The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-27

mission on Training Camp Activities,
which 80 sensibly gave go much atten-
ton to athletics. 1t was this great play
system as part Of the military pro-
gramme that produced an army that
mas won the admiration Of tho world
when the call Of war came. among
the first to enroll were some Of the
greatest athletes in this countryside
greatest In the world. These men were
In the primo Of condition and soon made
themselves felt on the battlefront abroad.
There were thousands OF others who. al
though eager to help, were in no physi-
cal condition to do so. What athletics
at the training camps have done for
these has been truly wonderful Amer
lean youths have been transformed into
physical marvels by the combination of
outdoor and athletic training, and ath-
letics has made for an esprit de corps. n
morale that has made the American
army invincible. The specialized ath-
letics, including az they do rescue races,
In which one man runs a certain dis
lance, picks UP another who is lying
on the ground. and. using the fireman's
hold. brings him back to the starting
point: bomb throwing. trench jumping
and obstacle clearing contests have
proved their worth abroad.
And who will deny the efficacy of
training when the athletic directors &C
company the men from the camps to
the front? There are boxing gloves close
to the front line trenches. In the rear
trenches, where the men have more
freedom. baseball Is played. And
now that II is too cold for baseball, foot
ball Is being introduced. There is moth
ing that will relieve the strain of war
like an athletic contest. Properly di-
rected athletics takes the mems minds
of the horrors they may have witnessed.
1t Is only a few days ago that re-
ceived a cablegram from Johnny Evers.
whose name IL known in every house
hold In the United States. He asked me
to send him at once 500 football uni
forms. I hope by the time this article
appears in print TO have the uniforms
overseas.
could relate instances OF the direct
benefits that are received from athletic
abroad. Athletics has been
known to cure what surgeons call the
trench crouch" continuous bending
forward to keep the head below the par
apet causes stifrening OF the muscles
of the neck and shoulders and results
almost in a deformity.
where Kultur Slips n Cog.
a writer OIL DOgb DOOhS uldut u EpCCNtt
recently in which he advanced what is,
I believe. a novel and plausible expla-
nation of the terrible crimes Of which
the Prussian soldiers stand convicted
before the world to-day. the crimes
which caused President Wilson TO say,
at took me three years to believe the
This writer declared
that the Boches' barbarity can be traced
directly to the lack OF competitive fair
play when they were boys
In Germany boys never know the
meaning OF the term fair play" They
have no sports that make that appeal.
Their training Is confined to feats or
brute strength. There is nothing to de-
velop the independence. the "get-there-
the initiative. the thinking
processes that are part Of our athletics.
Everything is subordinated to the work
of serving the Kaiser. and the result Is
in evidence on the bloody battlefelds
of Europe. The graduate of a six
months course Of Yankee training makes
n better soldier than the graduate, the
misnamed superman, who has had the
advantage OF a course under the Kultur
professors who have made study of
what they call war for forty years.
The list OF fatalities will be long
one knew one of the greatest Ameri-
can tnOTouBnDTeuS IHt lOOAbdA WI va
ever produced--Johnny Poe. He will
never come back His body lies in
France, but his spirit lives in the heart
of every American boy. He was n
volunteer. He couldn't stand being out
OF the scrap.
Poe went across and Joined the Black
Watch, the famous Scotch regiment.
Some mon Of his regiment were needed
to carry boxes of bombs ahead OF the
advance column. A call for volunteers
was sent out and Poe responded. He
fell in with Ehat was termed the Suicide
Squad. He went forward until he was
struck down by an exploding bomb. As
he fell a comrade rushed to his side.
Don't mind me. Go ahead with the
boxes" These were Foes last words,
We should never forget that great
spirit Of Johnny Poe
Don't mind me, go ahead with the
boxes" To the last he was a dlscl-
plined athlete.
In active service to-day Is Hobey
Baker, the American star hockey and
football player. He is in the aviation
corps. often picture to myself HOBBY
Baker circling about alone in his plane
thousands OF feet above the clouds, pa
trolling the skies where the hostile fllers
must be driven back at all hazards. and
think that his feelings must be much
the same as when he used 70 wait in
the backfieli in a championship game
of football for the punts as they came
from the opponents. which must be
caught and securely held to prevent loss
to his team or a possible disastrous
score.
The HERDS Spirit.
Scarcely any one knew a certain
player at Princeton who was quarter
back on the scrub team. He was maxi
ing a terrific effort, the best he could.
on the last day of practice before the
Yale game He had hoped even at the
last hour that an opportunity might be
Afforded him to be substitute quarter in
the game However. his leg was broken
In a scrimmage. As he lay on the ground
in great pain, realizing what had hap
pened and forgetting himself. he looked
up and said: ct am mighty glad that
IL is not one of the regulars who Is hurt.
for our chances against Yale VIII not
be affected"
II is In the heart OF all such men
whose true American spirit rises within
them. urges them to get up and do some-
thing for their country these days. But
unit" stares them In the
face. The training camp with its ath-
Ietic features is not only making many
of these men At, but the results will
be seen in the generations to come, The
attention that is being paid to athletics
In this country to-day in the army and
navy training camps and abroad Is sure
10 bring a great reward.
Our boys are fighting shoulder to
shoulder in France. Gen. Pershing Is
their leader. He Is the field coach.