THE JEFFRIES-JOHNSON FIGHT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10073, 20 June 1910, Page 4

THE JEFFRIES-JOHNSON FIGHT.

If any event of an at all out of the way nature is to take place in America it can always be taken as a matter of course that there will ne very much more "taltfj talk" than if tha event happened anywhere else. It is rather surprising that the Americans do not [.'get a little tirad of snaking themselves ridiculous, but the national weakness seems to get worse as the years go by, and what is more, the Yankees seem t} be rather proud ot their capacity for florid talk. Since the days lof "Yankee Doodle" becoming the | National air, Uncle Jonathan, whose many splendid virtues no one can (r should wish to deny, has made up his mind that he is an exceedingly fine fellow, and that anything he does or takes an interest in is very much greater and far more important ths?n it could possibly be in any other country. All the talk that there has been up to the present regarding tne Jeffries-Johnson fight illustrates the peculiar National trait alluded to.* A cable message published on Saturday last contained the statmeat that the Mayor of San Fraccisco bad declared "We rut: the city.JJand intend to ignore th-j Governor. If Gillette sends the National Guardsmen to prevent the fight, we have n strong body of police." Of course, there is about as much possibility of 8 pitched battle between the Guardsmen and the police as there is of Governor Gillette facing Jeffries in the ring! As a matt;r of fact, when the Mayor of San Francisco was "talking" he probably knew that the fight had been arranged 10 take place elsewhere. The witnessing of prize-fighting may not have a very elevating effect upon the community at large, but the amount of attention which the proposed meeting is creating rather suggests that those who are opposed to prize-fighting are playing into the hands of "the enemy" by indulging in a show of their hostility. However, it is said that the fight has been arranged to take place defin itelj on Independence Day, and if Jeffries wins, and the Americans very naturally hope that he will, the chance of having a really good "blow" will he first-class, and it will I not be missed by a good many millions in the United States.