The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1918-06-14

our boys start WIN inherent CON
ception of life. They get thi
through their books and their games
A great deal of II comes through
baseball and cricket. Every Ameri
can boy, for instance, knows tina
baseball must be played cleanly-tha
there's no fun in winning a foul game
In football he knows that If he foul'
It isn't he who's punished. It's hi
whole side that pays the penalty
This makes him understand that the
team must be clean as well as him
self individually. The German has
mo conception of the sort of thinl
It's because they haven't the games
and don't know the underlying rules
of fair sport as practiced by others
Even among the Germans who learn
baseball in this country it's very diff.
fcult at first to make them under
stand the unplayed inning in nine
inning game. They can't understand
that the last half of the ninth is
often unplayed. not because 1t would
be no use to play it anyway. but more
because the victors have no desire to
rub i'm the defeat of their opponents.
81 have heard it said that you
can't play a game of golf or tennis
with a German without being up
against petty receptions or tricks.
They seem to love to cheat, don't
know about that But l do know
that cheating is one of the things
that every red-blooded American boy
who plays American games, and reads
good juvenile literature. quickly
learns to avoid. The boy learns that
any unfair advantage in a game is
taboo-that all the fun of the game
is in the hot clash of wills, the strug-
gle to gain an entirely honorable
victory over an adversary. The Ger
man starts the game, as | have said,
with a different idea. It's get home
with her, even if you spike the catch
er at the plate.
Fair Play and Foul.
mo, Germany doesn't look at
things our way. Hers is different
We've had plenty of ev-
idence of it since the war began
Look at the crimes she's committed
crimes against the fair name of
sport. Look at the times she hes
left sailors to drown after attack by
submarine. The cases are too num- |
erous to mention. All due to the |
fact that the Germans have not been |
brought up to give the other fellow |
a fair. chance. Do you remember |
hat Santiago story of years ago about !
the Spanish sailors who were going !
down with their ship? Our jackies
were just on the point of giving a |
,heer of victory when the captain said /,
Don't cheer, boys. Those fellows |
are dying!' Well, German wouldn't |
that. 1t wouldn't begin |
10 get beneath the skin of his ply
biology.
81 must admit" continued Heyli-
ger, that, when aviation began to
play such an important part in the
var, | thought l detected change
n the German attitude of sportman-
hip. You see, aviation was a new
both Germans and their
1t was not a game in
which rules learned long years be-
orchard could enter into colsidera-
iOn-when human action could be
ERECTED by them. So, when the Ger
nan aviator Boelcke wrote that let
err home to his father telling of the
eroism of an English airman who,
elpless and out of the fight, was
rying to stabilize his machine by
landing out on the framework,
bought | saw the first sign of Ger
nan conscience in sport. But no, ii
yas a wish father to the thought.
.ater came out the story that when
ioelcke saw his helpless opponent
e swooped down upon him and sent
i'm to his death. If there is a moral
4 this record it must be remember
d in connection with those fine sto- 4.
les of the tributes which British air.
zen have paid to their enemies and,
4 particular, to the wonderful story
f Richthofen's death and the cere-
lonies over his grave. These sto-
les could never have been written
ad not the British been brought up
n the playing fields in the spirit of
air play.
Germany cant see it-simply
ant see it if she could the world
'ould get the benefit So the whole
anne must go ON to the finish-fair
lay against foul-until Germany is
hown that her sort of game is not
'orth the effort and the price"
- n cTNPuN