Evening star., 1940-04-22
From the
Press
England Is After Him,
SchmeIing Fears
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special Correspondent of The Star

NEW YORK, April % (N.A.N.A
Max Schmeling has decided he is
down en- Englands list as contra
band goods. This is like being the
sort of guy whom girls do not Hike
to kiss. 1t makes a man sensitive
People point to you on the street
and say, There goes old contra
band" Your friends call you Con
for short.
Over in Germany the other day
Max said he would like to come to
America to fight Louis again. OBJ
viously, those reporters in Germany
did not see the second Louis
Schmeling fight, or they would have
known this statement to be flight
Of fancy. The less Max sees OF
Louis from now on, the better he
will like it.
Anyway, Herr Schmeling said he
would like to 60 to America, but
he knew that the English, who in
fest the Rock of Gibraltar, would
haul him off the ship on sight and
bundle him away to pick jute in a
Yorkshire concentration camp.
Along with steel, zinc, alumni
mum, soap, cornets, tubas and oil
I am strictly contraband," said
Make mournfully. "The English
have sworn to get me. If I got
past Gibraltar their fleet would
drop everything and chase me clear
across the Atlantic. I would wind
up in England, sure as you are born
and that would be terrible. The
food is no good there"
Churchill Might Wont
Mox for Trophy Room.
Herr Schmeling did not say why
the English were so anxious to get
him. It's question that probably
puzzles the English, too-unless
Winston Churchill wants to hang
Max over the mantelpiece in his
trophy room. The first lord of the
Admiralty is said to be nuts about
trophies.
This brings up point of sporting
competition which first arose last
fall, when Australia won the Davis
Cup. Germany, you remember, was
beaten by Yugoslavia in the final
round of play in the European zone
Australia beat the Yugoslavs and
carried on to win the cup from this
country's team just a day or two
after Germany and Great Britain
went to war.
About that time. Harry Hopman,
the Australian captain, began to
wonder whether Germany knew
she was out of the competition. The
Germans are stubborn people and
Mr.. Hopman thought that maybe
they would like to have another try
for the cup somewhere on the
Pacific Ocean, by bringing sub
marine alongside Mr.. Hopman's
ship.
Not only could they win the cup
in that way" said Mr.. Hopman
thoughtfully, "but sportsmanship
would compel me to leap over the
net, If could find a net, and con-
gratulate them. That would be a
bit thick after all our trouble"
Neither Has Champions
Apt to Be Desired.
Mr.. Hopman toyed with the idea
OF leaving the cup and saucer in
. vault in America, to be called
for later. Finally he decided to make
q run for it. The Australian team
sailed from California with the sill
verware, and, so far as I know,
brought it safely home. At least the
Germans do not claim to have it
and they claim to have everything
else but the Queen Mary and Mr..
Churchills bridgework.
This notion of winning champion
ships on the high seas would be
more practical If Germany and
Britain only had a few champion
ships to lose. Sid Wocderson, the
mile runner, is the only English or
German champion I can think of
offhand, and the Germans do not
seem to have located Sid.
If they could capture him mind
ing his own business along some
fjord and take him home to Berlin
1t would just be question of time
before they had the world running
championship at Sidney's distance.
They could put him out on the track
with a few German runners, tie a
16-pound shot to his ankle and tell
him to start running. 1 don't
think Sid could retain his laurels
under the circumstances, since the
shot would weigh about as much as
he does.