The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-09-20
Interest In This Sport Now 50 Great
That Many New Leagues Are
Being Organized
Weekly,
COMPETITION rs CAUSE
Brought Shooting Into Favor as 1t
Has Baseball, Football
and Other
Sports.

Competition In one form or an
other has done more to popularize
sport than any other one factor. It
| is the spirit Of competition that adds
tzest to q contest and makes It more
interesting to participants and spec
tators alike. This applies both to
contests between iniyiduals and be-
tween teams.
| A college football squad at prac.
tice attracts very little attention,
but on the day of big game, for
instance the annual Yale-Harvard
game, it is almost impossible to buy
/ a seat for the scrimmage. 1t is the
desire to see the strength and
strategy of one% team matched
against that of the other which at
tracts the crowd.
The same principle applies to
baseball. 1t is the big league games
| that attract. the people, because in
them competition is the keenest. The
result OF one game may or may not
place the club nearer the coveted
| pennant. Although the clubs COM
peting in the worlds series are
usually Of the east, just as much In
| terest is evidenced in the result
! throughout the west, as In the home
| towns of the teams battling for the
baseball crown.
| It is the battle for supremacy that
| has been the incentive Of contestants
| in every match Of skill or strength,
| since the time of the old gladia-
torial contests. Every sport since
then has owed it's success to some
form of competition, and because of
this competitive spirit, sports of all
kinds have been made Interesting
and attractive to all.
rrapshooters Organize.
Trapshooters realizing that their
sport could be made even more
popular by introducing the element
of competition among gun clubs, or
ganized trapshooting leagues, con-
sisting Of anywhere from three to
twelve clubs each The result has
been that the club members are now
deriving more pleasure and greater
incentive for concentrated effort
through the medium of friendly COM
petition.
A few years ago the trapshooting
leagues in existence could be counted
on the fingers Of two hands, but
through the promotive efforts Of the
sports opponents the desire for in
ter-club matches has increased to
such an extent that new leagues are
being organized weekly.
Trapshooting leagues are not only
beneficial to the sport as a whole,
but also to every club and to every
club member belonging to a league
| Yror ~
ton affiliates itself with a league,
the club Immediately becomes more
important and receives a greater
amount of attention than it did be-
fore. Such an affliation renders the
club eligible to make application for
the attractive league trophy donated
by the Interstate association for the
promotion of trapshooting located In
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Appeals to Shooters.
The average club member would
much rather compete in conjunction
with large number Of his fellow
shooters and with regular set form
of inter-club competition than he
would in the small club shoots The
trapshooting league offers the solu.
ton to his problem, engenders a get
I together spirit on the part of the
members Of each club and stirs up
friendly rivalry between organize
tons that the mere shooting in prac-
| tice events cannot bring about. In
addition to this, If shooter Is a
member of a league he has the
privilege of competing for the attrac-
! tive prizes awarded by the manage
ment of the league to the winning
contestants at the end of the season.
| Among the most successful leagues
| IN the country may be m entioned the
| Central Ohio Trapshooters' league,
the Central Pennsylvania and West
ern Pennsylvania Traapshooters'
league, the Central Illinois Trap
shooters league, the Northwest
Washington Trapshooters' league,
and the Inland Empire league Of gun
clubs.
The last named league is being
conducted by the Spokesman Review
Of Spokane, Washington. It has
been in operation only few weeks,
but nevertheless the competition
among the twelve clubs comprising
the league is very keen and the
members enthusiasm is at fever
heat. Matches are held every Sun
day and the scores are sent to the
Spokesman Review, which paper Is
handling the contest exactly as
though 1t were a struggle for base
ball honors. Opposite each club is
shown the number of organization.
The trapshooting league has come
20 stay. 1t is form of competition
411a4 L. ~ Ill IL,