New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-02
PRIZEFICHTS NO
PLACE FOR WOMEN
Saturday Review" Be
walls Presence at Smith
Carpenter Bout.
ANTICS OF MILITANTS
ARE LESS DEGRADING
Says Their Minds Are Not Capa-
BILE of GraSping Fine Points
of Boxing.

England has not yet done with dis
cussion Of the Smith Carpenter fight
Even some of the periodicals devoted
to subjects far removed from the world
Of boxing have had something to say
of the fight. "The Saturday Review"
in recent issue devotes leader to
q lament that women are beginning to
watch prize ring battles. 1t declares
that "even the antics of the militants
are scarcely less repellent or less de-
grading" and asserts that woman's
mind is not capable of grasping the fine
points of boxing match.
"The presence Of women at these
great fights is perhaps the most OBJ
jectionable feature of the craze says
"The Review"
at is a fashion borrowed from
France, where the youth and handsome
face Of Carpenter have inspired all
the idle sensation hungry women OF
Partisan society with o passion for the
ring. He is worshipped much as the
danes of Nero's Rome sighed in their
boredom for the gladiators of the CIR
Gus. IL is not Carpenters fault; ne IS
a businesslike young fellow who likes
his art and has a keen eye for proht,
but little appetite apparently for fame.
"He takes his lionizing, on the whole
quite calmly and sensibly. But 1t IS 10
be regretted that he has given his sup
port to the view that women are JUS
t:fied in claiming their latest privilege,
and it is a pity that his good looks have
tempted so many of our females, as
we'll as those of France, to new folly.
Breaking of ribs, as Touchstone SAID,
is no sport for ladies'; and boxing,
watched without understanding, as
vomen must watch it, can satisfy only
craving for excitement such as
bullfight spectator demands.
"The skill, the art of the thing, is lost
on these intruders. Their minds react
only to the cruder sensations. 1hey
see, not two consummate masters OF
fne craft, but two half nude men strug-
gling for mastery. They are there 10 see
what no true boxer goes to see-blows
and blood. They are like the idle
womenN for whose entertainment some
/ oldtime generals ordered a regiment
1 into useless action. Their petty little
minds could not have taken IN the
meaning of great tactics, but they could
revel-from a position of safety-in the
/ roar Of guns. the fash of sabres, the
emptying saddles, and the thinning
I
at is frankly detestable, this newest
/ feminine craze. Even the antics OF the
militants are scarcely less dignifed or
| less repellent. 1t need hardly be said
| that these women 20 where they are
rot wanted. Their presence is an an
ncyance to every serious spectator, ard
gives even the average badaud sense
of ineongruity.
"No doubt il the folly extends largely
/ IL will work its own cure. Men VIII
cease TO patronize these great boxing
/ spectacles il women arc to form any
/ great part of the audience; and boxing
matches will once more become, as they
ought 10 be, affairs for the initiated
and not mere shows for sensation
seekers"
/ In the same article regret is ex-
messed for the passing of the good old
/ davs OF the English bruisers, whose
/ doinos were chronicled by George Bor-
row. In the fights Of to-day it finds an
/ interest entirely artificial, and says:
/ "No. il the Carpentier-Smith show
and its like were evidence OF real
! healthy interest in boxing, II would De
/ easier 10 put up with the sordld fea--
ures inseparable from a modern boom
~ snv kind the putting, the bargain
INC the ehaffering for photographic
and kinematograph rights, the exas-
neratine chatter and cackle, the irrele-
Want gossip and hero worship gone
mad. -, - ,,;,h
- PATIENCE that the boxers baby
MI has been promised a lifesize, doll
Fl her father Gins, that anotnef S man !.
MON dislikes asparagus, ana lnas a
third trains wholly on S0'Ahu''0 :
marched breakfast bran"