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Show FAIRNESS IN INTERNATIONAL SPORT. It was of course the right thing for the American team to send back the Palma trophy they won In the International Interna-tional shooting match In England. ! True, the whine made by the Englishmen, English-men, that the barrels of the rifles used by the American team were not strictly of the army regulation twist, represented represent-ed a fnct; but there was no objection to the arm at tho tlmo of the match, and the variation Is so slight that it is doubted If even tho moat strict judge would throw the gun out of the contest. con-test. The guns used by the English team wero not of army make, cither; but of private manufacture. But the great offense was that the Americans won; then the uproar began, and the Jesuit Je-suit Is, that the trophy is rent back, to be competed for again. It always nrlts the British to have -to confess that they arc outdone In sports; just now Travis, the American, has won tho frnl f li-imnlnnuhln lmt ,m-A It tlir. usual outcry; it isn't fair to win from Englishmen, in England. It is alleged thut Travis's caddy, when told to iift tho flag out of the way. picked up the ball irr mistake. He put it back precisely where It wa?, Travis took no benefit from tho error, and his opponent refused re-fused to claim the game by the foul. But the English are not content; they want the golf championship; It isn't fair for Travis to have It; it wasn't fair for their man not to claim the foul, and so on. It all teaches that it Isn't fair to win anything from Englishmen on their own soil. And there was the "sporty" Earl of Dunraven; he was all right till he was outsailed in his effort to "lift" the America's yacht cup; he declared that It wasn't fair, and sneaked over in the night to clandestinely measure his opponent op-ponent yacht, being sure that he would find something wrong. But he didn't. The chivalrous act of the American rifle tcnmt In sending back tho Palma trophy, which they had fairly won, the moment that they learned of the question ques-tion raised on the guns they had used, (there was no formal protest, nor could there be), catches the admiration of the New York Evening Post, and St asks why nations are not as keen In the defense de-fense of their honor as arc the sportsmen sports-men who are their citizens a question that is meaningless until a concrete illustration il-lustration Is cited. This the Post does not fail to do; and It puts the case on Gladstone's "justice" to the Boers when after Majuba hill he sued for peace and ceased the fighting with them. This Illustration Is unfortunate; unfortu-nate; for that act of "Justice" was held by the Boers to be an act of fear; they ever afterwards held themselves tho superior su-perior of the British as fighting men, and humiliated them in every possible way. The final outcome, one which was quite Inevitable under all the circumstances, circum-stances, -was the awful war whose ravages rav-ages have yet been but poorly repaired. That may serve as an answer to the question why such "justice 'is not more frequent. -It costs too much, in blood and treasure, and gives those who receive re-ceive the "Justice" an exaggerated idea of themselves. We imagine that It will be many a long year before any British statesman will perpetrate the Immeasurable Immeas-urable folly of such another act of "justice." "jus-tice." But In sports it is quite a different matter; contests In that realm are with sportsmen, who will not misunderstand, as a rule; and high tone should evoke correspondingly high tone. But it is a fact all the same that Englishmen "hate awfully" to lose; a,nd In our Judgment It would have shown a much higher tone on their part If they had refrained from making any remarks about the American Ameri-can guns after passing them as all right until they won the match. If the English En-glish standard of sport had been as high for Instance, as that shown by the Americans In returning the cup, would they have made the point after the m ! t oh wan rwrarf TnnnJ iu.i -.- w.w . iniicw, nuuiu LIlilL high standard permit them to receive the cup, now that it is offered? And will not their acceptance of It prove that the English standard of honor In international inter-national sports Is lower than that of the American team? ' |