Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1918 — Page 2

MATTY TO PITCH IN SEASON OF 1918

CHRISTY MATHEWSON, MANAGER OF REDS.

Christy Mathewson, manager of the Reds, is coming out of his retirement as a hurler. Big Six will take the mound next season, he announced the other day. As his club will have to get along with six pitchers, he will keep himself in condition and be ready to go on the slab when his services are needed. The veteran hardly can expected to take his regular turn

BERRY GREETS JIM THORPE

University of Pennsylvania Marvel Meets Famous Indian—Both Took Up Same Sports. Two of the greatest athletes of modern times clasped hands in admiration of one another recently. One was Jim Thorpe, the famous Indian, and the other was J. Howard Berry, the University of Pennsylvania marvel. Thorpe, when a student at Carlisle, won the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon, in 1912, and during the last three years Berry has won the Ameri-

J. Howard Berry.

can pentathlon championship, held In connection with the Penn relay carnival. Both athletes specialized in the same branches of sport while at college. Berry has always been a great admirer of Thorpe.

U. S. G. A. APPEALS TO CLUBS TO CLOSE UP

As a valuable aid in conserving. coal, the United States Golf association has appealed to country clubs to close the|r doors until April 1. The appeal was the outcome of a letter received from Doctor Garfield, fuel administrator, who believes that 100,000 tons of coal could be saved during the winter by the closing of the clubs.

Watson's Record Peculiar.

Mule Watson of the Cardinals, had a peculiar pitching record during the 1917 season. He was knocked out or taken out of ten straight games, but won the five complete games he labored.

Hildebrand Is Gentle.

George Hildebrand was the gentlest of Ban Johnson’s umpires in the 1917 campaign, banishing but two players, Speaker of the Indians, and Mike McNally of the Bed "Sox.

or pitch many games, but he plans to aid as a relief hurler and pitch full games if necessary. Matty announced his retirement as a hurler after he won his game from Mordecai Brown of the Cubs in Chicago on Labor day, 1916. Since then he has not played, but has kept himself in fine condition by hurling to the batters in practice.

HOME RUN HIT IS CAUSE OF JEALOUSY

Jack Hendricks, manager of the pennant-winning Indianapolis American association team, when making a trip to Columbus, played a team composed of convicts at the Ohio state prison. The game was played in the prison yard, with the cold gray walls in the background. In the latter part of the game a negro murderer who was playing the outfield for the convicts came to bat. He took an awful cut and the ball soared over the fence and out of sight for a home run. A negro burglar who was coaching on the sidelines, yelled: “Lawdy, Mussy, how I’d like to be on dat ball.”

SHOOTERS USED GLASS BALLS

Trapshooting of Today Differs Materially From That Sport of •- r • Days Gone By. Back in the early eighties, when American sportsmen began to demand a between season outlet for their gunning enthusiasm, some bright genius conceived the idea of the glass ball as a fitting target to try the prowess of the marksman, and the object whs projected at unknown angles from a mechanical contrivance known as a trap. The name of Bogardus, in connection with glass-ball shooting, is not only historical, but still alive and dominant in the reminiscences of old timers, a , goodly percentage of whom still follow the trapshooting sport. Trapshooting today, however, differs materially from that sport of bygone days; the traps are more scientifically constructed, the target, Instead of being globular in form, is saucer-shaped, and besides covering its.so-yard flight with the speed of an arrow, rotates as well. . It has become customary for writers to refer to the clay pigeons as “the inanimate target.” So long as they remain packed in barrels or stacked In the traphouse this is quite proper. But were you to ask any of the 500,000 active trap shooters in the country for his personal opinion he would unhesitatingly say that immediately following its release from the trap it becomes just about as animated as devilish ingenuity could conceive.

WINGED MESSENGERS IN WAR

Often When Telephonic and Other Communication Are Cut, Pigeons Reach Home Safely. s Members of the Quaker City Concourse association, one of the big national pigeon-flying organizations, have expressed a willingness to supply the government with a number of their winged messengers for war service. During the spring it is expected that thousands of pigeons will be shipped abroad. It is reported that 97 per cent of the pigeons released in the European trenches, often when telephonic and all other means of communication are cut off, reach their destination in safety, thus delivering Im portant messages.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER, IND.

SPORT ACTIVITIES AFTER END OF WAR

Basenall, Football and Boxing, Will Have Larger Following. Instruction Given in Various Camps, Sure to Develop Many Devotees of Sport, Who Have Never Be- ’ fore Been Interested. Baseball, boxing and football are going to have larger followings after the war than they have today. > That this will be true In baseball particularly is the prediction of many men high up in the game, and it has been pointed out by followers of boxing that the instruction being given the soldiers in all of Uncle Samuel’s training camps will develop thousands of devotees of the manly art who have never before been interested. Football, which has been growing by leaps and bounds within the past five years, may not gain many active participants through the formation of training camp elevens, but it will certainly gain in popularity. At Close of Civil War. The pathway to success for, present day baseball in the United States was opened wide with the close of the Civil war. Hundreds of soldiers returned from the battlefields on which the blue nnd gray armies fought their many great conflicts hardened through the rigors of service in the open and demanding some form of sport competition, or, at least, recreation, upon which to center their interest and in which those who brought youth back with them could find active exercise.

From the ending of the Civil war to the present day baseball has been gaining in popularity. It has suffered several rude shocks owing to Internal strife, but as an attraction which gained and held public interest it has de* veloped wonderfully. Ask Red-Blooded Recreation. With thousands of Uncle Sam’s soldier boys equipped w’ith baseball, boxing and football paraphernalia while in the service, thousands of young bloods coming on who will demand redblooded recreations and pastimes on a larger scale than ever before and the country at large weary of death-deal-ing conflicts and grateful for the chance to relax, sports should thrive on a greater scale than ever. Sports will be encouraged in every way possible by the government, too. President Wilson, Secretary of War Baker and many of our lawmakers at Washington, have openly expressed the opinion that health-giving sports should be encouraged and continued throughout the length and breadth of the land, even In war times.

SEVEN RULES FOR GOLFERS

Harry Vardon Gives Cardinal Points to Devotees of Links—Keep the Head Steady. Seven cardinal rules for golfers, as set down by the famous Harry Vardon, are as follows: 1. Keep the head steady and do not let the left heel turn outwardthen the body can only wind up when the arms go back. 2. Grip firmest with the thumbs and forefingers—they are not so well adapted as the other fingers to the purpose of taking a strong hold, and they are the most Important of all for the purpose of the golf grip. 3. Let the club-head lead, the left wrist, turning inward, the arms following the club-head and the right hip screwing next. 4. Don’t throw the arms forward as you start to come down as though you were mowing grass. Rather

Harry Vardon.

throw them back, and let them come round in their own way from that point. 5. Let the movement of the right shoulder be steady and rhythmic; it should have nothing in the nature of a sudden drop or jerk. 6. Don’t be afraid to hit hard; if you are swinging correctly, hard hitting is not “pressing.” —7; Keep your head still until the club has struck the ball.

Winnings of Hourless.

Hourless, the great French-bred edit owned by'Mr. Belmont, won a total o 1 $23,415 during the last season.

EXHIBIT OF GUNS TAKEN BY THE FRENCH

Hundreds of German guns captured by the French in the battle of the Chemin des Dames are on exhibition for the French populace in front of a famous old church in Soissons. .

ITALY IS MAKING SLACKERS FIGHT

Minister of Treasury Routs Out 148 Officers and Sends Them to Front. SEARCH IS ON FOR OTHERS Great Disaster to Cadorna’s Army May Be Blessing In Disguise—Volunteers In Minority—Deserters Are Shot By PHJLIP R. MACKENZIE. Rome.—On the eve of the great war, while General Cadorna was hard at work creating the Italian army destined to unite Trent and Trieste with the kingdom 148 officers of all ranks, from colonels to sub-lieutenants, were given special work. This work consisted in finding out how much money was wasted during the Tripoli war. A corridor m the ministry of the treasury accordingly was set apart for these officers, who during the last three years have been auditing accounts and taking their time in doing it, while their comrades fought the Austrians and were wounded or killed in action. There is every reason to believe that the great task of auditing the accounts of the Tripoli war would have been prolonged indefinitely, but the new minister of the treasury, Signor Nitti, discovered the 148 officers hidden in the corridor. Signor Nitti was disgusted at the sight of so many professional officers calmly working on the four simple rules of arithmetic, and in 24 hours he had the case brought before a cabinet council and a royal decree was issued postponing the work of the 148 officers, who were ordered without delay to the front. No figures are available as to the number of men physically fit yet exempted from active military service. Cases of so-called “imboscamen|o,” meaning literally “hiding in bushes to evade military service, have been frequent in Italy. The socialists, who oppose the war and whose peace propaganda contributed toward the recent military disaster, repeatedly told the masses that in Italy the war was being fought by the peasants. The rich people do not fight, said the socialists, as when one has money he can easily “hide in the bush.”

The sons of well-to-do tradesmen and farmers as a rule, are drivers of motor lorries and ambulances, and those of upper middle classes and nobility, who should be officers, often prefer to drive staff officers’ automobiles unless they succeed in getting clerical work in offices away from the front. It is true that many young men volunteered for active service as officers in Infantry regiments and sacrificed their lives for their country, but they were a minority. ’lt must be admitted that up to t£e present the mistaken impression prevailed that the hardest share of fighting was borne by the peasant and laboring classes, who suffered most of all from the war. This impression increased to such an extent that a great proportion of the men who returned on ?hort leave from the front felt discouraged and dissatisfied when they realized that every city and town in the country, was crowded with young men who evaded military service or who even if called to the colors succeeded in remaining away from the front- and saw no actual fighting. As a result, besides those men who returned to fight when their short leave expired, others felt justified in deserting. Some of the latter, were arrested, court-martialed and shot, and their comrades were not impressed with such exemplary punishments, which, instead of serving as a warning, had the opposite effect of exciting pity arid irovoklng dangerous comffarisons between the fate of those evaded

military service and that of others who had done their bit and yet paid with their lives for a moment of weakness. There were, no doubt, other concomitant causes that contributed to weaken resistance on the Italian front when the well planned Austro-German offensive was timely initiated. Thanks to their superior intelligence services at the front and their espionage system in this country the Austro-Germans knew where and when to attack with success. They resorted to propaganda among the Italian troops holding positions where no fighting had been going on for a long time. It is known now that after the riots at Turin most of the munition workers who were socialists had been sent to the front and attached to the units holding these positions? It was among these men that the enemy propaganda was successful, and the deficient resistance, due to weakness or treachery, that rendered the invasion of Italy possible originated at a point which could be easily defended by a handful of men, as it was naturally strong and formidably fortified because it afforded the shortest way for invasion. Unfortunately the men who held this point gave way.

“DRY SHAMPOO” IS FORBIDDEN

British Hairdressers and Patrons Latest Victims of Defense of Realm Act. London. —The defense of the realm act, which has been nicknamed “Dora,” has now come in for abuse from hairdressers, owing to new restrictions on the use of alcohol. This measure has become necessary in consequence of the enormously Increased demand for ( munition and Red Cross needs. Dry shampoos and hair lotions are all threatened by the latest order or “Dora.” As the use of methylated spirit for burning also is forbidden, forced-draft oil stoves which cannot be lighted except by the aid of spirit are made useless.

KING OF THE BELGIANS

This unusual photo is probably the most characteristic ever made of the hard-working king of the Belgians, He is busily engaged on some important piece of business in the simple little room that Is his headquarters not far from the front lines. From here hedirects the armies and the destinies of the little nation whose entry into the war prevented Germany from overrunning all western Europe. V

AMERICA SPELLS GERMAN DEFEAT

Entry Into War Means Victory for Allies, Says British x Writer. CONTROL OF FOOD WILL WIN ■Row a Case In Which “the Dog Ha*. Begun to Bite the ♦Pig," Says Writer—Something Rotten in Germany. London. —How America’s entry Into* the war has hurt Germany is the subject of an interesting article in theBirmingham Post by Edgar Wallace,, author and military correspondent. It Is now a case in which “the dog hasbegun to bite the pig,’’ he says. “It Is as well,” Mr. Wallace writes, “to separate the causesToTTlie present German offensives from the circumstances which have made them pos- • sible. We know that the stagnation, of the Russian front allows the Germans to employ in the west troops which, were the Russian army an active factor in the war, could not havebeen employed; we know that the Italian has'lost nearly 300,000 men in the course of the fighting of the last month; but neither of these facts explains the German offensive plan. For example, the push against the Isonzowas obviously uninfluenced by Italian losses —because they had not occurred. The push against Italy was and Is part of the great scheme which would certainly have been carried out even if Russia had remained loyal to the alliance.

“Reason Is ‘America ”* “The reason is summed up in the word ‘America.’ I do not particularly refer to the forces which America will put into the field. The German general staff, I am certain, has no particular fear that sufficient American, troops will be put into the field next year to secure a decision against Germany. I doubt very much whether the German is worrying at all about what will happen in the field in the summer of 1918. But he is tremendously concerned over what will happen in Germany between May and August of that year unless he can break the fighting spirit of the entente during the forth-? coming months of the winter. “It is no secret that Germany had been drawing large supplies of food and necessary raw material from America, via neutral countries. America supplied these articles in the way of business, just as she supplied Britain with material in the way of business, and strictly in the way of business the neutral countries had been passing on their Imports to Germany. “And so this jolly war might have gone on whilst Germany’s credit abroad held —only America came in. She declared war, she called millions of men, she reorganized her Industries to meet the demands of war—and then she sat down to take a good look at the neutrals. And they seemed unnecessarily bloated. They did their best to engage her sympathy. And they had little bread and potato riots just to show there was no deception. “But America understood. She said very simply, ‘Feed yourselves, you big stiffs!’. (if the picturesque' vulgarity be allowed). “In the old nursery rhyme, when the stick began to beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig. If the neutral has no food to spare and cannot buy any in America, the German cannot buy food from the neutral. In fact, the dog has begun to bite the pig. The neutrals have no right to complain.

Something Rotten in Germany. "So many millions of tons of foodstuffs which came to-Germany once In the dear dead days are not coming any more. She Is that much shorter of food. We do not know for certain the conditions of Germany’s food reserves. That there is something rotten there we know from the curious attitude of Bulgaria. “But If the German, with all the supplies he was securing from the neutral, was short in the spring of 1917, what will be his position in the spring of 1918, when the new American embargo becomes fully operative? We think It will be fairly bad. The German crops were poor—as were all the world’s. “Nobody but a perfectly Insane person or a statistician—who will believe anything —imagines that the world shortage of food does not affect Germany. It does affect her very seriously. It will affect her worse this year than It did last. “Food Is going to decide this war. . The fact that the German censor has closed down all reference to food difficulties and coal shortages is significant. The things that Germans do not talk about are the things that matter. If we are witnessing the beginning of a series of offensives In the west and the opening of a new campaign, that campaign,, as I have said before, Is a hunger offensive, and the plan dates from that day when America decided that It was a good Idea to ration the neutrals, but they would have to find the rations themselves. "If my theory Is sound and well founded we should look to the collapse of the war In June or July. I do not say if the German does not break us In the field between now end Augusr. He won’t break us In the field or starve us in our homes.”