of these brutal and demoralizing eXhibi-
 tions, now has the endorsement of the vast majority of right-thinging, law abiding citizens in every state in the
 Unon. But the work must not be permitted to end with merely arous-
 ing public sentiment against prize fighting and prize pictures. Some de- finite remedial step looking to the en- forcement and strengthening of the laws on this subject must be taken An invitation is respectfully extended to you to send in suggestion as to how this can be accomplished
 Judge Grace's reply is character istic one. He is great admirer of field sports of all kinds and believes firmly in the physical development of the youth. His reply follows:
 Referring to your (circular) let ter of the 10th instant, I beg to say that you are nistaken-I have not written you asking to be enrolled in the National League of Lawmakers to stop prize fighting. On the con- trary, if two brutes of the genus homo, white, black, red or yellow. choose to pound each other for purse and for the edification of a crowd of low brows' who will pay to see them do so, I haven't the slight est objection. Nor do I believe that it will produce any great moral Of course, the prize ring has it's abuses and it is these abuse which have stirred up public senti- ment against it. In like manner, horse racing, "the sport of Kings has been put under the ban and for the same reasons-gambling and it's resulting crookedness.
 T believe that boxing ought to be taught to every boy in America over en years of age, and taught in the public schools at that, by eompet- mt instructors. The effect would De to encourage and develop self-re- lance, coOlness, courage and forti- ude and discourage cowardice and eliance on hip pocket artillery. Spar ing matches, in public, under prop r legal restrictions as to medical eX- of contestants, weight of doves, number of rounds, etc, with ,olice supervision, mo decision fea- ures and all betting barred, would, n my opinion, have many things to ommend them and be beneficial to he country. For one thing, feel ure that it would, if generally prac- iced, result in very material decrease | l the number of homicides which oc- UT every year in the United States. 'y the same token the taxpayers | Yould save the cost of many crimin- ! l trials if boys were taught and en- outraged to rely on their dukes in- tead of the hardware supplied by olt and Smith & Wesson.
 From the foregoing l take it that ou will surmise that I am not an dmirer of 'sissies' and mollycoddles, nd do not belong to the Peace with onor, if possible, but Peace at any rice brigade.
 AS to the social feature, l. like most people in this part of the lords vineyard, think that whenever ln alleged white man puts himself on social level with the negro, either n the prize ring or elsewhere, the negro is the full equal of that par ticular white man in every respect and then some.
 2 1t strikes me that a lot of sen- with perhaps little else to occupy their time, are taking ad- Santage or the recent opera bouffe performance at Reno. to make a noise about nothing. Down here we
 smile and suspect that if Jeffries had | licked the coon there would not have been quite such a hubbuh ra,sed