The Morning examiner. [volume] (Ogden, Utah) 1904-1910, 1910-07-31

| schools, OF anything except It's orink-
| An accepted authority on English
sporting matters has compiled sta
tistics showing that the forty-odd mil
lion people OF Great Britain spend
$225, 100000 annually for sport. be-
sides having invested permanently
$2S5.000,000 in property devoted ex-
clusively TO the uses OF sportsmen.
In no other nation In the whole
world Is sport an essential factor in
the life of the people. Americans
stand patiently before bulletin boards
waiting to hear the score of a base
ball game, but few of them, after they
become men, actually play the game.
In some parts OF the Union few men
and women still ride TO hounds, but
fox-hunting in the United States
amounts to so little that the great
majority OF the people know nothing
whatever about It. Football, in Its
American form, is played only by
school boys and college athletes. Rae
Ing Is outlawed In nearly every COM
munity. and TO be associated with the
turf Is TO forfeit social standing in
nearly all parts of America Ameri-
cans still delight to shoot and FISH, but
80 per cent Of them never have the
opportunity to do either. except in the
most occasional way.
In England sport seems to be. after
food and drink. the chief end of eX-
lstenoe Everybody has Saturday
half-boliday and everybody devotes il
TO sport. A crowd of 10000 at a pro-
fessional football game is not unusual;
Americas highest college football rec
ord attendance does not reach this
figure. An English boy is taught to
play cricket, not by other boys, as
the American urchin learns baseball,
but by his father, who had been in
turn, taught the mysteries of the
game by his father. This instruction
is not undertaken lightly. but is as
much part of the serious business of
life as any other feature OF child
training. Not to have been crIck-
eter, or game player OF some kind.
Is not to have fulfilled the require
ments Of British education Both
Mr.. Asquith and Mr.. Balfour. the lead
ers of the two great political parties
in Britain. fail TO appeal fully to the
imaginations Of their followers be-
cause neither of them at college took
aiy ihiNitol III spun u utiI
piers always apologize for this short
coming.
When George V. ascended the throne
his people remembered with gratIf-
cation that as Prince of Wales he
had the reputation of being a splen-
did shot. One OF the first things the
new king did was to announce that he
would continue the racing stables cs-
tablished by his father, although It
was generally known that George had
little vital interest in the turf. When
the kings horse, or the prime min
ister's entry. wins the Derby or some
other great classic OF the English turf.
the victory is an occasion for national
rejoicing. It Is impossible To imagine
a president of the United States, or
even prominent senator, attending a
race meeting as the proprietor of A
stable Sometimes even In England.
a Puritan will object to the patron
age of the turf on the part of a great
statesman A Congregational minis.
ter once attacked Lord Roseberry.
then Prime Minister, because he was
the owner OF Derby winner. Lord
Roseberry in reply said, in effect. that
IT was none of the minister's business.
and that Christian charity Should pre-
vent the criticism of any mans pref
erences in sport Without doubt the
great majority of Englishmen agreed
with Lord Roseberry
out of territory of less than TWEEN.
ty million acres in Scotland, almost
four million acres are devoted to deer
forests alone. Scotland has A popula-
ton about equal to that of Ohio Can
any American imagine one-6fth of the
territory OF Ohio devoted to deer for
ests? The licenses for shooting game
orlng 10 Great Britain revenue of a
inlil'on dollars year. Men who shoot
OF hsh are compelled to rent the prop
erty for that purpose, whether they
take 1t FOR day, week or a wear.
one single firm of land agents In Lon
don holds property worth more than
htty million dollars on its lists to he
rented for shooting and fishing. The
annual expenditure for hunting. shoot
ing and fishing amounts to a hundred
million dollars. while nearly two hun.
dred million dollars worth of nron.
erty is held exclusively for the pur.
poses OF these particular varieties of
sport.
While all classes of the peonle arc
sportsmen, only football and cricket
are the free privileges of the lower
classes. The game preserves are
guarded carefully by armies Of keen-
ers' and poaching is severely punish.
ed by the law About twenty wears
ago Parliament gave tenant farmers
the right, by enacting the Hares and
haoblts Dill, to shoot fur" on tho land
which they lease and cultivate Put
IN many parts of the country il is
dangerous for tenant to exercise tbis
right' lest he fall under the displeas.
ure of the squire" Even the nos.
session OF fowllng-piece Is sufficient
TO bring a tenant farmer under sus.
piclon OF poaching. There Is an aei.
tation In favor OF giving the actual
holuers oil land the right TO shoot
leather, as well as FUR" but there
is little likelihood of such a radical
piece oil legislation at this time. And
yet there are few in the peasant class
VINO arc not potential poachers. In
the last political campaign Ilovd.
George horrified the gentry and en-.
deared himself to the peasantrv NV
contessing that he had, himself. vio.
Iated the game laws OF a dark night
just what sport there may be in
taking a seat on comfortable shoot.
Ing stool, attended by a battalion Of
sun'oearers and then pot-shottine
perfectly tame pheasants as they are
driven past by an army of heaters
and drivers may arouse questions In
an American mind But no man mav
deny that fox hunting Is real sport
and every man must Acknowledges
that the English are the best hunters
In the world. Every pack of hounds
In England Is as well known all over
the nation as tho baseball clubs OF