Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1895 — NO PROSPECT OF FAIR PLAY. [ARTICLE]

NO PROSPECT OF FAIR PLAY.

England Never Known to Take k. Beating Gracefully. The Chicago Post, discussing the yachting fiasco, says: There is one rule of universal application in every department of this struggling state called life, and one that is in danger of being overlooked when contests run high, and that is that nobody cuu excel without somebody being beaten. In sport this is no more infallible than in anything else, but in sport the contest is proclaimed and made tuugible and visible concretely before the world. In the Interests of pure sport and for the love of its enhancement it is supposed that competitors enter the lists. True, love of gain has usurped the purer passion in many kinds of struggles for supremacy, but there are still cases, like those of great international yacht races, in which fairness is supposed to predominate. Gentlemen lay down huge sums of money and go to enormous trouble to show to the world the strides boat building has made in possibilities of si>eed, and each the advantage of his own nation’s progress. It is not a personal fight. The man who has the best boat built, or happens to own it, may not be a sailor. It is a victory for the boat builder and the sailing master if any personal element enters at all. It is a match for glory, really. How foolish, how mean, how stultifying then to delay or block fair issue. No one really believes, either in England or In America, that the British was the better bout, but England’s policy in these international contests invariably appears to be to charge us, when defeat is imminent, with unsportmnnslike conduct and mean motives. No matter what we do, it is all the same. If our contestants go to England they are scurvily treated; if the English come to us they complain of uncivil treatment jiere, though we do our best to be more than fair. Look at tho records for years—England has “put up all tho kicks.” Fair international contests between England and the United States are impossible. It is to be hoped thnt attempts at having them will bo given up altogether and forever. No matter to what fervent heat Anglomania may rugo at Newport or in New York, the great British public, press and individual aspirants for contested honors are in antagonism, irrespective of the sporting issue, and will not let the fight bo fair. It is no use trying any longer to bo patient. For years American has beaten Englnnd at sloop racing. England never will take a beating gracefully nor own it when she is licked. It is the John Bull quality, and nothing can eliminate it. Let the cup go to the bottom of the sea. We can sail and we know it, but n sulky, mean, grneeleßH and tricky foe is not worth the trouble of defeating. Supremacy having been established, dignity now needs n little maintaining. Defender rules the seas at present, and if Lord Dunrnven thinks not let him catch her and prove it.