The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1928. ATHLETICS AND WAR.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 January 1928, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1928. ATHLETICS AND WAR.

Anything that Emil Ludwig lias to say about Germany and its people, says a contemporary, is well worthy ot the most respectful consideration. By bis biographical studies of Napoleon, Bismarck, and the ex-Kaiser be lias placed himself in the front rank of historical critics, and bis work is marked not only by remarkably keen intellectual insight, but by a capacity for impersonal and impartial judgment not usually displayed by German thinkers and writers. Therefore, when Ludwig tells us that in Germany to-day the nation is devoting itself to physical training and that the German people now “stand to the forefront of the world of athletics and gymnastics,” we may take his statement as at least approximately accurate, and we should give any inferences that lie draws from it our careful and serious attention. The facts to which Herr Ludwig refers are certainly remarkable in themselves. In

1914 the various athletic organisations in Germany claimed only one million members. To-day they number seven millions, and within the past two years the public reserves devoted to sports have been doubled in area. The explanation offered for these startling facts is simple and intelligible. Before the war all able-bodied Germans had to give three years of their lives to camps and military drill. Now, freed from the restraints of “iron conscription,” their physical energies are finding a more natural and healthy outlet in athletic sports and training, and the ideal of young German manhood, which was once “promotion in the army” is now success in the peaceful fields of athletic competition. And now for

Herr Ludwig’s inferences. He maintains that this newlv-born devotion to athletics is “driving out the warlike spirit,’’ and that the Germans, in replacing drill and military training by the peaceful discipline of s]x>rt, are following the guidance of the spirit of the age, and are helping to promote the world-wide aspiration for peace and security. He holds that, as “kings are no longer intent on waging wars.’’ therefore the chief danger to the world's peace has disappeared, and the Germans are playing their part in preparation for the new millennium. ’Without any desire to treat the matter cynically, we may point out that militarist rulers have not been solely responsible for wars in the past, and that the growth of athletic organisations has not always indicated widespread and sincere devotion to purely peaceful pursuits. It is a matter of history that, while the Germans were prepar-

ing for their “war of lil>eration’’ against Napoleon. the “turnvereinor gymnastic club, was in effect the unit of their new military organisation. Similarly, the “sokol,” or athletic club, aniong the Northern and Southern Slavs, largely provided the basis on which the new States of Czecho-Slo-vakin and Yugoslavia have been built up. It is a curious and interesting point that Ludwig defends the secret military organisations of which the Allies complain on the ground that all other nations should have disarmed along with the Germans. Is it not possible that the immense popularity of athletics in Germany to-day may have a more definitely military foundation and purpose than Herr Ludwig is prepared to admit? '