New-York tribune., 1921-06-28
Soldier-Hero's War Rec
ord Makes Him Civiliza-
tion's Emissary, Hopper
By James Hopper

By James Hopper
In my dope" on the fight published
IN The Tribune yesterday drop
ing" nearly always comes down to a
stating of ones secret preferences. no
matter how illogical they may bel
wrote that, to me, it was not Dempsey
VINO represented America; that it was
Carpenter. And I said would explain
this statement to-day, If let.
So here go, trimming my sails
carefully, mindful Of the many shoals
that pepper my uncharted sea, and
hoping to get by.
The beg inning of my elucidation
say, subject which, considerably and
vigorously discussed some months ago,
has since been muffled under cloak of
desuetude. weariness and perhaps,
! also~-charity. And that's the cham
pion's failure to fight in the war.
| must say that / have never been
in utter sympathy with the howl that
then split the land. could not help
noting that some of the highest howl
ers were also those who had remained
the furthest from the war. Very
often the shrill individuals were the
very ones who, in the times of the
draft, had spent the greatest number
OF shining hours by day and of black,
sleepless hours by night in willy plot
ting to evade the draft. Among the
shrieks were also falsetto voices of fat
merchants who, while the doughboys
died, merely put on more fat.
Then there were those who, while
toeing absolutely to the mark and
obeying absolutely the law, had done
nothing more. They had accepted their
rn oty<xytS Il Ls.
out at all leaping forward to meet it;
they had toed the mark, but with great
care not to let their number sevens
slip over the mark.
Dempsey Lacked Vision
This category forgot that Dempsey's
case was exactly their own. Dempsey
had not evaded the draft; he had
merely taken advantage of some of the
that Dempsey's crime was not crime,
but omission. He had lacked the Wis
ion which sent so many of the young
men Of his age to sacrifice.
He had not. been, for, instance, like
| Carpenter who, on the first day of
his country's peril, in 1914, finding the
law did not yet call him, had volun-
! teered. Like Carpenter who, having
volunteered, finding himself used as
chauffeur, had asked to be transferred
to the aviation. Who, having been trans
iferred to the aviation, gave Of him self
beyond the call Of mere duty, to the
! rcint Of receiving both the Croix de
Guerre and the Medaille Militaire--the
last the most real and priced reward
given in the French army.
have read the citations accompany
ing these awards. Here is phrase of
one of them. 'Never returned without
having accomplished his mission" 1
like that phrase. Never returned
without accomplishing his mission. He
is now here on a mission. Will he
return to France this mission unac-
complished? Everything that is physical
about the dope" seems to say YES.
But will he return without having ac-
complished his mission?
To return to Dempsey. There was,
l thought even back in those days, a
certain unfairness and cruelty about
the hue and cry. And this impression
grew still stronger after l had seen
the champion in training down in At
lantic City.
Impressed by Jack
found him, frora what saw Of him.
quite likable. I liked him right away.
l liked the way he came out that day
from his house for the training, the
brisk, frank, alert way of it. liked
the little tough, snappy swagger Of his
walk: 1t was so-well, so himself. |
liked the way with which, among the
crowd, he singled friends and acquaint-
ances with short friendly mods, and
hello Jacks and hello Bills.
| liked the simple and natural way
ne complied and sat down on the steps
when the newspaper photographers
asked him to pose for picture, and /
liked still more the briskness with
which he then got up and said: "Well,
come on now, boys. Well do little
work."
! And I liked the way he worked. He
works with a single and tremendous
concentration. Some one-some Senator
has called him q lazy bum. / wish
that Senator-yielding for the moment
his Senatorial immunity--would stand
Especially when Jack is at the heavy
bag. He would change his idea and
his epithet-if he had time.
You can see, when Jack is at his
training, that he considers fighting his
trade. And, by Jove, he works at his
trade-which is more than many OF
US do.
Then some people have shouted that
he lacked entrails-and that is silly. II
Dempsey did not go to the war it was
not because he was afraid. To the OBJ.
servor there can be no doubt of his
physical courage. In fact, | could not
see him without imagining him with
sack, rife and helmet, one of the
doughboys Of the Argonne.
What soldier he would have made!
And just little more than soldier
He seemed to me that, within limits
he had it in him to lead. Not through