New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-30
By ARTHUR S. DRAPER.

I Dy TfINAbISN os 1hNEhA AAN'
| London. Dec 1s.-Engand, the
worlds greatest sport-loving country,
knows but one game now. 1t is the
greatest game ever played, with the
entries running into millions, the play
ing field half of Europe. no rules 70
/ break and no limit to the ROUNDS.
While one-half of the world watches
this titanic contest the other half oc-
cupies the grandstand and applauds or
groans as the tide Of battle sweeps
back and forth. There never Nss so
fascinating contest, and even the
money mart Of the world rise and fall
as the combatants call for more and
more fittings with which 10 play.
Cinder path, cricket crease, football
field, golf course, rseetrack. tennis
court. river and lake are deserted now
and the young athletes who two short
vears ago won renown and the plaudits
of the multitude now crawl along one
Of those cold, muddy trenches some
where in France" or are down in the
Dardanelles. or up in the Balkans.
MANY Of them have fallen in the terri
ble drives along the West front, never
10 rise again; many Of them have re
turned. leaving behind an arm or
leg. Condition counts, but casualties
run high in this game.
When Britain takes time TO think OF
the future of sports she must be stag
gered, for already half million OF the
flower Of the land have been counted
out. and the end is not yet in sight: In
a few months more than four million
men and boys, three-fourths the totaI
population of New York City, VIII De
under arms or under the sod' or
stretched out over that God forsaken
plain between trenches called 40
Mans Land Damp and cold are al.
most "a treacherous as shot and shell
for the men who have to twist and
souirm and burrow through the mud IN
Flanders. When these men return and
quit the game of fighting for the game
of living a great proportion Will nave
lost their edge" and will be hardly the
kind of material needed for breaking
records.
Professional football has stood the
strain best-or worst, according 10
YOUR attitude. This fall IT started
Greatly curtailed season, after much
'rros,tion. but during the last two
7ths of recruiting the attendance
dvindled until now barely
..ndful of spectators-most OF them
elderly men watch the games. II the
var runs through next summer there
will probably be no football next sea
son.
Golf Suffers Severely.
Even golf. the "old mans game has
suffered severely. At one OF the pest
and largest clubs in the London dis,
trict. where in prewar times you had
TO wait six TO nine months from the
time YOU were proposed until you were
elected 10 membership, 1t is now pos
sible 10 gain admission almost as soon
as your name comes up for election
Last Sunday on this course the writer
didn't see one man under forty-hye
wears. and most of them looked consld-
erably older For young, able BODIED
Brjton TO walk the streets with golt
bag on his shoulder would mean an
invitation for assault and battery II
takes real courage for even neutral
10 slip out TO a course in these trOuoie-
some days.
One Of the members Of a nearby
golf course is the head Of company
whose pipes are famous in America.
He is a German, but has been a resi-,
dent Of England for thirty years and
has three sons fighting in the British
army. and naturally all his sympathies
are with this country. This golf CLUB,
like many others, has decided that no
Germans are to enjoy its privileges.
In war times no exceptions are made,
and so this German gets no exercise
on the golf course now, even though
he has not been informed. Feeling
runs so high that recently a Member
of Parliament who has frequently eH-
pressed himself as opposed TO Britains
position in the war was able to retain
his membership in a certain golf club
BIZ the narrowest of margins. Aside
from a few professional matches,
PLAYED for the benefit Of some chart
table organization or war relief fund,
never line appears in the press about
golf.
There was very little cricket played
last season and there will probably be
less the coming season. have seen