The Washington times., 1921-10-16

VHYHEN u man. discouraged by
I" some setback. says: cTm
~ no sood.'' he doesn't mean
Il. He merely means that In his
opinion there 10 slight possibility
that he is not absolutely perfect.
Al the present time Britain. the
parent OF sports. the samcs-m%stsr
of the world. is saying. after q start
ling series Of disasters. Pm no
good," and these enlightened and
dismal citizens Of hers who forsses
the end OF the British Empire I'm
cricket match are telling her exact
iy why she 10 no good.
She is no good. they say. because
she has become conceited and slack.
and because she 10 far advanced In
decay. The dear. self-satisfied old
creature. they sneer. was supreme
when she had no rivals. but i'm
msdiately anybody stands up to her
fair and square. she collapses. OF
course, they don't mean II. OF
course Britain knows they don't
meant 1t. And Britain and they eI-
pect the wide world Of sports and
games to reply in reassurins
sense.
But the wide world of sports and
games is doing nothing Of the kind.
IT 10 saying to Britain--and you can
see II In the foreign press north and
south, east and west
You're quite right. You are
done for"
Pause and Reflect.
Before, however. accepting the
verdict Of the world. and putting on
.sackcloth and scattering ashes upon
noodles and retiring with a servile
bow from the field. II might be well
for Britain to inquire into the his
tory OF the matter and to ascertain
for sure whether she really has been
beaten in what she was trying to
do. .
The ruling Tor the influentiaD
Class IN bflVhlu Wao always oAAASs-
ed to games and sports.
It took games with seriousness.
The rest of the world observed this.
and observed also that the British
Empire was continually growing
both In size and in power. And the
world began to put two and two to-
gether, saying
"A far.sighted race. these Britons!
They have perceived that games
constitute the finest physical and
moral training for the youung. de-
veioping all sorts Of faculties that
cannot be developed without games;
and they have gathered the political
and commercial harvest OF their wis
dom. We. too. will go in for games"
Part Of the argument was fake,
for 1t is absolutely certain that
Britain did not 60 in for games be-
cause good games meant good bust
ness. Britain went in for games be-
cause she had an instinct for games
and enjoyed them.
Unquestionably. in the British ex-
ample, games and Empire did go
together. Her pupils said: Britain
takes games very seriously, and we
will take games very seriously"
They determined to beat Britain,
and naturally they succeeded. But
the point is that though Britain
took games very seriously, she only
took them seriously. as games.
Ourselves and Our Rivals.
with her the passion was to play;
She wanted to win. but only on the
condition that the game remained
a game and an end In itself. With
her the supreme end never was to
win. She said: I shall win If I can,
but my game shall not be my busi-
ness, and the chief charm Of my
game for me is that 1t is great lark"
As for scientific organi ton, the
notion thereof was abhorrent to the
sporting islander. OF always wasJ
The situation could be summed up
thus. Britain had an object In life,
to play and sport. Her rivals had
an object in life, to beat Britain In
play and sport. Both objects were
attained! AZ for the rivals. they
were extremely in earnest. as new
converts usually are. SO their games
were more than games and also less
than games. Assuredly they were
not an end, but a means.
The end was enormous. Teeth
were set: brows we're knitted; lives
were devoted money was lsvished;
science was utilized; specialization
was enforced. Games lost the spirit
OF games; they ceased to be distrac.
tions and grew into vocations. The
sequel was inevitable. The suprem.
acy Of Britain. which she had never
sought, and never seriously sought
to keep, was taken from her.
Meantime Britain continues to
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