Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-16

MAooo toILuTeu ana JdueQ
nerves are stimulated by the
sight Of two human brutes beating
one another black and bloody, you
are menace to our race!
Spoiled daughters of society, who
combine the cruelty-loving instincts
OF the savage with an inordinate love
OF the costliest Injuries and display.
you are a peril to our womankindl
Three recent prize fights in Europe
nave been made remarkable by the
attendance of a large number of
women of the aristocracy, many of
them young and attractive. wearing
Jewels and modlsh evening dress.
They made coarse and brutal con-
test the excuse for a brilliant social
gathering.
The prize fights thus distinguished
were those between the negro, Jack
Johnson, and Frank Moran. in Pa ris;
between Freddie" Welsh and
willie" Ritchey, in London, and be-
tween "Gunboat" Smith and Georges
Carpenter, also in London.
In this unblushng patronage of a
brutal spectacle by those who SHOULD
be the most gentle and refined ele-
ment of society, We see not merely
display of bad taste, but an un mis-
taxable indication of social corrup-
ton, warning that an upheaval is
coming in the communities where
such degraded taste prevails. When
ever in history the women of the up
per classes have succumbed to the
60 ~ IL I'D. 80.
spectacles, the downfall of a civiliza-
ton has been surely decreed. Thus
1t was in ancient Rome, l.. Babylon,
in Carthage, in Egypt, in Greece, in
Spain. The psychologist who studies
the news about the recent prize6shts
is forced to conclude that France and
England are doomed to pass thrd ugh
an upheaval like those which befell
the earlier civilizations.
We in America are closely affected
by these occurrences, for a consider
able number of American wom en
were among those who witnessed the
prizehghts. Moreover, the tendency
of our socially conspicuous class to
initiate the society of England and
France is so strong that there is nee
essarily grave danger that the con-
tagion of such social customs will
spread here.
Listen to newspaper report OF the
fight between the negro Jack Johnson
and Frank Moran in Paris:
The singular spectacle was pre-
scented of several hundred women in
beautiful gowns applauding the two
pugilists as they struggled up and
down the ring, feinting and lodging
and punching each other.
Among the women were those
that bore such great names in society
as Baroness Henri de Rothschild, the
younger Duchess Dues, the Duchess
de Rohan, Countess Matthew de No
allies, the poetess Princess Morou-
zieff, and Countess de Proumlers.
"Johnson's white wife occupied a
prominent position, wearing many
diamonds"
Before the fight. we are told, the
loveliest women of the French aris-
-, tocracy bearing names that have
been famous since the crusadeB felt
the ripping muscles of the colored
gladiator Johnson and thrilled with
brutal joy in the contemplation of his
colossal development
In misplaced enthusiasm for the
triumph of the white race, the at
tractive Mrs. .'~r ., of New
York, richly gowned, planted a kiss
full on the lips of the Pittsburgh
pugilist Frank Moran. During the
encounter the women became fran
tically excited and applauded wildly
whenever the fighting seemed vicious.
Similar scenes occurred at the fight
between Welsh and Ritchey in Lon
don. The Earl of Lonsdale, lead
ing English sporting nobleman, was
there, and with him was his wife,
one of the handsomest women IN So
ciety, and many other women Of the
English aristocracy. Tall, fair-haired
maids and matrons, who should have
been attending to their duties In the
stately homes of England, sat by the
ringside and cheered the fighters.
Among them, tool regret to say, was
q prominent Anglican clergyman, the