Evening star., 1924-05-30

The behavior of the French root
ers who hooted the Americans and
hissed the American flag at the
Olympic rugby foot ball game when
the American team defeated the
French has evoked considerable COM
ment in this country. Editors, how
ever, feel the incident is more regret
table than significant and that 1t
| emphasizes the need of international
| sport.
whether French sportsmanship
ranks high or low, it should not be
judged solely on this one incident"
in the opinion of the Springfield
Union, which says: These things will
happen now and again. If they hap
pen too often then we may justly
begin to draw resentful conclusions
On the other hand, to judge a whole
! few louts is decidedly unjust" For
bad sportsmanship, like good, is
common to all countries, and We
know that many Frenchmen are our
Moines Register, which does not
doubt that "the disposition in both
| countries will be to condemn the few
who took part in the demonstration
| anu dpOlOSiZe IOT tHeHl. AIneIlCoHS
who are prone to jump to conclu-
sions, the Reading Tribune declares,
| must remember that the attitude of
a few does not constitute the atti-
tude of nation; anyway. the the
may be said of them. are good
! sports" The Grand Rapids Herald
also feels this incident cannot fairly
| be taken as evidence of underlying
| French animosity toward this coun-
4 "a
sented only the unrestrained enthu-
slams of a crude element, which in
this country would be classified as
cough. .neeas" sia The ae Philadeiphia
be made, even for this part of the
crowd. on account of the emotional
French temperament and the COM
parative newness of competitive con-
French have not been a sporting ma
tion in the sense that England and
America have been"
X X
eff they continue in such sports"
the Duluth Herald contends, "they
must learn, and probably will learn,
| to take defeat with good nature and
| accept an occasional victory without
undue elation." because French ath-
letes and officials have. it seems,
learned that lesson" The st. Paul
| Pioneer Press points out that there
| was an amused and amazed attitude
| of ridicuIe toward the American team
| because it remained in training, re-
fusing to smoke, use liquor or indulge
in promiscuous diet, and the French
| remarked. with little shrug, on the
Il propensity of Americans to take
| sports seriously; but the gridiron
| answered by a score of II to in ia
| vor of training-there Is the lesson
for France IL she wishes to win games
| and keep the name of France as high
in the sports of peace as it is in the
| game of war" Games, too, have rules
! Of give and take, according to the
Sioux City Journal, land the sooner
all peoples recognize the fact the bet
| ter 1t will be for world understand
ing, and, probably. for peace" in fact,
| "the incident serves admirably to en-
phasiZe the need of international
sport" The Indianapolis News feels
that France is too bravo and too
| courteous to countenance discrfmf-
factors, and an explanation viii, no
doubt, be forthcoming"
The KALAMAZOO Gazette suggests
happily the incident has been bitter
ly. denounced by the Paris press, >,
/ claims perhaps the most gratifying
| feature is the fact that the Ameri-
cans, under extremely trying and pro-
| vocative circumstances, kept their
heads" nevertheless, "a repetition of
| such a scene would make future in
| ternational athletic contests in
| France unwise and undesirable" The
| Roanoke Times agrees that such oc-
| currences "are calculated to strength
/ en- sentiment in this country of keep
/ ing our athletes at home. at least un-
til such time as they can be treated
with those 33fkesy to which their good
gportspas ~ antltlea thau An ths