The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-10-24
ROBABLY there is no
athletic game in America
that has accomplished
rooro for A y,oor;oor oor

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N III more for American man.
hood than the great game of base
ball, as it is largely responsible for
making of the youth of this land
athletes that will help win the war.
Millions of such men will be on the
firing lines fighting for the free
dom of the world
The game of baseball is a minia-
ture battle from the time the men
are sent into the field to the skir-
mish lines of the right and left.
When the batters are placed in po-
sition at the plate and the pitcher
is in the box, when the order is
given by the captain ito fire.
(play ball), from start to fnish
every hard-contested game must
be a battle to the death.
The writer predicts for our sol
diers that were first trained on the
diamonds in their schoolyards,
town lots, club grounds and with
the professionals, victory from the
time the war game is called until
the result is chalked up on the
bulletin boards Of the world: The
Americans, 100; the Kaiser, o.
No better authority on this sub.
ject can be found and quoted than
Prof. A. A. Stagg, the director OF
physical culture of the University
of Chicago.
To secure his views / called on
him at his Office at the Chicago
university. In a most forceful
statement he says:
The Anglo-Saxon race is the
most civilized and the most pro-
gressive of all races. It is also
the most athletic and the best fight
ing race on earth. It is not quick
to pick a fight, but it is the gamest
and the most resourceful foe when
a fight is on. Courage, intelli-
gence, alertness, initiative and
staying power are predominant
characteristics of the race and al
ways win for it.
The great Duke of Wellington
said that the battle of Waterloo
was won on the football fields of
Rugby and Harrow and Eton,
which was merely saying that the
love of the British boys for ath-
letic sport and the practice of ath-
letic games developed the effective
fighting qualities and stamina in
them which won that great and de-
cisive battle.
What the Duke of Wellington
said after the victory at Waterloo
President Wilson or General
Pershing could fairly prophesy for
our American soldiers in this
worlds war, for there are thou
sands of American schools and va
can't lots and prairies which have
trained our present soldiers into
fundamental effectiveness for be-
coming the greatest fighters this
world has ever seen. No army has
ever been drawn from such a wealth
of material, and no army has ever
possessed so many thousands of
superb individual elements. Veri-
tably hundreds of thousands of our
soldiers have had the preliminary
fundamental physical, mental and
moral development which comes
through boyhood participation in
athletic games.
IF Great Britain has had tens
of thousands of athletes, America
has her hundreds of thousands,
trained on her baseball and foot
ball fields, on track and river, on
tennis court and golf links, on
wrestling mat and in boxing room.
These and other sports have
been the superb training schools
from which our soldiers have come.
These have developed the splendid
physical specimens which compose
our army, giving them the strength