The New York herald., 1922-01-01
fifteenth century ideals Of honor. Only
duelling could thrive in this atmosphere.

fifteenth century ideals OF honor. Only
duelling could thrive In this atmosphere,
and this could be defined as blood let
smoke. moro beer and mostly formality.
Such sports were marks of social
superiority and never a pastime. To
be sure. tennis had begun to como In,
but II was made more a rendezvous and
tearoom than a sport
The only organization where physical
exercise held sway were the turnvereins,
gymnastio societies. such as those in the
middle West In America. But these.
too were crippled by the efforts Of
political parties and the Government to
nationalize and particularize them
They became and still are entangled in
political prejudices The burgers have
their turnvereins and the workers have
theirs. Under no circumstances would
they think Of communicating each other
by having a meet. Indeed the work
ers are more exclusive. insisting that
members have union cards and in some
clubs that they be members of Socialist
parties
Atmosphere of Democracy.
The fall of the Hchenzollerns, the
end OF universal service and the gradual
spread OF democratic ideas has created
an atmosphere for the kind of sports
which people follow to enjoy them
selves American welfare organiza-
tions In Germany are overlooked with
requests for training In sports and
equipment The World Student Fedora
ton movement has made this part
OF It's work here. Several American
sport experts have been coaching Ger
man university students IN the secrets
OF soccer and track contests
One OF the army trainers with the
Coblenz forces has been offered an at
tractive post In Germany when the
Army OF Occupation goes home In
Dresden and Halle the students have
laid out track and athletic fields on their
own initiative.
Soccer has become almost the national
game. Swiss, Dutch and Austrian teams
como to Berlin to play. Some time ago
n team of British soldiers from the
Berlin Military Mission met team
from the German military police. AS
might have been expected. nationalists
on both sides were highly scandalized.
but the men enjoyed themselves
A significant Transformation also has
taken place in the German army. Now
that service IS no longer compulsory
the German STAFF has had to make It
attractive. The new drill books in ad-
dtion to prescribing setting up exer-
cises have large place for sports.
Army championship games were held
In the Berlin stadium this summer.
They had running, shot putting and
swimming. organized as elimination con-
tests Some OF the running was mill
tary, with full pack but most OF It was
on American sport lines.
included az compulsory The major IN
charge Of this training told me that
these games are permitted. but because
they involve n certain amount OF bodily
risk the army does not want to face the
responsibility OF having to pay damages
for injuries.
Army Barred by Allies.
The army teams also cannot play with
civilians on restrictions from the Allies
military control commissions. The rea-
son invoked is that army associations
In sports might make II possible for
the German staff to train a large num-
Der of civilians for ultimate warfare.
Sports have taken on a popularity In
Germany with the men on the street
which never existed before, and crowds
attend the track meets. When there
are long distance runs the roads for
miles are lined with enthusiastic fans
7 saw q communist meeting in Duessel-
dorf scatter while an orator was ha-
ranguing for domination OF the prole-
tariat, not because the police were raid
ing Il, but because a cycle race was
scheduled on the square.
But political considerations still con-
tinue to determine lineups In sports
more than mere qualifications The
workers continue To he highly snIsuicious
Of middle class sporting organizations,