The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-30
WAVE
HITS AUSTRALIA
Clergyrnen Start a Crusade
Against B~oxing-color
May Be Cause
BY W. W. Naughton.

q Francisco. Nov. 3O-Agitatior
AGAINST the boxing game has arisen In
australia. Parenthettcally it nigh
De explained. there is always n demon.
stIation OF some sort from the oppo.
nents OF pugilism when anything pre-.
tentious In the way of a ring even
looms up at the Antipodes.
The trouble blows away. as q, r,,le
the smoke Of a wood fire, and n
may DC that the present disturbance is
merely a casual Whit of remonstrance
at what some n has dubbed 1.-The
sport of men" ~
In the present case. the affected
area fs wider than usual. The open-
ing u was fired in the city of Mel
bourne when Rev. F. c. Spur, pastor
OF a Baptist church. approached Dr..
wright prtmate of Australia. with
q view OF tnstituting a movement for
Sydney" "
In defining his position. the Rev.
Spur said:
my. prime object is to bring pres
sure to bear on the government with a
view to preventing the fight between
Johnson and McVea, which is to take
place at the stadium, Ruschutter's bay,
n In fact to place an embargo on
all boxing contests for money!"
While at first glance it looks as
though the gentleman Of the cloth is
discriminating. it is evident just the
same that he intends the movement to
be a thorough one. Such boxing con-
tests as are not for money are not
much OF a menace to public morals.
Members of the Evangelical and
Baptist councils of New South Wales
nave ranged themselves behind Rev.
spur In his work Of reform and the
war between the pros and "antis"
is on. ~
1t is freely intimated that. If Sgd.
ney had n been converted into a
stamping ground for the worlds most
notorious negro bruisers and IL a John
son-McVea fight had not been talked
OF as a climax to the Ethiopian inya-
sian. those who dislike boxing might
nave been content to suffer in silence.
Color the Cause
The agitators think that the name
White Australia" which was confer
red on h country on account of its
aversion to all men of color, irrespec.
tive of race. should be lived up to, but
h threatened Johnson-McVea fight is
the last straw. The vehemence Of the
opposition is such that an i%rreverent
Australia scribe has dubbed the re-
formers the society for the abate-
ment of the. smoke nuisance.
so far the parties who favor box
ing have scored better than their ad-
~versaries. In Sydney a reported inter-
viewed no less a parsonage than f..
Day. inspector general of police and
elected the g~entleman's views on the
subject. Here is what the Inspector
general Of police said:
Il do not profess to be able to give
an exposition Of the law, but l AWAY.
view glove contests this way. If ther.
be q fixed number of rounds and thu
contest Is to be decided on points, it Is
not a prize fight. This. l believe. is the
accepted Law. I am not saying that con-
tests such as we have in Sydney are or
are not prize fights. l am simply CIV
ing the generally accepted idea. The
police have always attended these con-
tests and they have instructions to
stop n fight at the slightest exhibition
of brutality and l may add the chief
secretary is in accord with that in
struction. 1t is also within the pow
er Of a contestant or his second to
bring the event to a close at any mo-
ment."