Evening star., 1923-05-04
EDITORIAL DIGEST

paper suspects that the men who
fell out OF the dancing endurance
contest may be hard put Tor an an
aver" Men run marathons, collapse
at the end. and the crowd cheers,
the Flint Journal reminds US. NO
one thinks the runners are cuckoo
for orerexerting. Its never suggest
ed. But when the girls come forth
people on all sides grunting and
shifting. Envious. perhaps" Never
theless there is difference, which
the Pittsburgh Post emphasizes thus:
When. an athlete runs marathon
he trains for several months and is
continually under the care of a
physician. Yet in these dance con-
tests young men and young women
who work in offices and get little
physical exercise start upon endur-
without any training whatever. While
well-trained. strongly built athletfc
persons might dance for fifty-two
hours without injuring themselves,
ticularly women, might be injured
permanently by such strain" The
Worcester Telegram notes another
distinction between athletic contests
and endurance dancing. In games
and track meets, II points out. there
is a definite goal to be reached. II
Is striven for in spite of injuries and
exhaustion. The idea of the
dance marathon is TO dance until
collapse. Thus physical exhaustion
is practically the goal"
But after all, the New Haven Jour
nal inquiries. why shouldn't rhese
idiots be permitted to dance their
heads and feet off so long as they
undertake the job within doors and
do not interfere with the traffic on
the public streets? People have been
doing fool things since the dawn of
existence. To the Kansas City Jour
nal, however this is cynical
stand" Such gruelling performances
is not entirely the business of the in
dividuals indulging in them, the Jour
nal contends. for mo. one would be
properly permitted volunta rily to en-
danger his or her health, If not life"
and the Lynchburg Advance from a
similar viewpoint, declares that the
New York authorities have the right
idea in bringing pressure to bear
to stop the fad.
With this attitude the New York
World sharply disa grees. since in its
opinion there is nothing "prejudiciai
to public morals about endurance
dancing to warrant police interfer-
ence. The attitude toward it taken
by the police of this city and the
than the craze itself" On the other
hand. the Wheeling Register suggests,
it is just such orgies that bring about
regulatory and sumptuary laws" and
''one cannot help but incline to the
conclusion that Americans are in
large measure to be blamed" for the
legislative interference against which
they protest.
One interesting phase has developed
out of the country wide craze. how
ever. to which number of writer's
draw attention. That Is what the
New York Tribune speaks of as the
superior staying power and perhaps
grit of the female contenders." AL
ready. the Tribune says, "the gentler
sex" and "the weaker sex" have AL
most been banished from print. In
the interest of truth it now appears
that these phrases should never again
evade the blue pencil Without
bringing the blue pencil into play
the Cleveland Plain Dealer observes
that displays of great physical en-
durance by members Of the gentler
sex are distinctly novel," and the fact
that the participants in dAncing con-
tests have been women and young
girls accounts in the papers opinion
for the intense and seemingly mex
plicable interest Certainly these
women who are making mon stop
dancing records every day are also
making history" the New Bedford
Standard agrees. ''In tennis. golf
and other sports in which women
have shown proficiency approaching
that Of men they are still short Of
the mems best. In dancing, on the
contrary. they are having things to
themselves"