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Show covered ball mother used to u.akc has d:.-appeared from the market. Thi3 ia itseli perhaps ij 110 groat calamity; but nowadays it is ahnoit imposiible to ;-ct a baseball for le-s than a ouarter. Quarters are scarce of a Saturday tLfter-noon, tLfter-noon, and tho result frequently is that a teore of boys are deprived of a f-:-"x hours of health-giving ciercise, and most likely "will find means of recreation recrea-tion in undesirable and harmful ways. During the vrar v.-e heard much about the incalculable benefit athletics Yvas to the American soldier, how it fitted him beyond all others to endure hardships, hard-ships, to think quickly and to act instantly; in-stantly; how the muscles were supple and always under control; how his eve was clear and his aim true. All of that which was said on this head was true, as has been proved beyond question. Everybody recognizes the value of athletic ath-letic training in its relation to capability capa-bility for military duty. No less a personage than General' Pershing himself him-self strongly urged athletics for tho army indeed, he issued a general order directing that, whenever consistent with the demands of the service, officers offi-cers should encourage the men to indulge in-dulge in some form of competitive sport- In part, General Pershing's order or-der reads: The eomrnandv-r-in-chlef directs the attention at-tention of all concerned to tho importance of tncouraglns: the development of general gen-eral and competitive athletics and all kinds of entertainment for keeping up the morale, fostering1 and developing organization organi-zation esprit de corps. a.nd improving tho physical fitness of the army. AH commanders vill, so fax as consistent con-sistent with military duties, encourage in every way possible a t hie tic sports and com petitions of all kinds, especially thoso in which the gre-atest number of participants partici-pants are actively engag-ed. The estimated revenue to be derived from the 10 per cent impost is only $1,250,000 a mere trifle in these days of enormous money totals. To the government gov-ernment a million and a quarter dollars dol-lars is a small item, but to the poor ydungaters who have to contribute 70 per cent of it the sum is a heavy burden. bur-den. It is sincerely hoped that the sixty-sixth congress, which meets Monday, Mon-day, will repeal this obnoxious and unjust un-just tax. Give the kids a chance. A WORD FOR THE KIDS. A movement is sweeping the country whoso aim is to right a wrong done to American boys and girls by the sixty-fifth congress. Tho campaign is directed toward the repeal of the 10 per cent additional war tax imposed upon athletic good3, sometimes called "sporting, goods." Because of increased cost of material and manufacture and, no doubt, also somo profiteering baseballs, tennis balls, ball bats and every one of the thousand pieces of apparatus employed in the conduct of athletics, were already al-ready excessively high, and the additional addi-tional tax has put the prices beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands of urchins who are wont to gather on vacant va-cant lots and indulge in the national pastime or some other game. Similarly affected is every form of outdoor and indoor exercise. The tax falls almost wholly upon "Young America, " since youths under the age of 21 buy between 60 and 70 per cent of the athletic paraphernalia annually distributed. It is estimated that professional sports, such as organized organ-ized baseball, pugilism and wrestling, which give exhibitions for admission fees, use less than 1 per cent of tho output of these goods. The remainder goea to persons who possibly can afford af-ford to pay the additional tax golf clubs, tennis clubs, gymnasium organizations organi-zations and the Ulse. As ao midence that the cost of exercise exer-cise for b-v3 and girls in America is in jome respects prohibitive, it may be pointed out that the nickel baseball the one we u?ed at the very beginning and the direct successor of the bedtick- |