Norwich bulletin., 1916-08-21

AOAOAOO'
 An inquirer writing in a similar vein from Concord, N. Y, to the 1 Post, asks: Do you consider boxing | and face smashing and having two 1 fine specimens of manhood beat each other half to death of such pre- emi- 1 Willard is entitled to get $lTOO or $500 a minute or S35 900 or $40, 900 l for 30 minutes actual work with his fists in order to satiate the capacities of those who thought Moran was his master?
 Tt is more money than is earned by any other performer in the world, l Sullivan, Corbett, Jeffries, Fitzsim- mons, Johnson and other predeces- | sors and other smaller boxers of the period, and knocks away out of time the compensation earned by any other public artist in the world
 T have seen it figured that Mme. | Patti when she was paid $5,O00 a 1 night received about $5 a. breath, but she was not as well paid as our mod ern glove masters.
 Are we not, by your own admis- sion, making eternal fools of our selves as American citizens and national beings to fat up the pugtlis- tic coffers in the way that we do?"
 In general answer to my educational friends, can only say that whether MT. Willards or any other boxers services to the world at large are worth what is paid for them is prac- tically outside the question.
 There are in the United States of America, 100,000,000 people, and out of that great number there are be- tween 500,00O and 100000 who either like the sport or read about it in the public prints. Also there are from 50 GOO to 1OO, ,OOO who are ring followers and will attend battles of the championship caIiber if the op- portunity- presents itself, and are firm believers in being present at the ringside when a big event is staged.
 These followers if the opportunity is given them are eager to pay grand opera prices for a compara- lively brief spectacle, and to that end many of them are willing to fOrego a week or more of valuable time, and travel from 200 to 500 miles, and think they are having the time of their lives.
 Remember. my moraIizing friends, that the American public, like every other people, will pay more for what they cannot do without. Half the population of Madrid. Spain, is ranged about a cock pit every Sunday fore noon and bull ring Sunday after noon.
 Singers, actors, actresses, lecturers, glove men, successful riders of race horses, bull fighters, are in no way
 concerned in furnishing fhe public
 WILl any LIllQS, on the ground or necessity it cannot fOrego.
 But the public, not satisfied with the sordid necessities of life, insists upon having some amusement, enter tainment or sport. It will always pay the best prices for the very best thing of it's kind, whether it is a bunch of asparagus, an airship or an automo-
 bile.
 A boxers performance in which one OItDOlntS OIITGPnpT9lS f. SlugS another boxer and gets a, truck full of money for doing it, does not interfere with any school teachers getting just as much money for keep however, the public is willing to pay for it
 The rule in all these cases is, as that vulnerable sage of Massachusetts, Ralph Waldo Emerson, put it: If man knows how to do something better than anybody else, whether it De the writing of an epic poem or the making of mouse trap, the world, even though he lives in the woods will tread a pathway to his door,"
 The only practical way that I can see to get as much money as our modern glovemen are obtaining is to
 rival them in glove fighting The
 men can subdue Cor surpass Jess Willard, Frank Moran, Jack Dillon, Freddy WeIch and Johnny Kilbane, can get more money than they do. The boxing game is no close corpora tiOn, it is an open field, and the best hands and best skill will always com mand the most money. No man is barred; teacher and teamster are all equal.
 The American referees are a pretty honest lot of fellows, and for years many of us have stood up in the fierce white light of the public and stood the test for probity and fair ness. We are not buildings; we won't harm you, and you will get all that belongs to you if you have the goods. Deceit, chicanery, crOokery had their day in the old style of milling, but that day is gone, never to return The modern glove man is a decent well behaved, well hammered young fellow, who makes a. living with his hands, plus the natural ability of head. And the cleaner and better | behaved he is the greater the draw l ing card he becomes. The boxers of | the present time are neither thugs
 nor lQafers. They cannot by any 1 stretch of Imagination be hired to | commit any wiIfuI act, or violate any | law, as a great many imagine. | Once give a man the reputation of l being identified with the ring and it is l the hardest thing in the world to give 1 him credit for one grave thought By all rights and preCedents he should | be garhed with a loud checked suit
 of clothes, a bad cigar and a cap | pulled down over his eyes as some of
 the counter hoppers would have it. l His every utterance should be ''HuIly | gee" or By gee" in order to live up 10 the picture of what is painted in 1 the minds of some who wear a five and one-quarter hat and 13 boot Look ever the list of glove men who are in the trenches in bloody Belgium and you will find the names of the leading boxers, champions of both England, France and Canada, doing their duty for their country and their flag. Clear of eye, stout of heart, fac ing death with the same supreme con- f1dence that was characterize of their ring days. We have them here in America in abundance. And should the time ever come when a call to colors is sounded, you will find your Ameri- can athlete ready, anxious and willing to uphold the hands of the President and his countrys flag. I yield to no man in my admiration for my flag and my country; and for her boxers as know them, their love of it equals mine.
 So don't forever harp on what they earn in the ring
 'ENObO6yy is oro15 !,