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Show I countryIT I SPORT MAD Everybody Has Joined in Outdoor Sports of Some Sort Human Race Rapidly Becoming Becom-ing Anxious For the Open Air (BY MONTY.) New York, July 5. The man who said the other day that the country is goipg sport-mad uttered a striking truth Practically every able-bodied man and boj in the land whose serious seri-ous vocation In study or business doesn't take him out into the open air. has become a devotee of some fort of outdoor sport and spends :-ome time even week out where Clods sun can beat down upon his head The worrying medicos who hae been searching for a way to stamp out the white plague seem about to have the problem sohed au tomatically, without their aid. The greatest outdoor holldav of the year has Just passed by Many a poor sporting editor G..d bless the boss Is still feeling the effects of his holiday hangoer, a different sort of hangover from the usual kind In that it comes from honest work in stead of the amber fluid. They are the fellows who are struck most forcibly for-cibly with the tremendous increase f in the sporting activities of the na T Hon, for this business demands that th" keep their hands on the pulse of everything going ou in the competitive com-petitive realms I p to probably ten years ago Eng land was regarded as by all odds the greatest sporting country in the world. Hardly a man could be found who did not nartlr.ina.ta In some form of athletic endeavor England went in strong for cricket, tennis, golf, rowing, equestrian sports and run ning her Harriers were a remarkable remarka-ble institution. With practically the 83rae gamut of events England s "child," Australia, has supplnated her as No. 1 In the matter of proportion of inhabitants actively engaged America lagged along a good deal worse than third, with the Hermans in iheir gymnastics of various sorts holding probably that rating But the last five years have seen a re markahle awakening here, and the Yankee is close to the top and within a few more years Is likely to be there. Already America s best, her champions, champi-ons, surpass all others in prowess, 3nd they stand as a shining example of the benefits of athletics and an encouragement to others to take part. Considering the thing from a different dif-ferent angle, the L'nltcd States holds the prominent position The angle In question Is that of the spectator It is an apparent fact that the next be6t thing to being engaged in a game Is to be a witness of the same, breathing in the fresh air and getting get-ting the mental and moral Ix-nefits of the excitement The mind is exhilarated ex-hilarated by the thrills and put in bet ter shape by the prosaic tasks of the hours beyond The only thing that a spectator misses is the muscular effort, ef-fort, which, after all, is only a small part of the good. Yesterday's sport extended over an amazing multiplicity of different varieties va-rieties Beginning with the toremost. z with Uncle Sam's national pastime, there is baseball Hnder the wings of organized ball ' are thirty-six leagues, exactly three dozen. The average' number of clubs per league la about seven This makes 252 teams playing, barring those that were prevented pre-vented in some sections by rain. Since in nearly every case there were doubleheaders and several more than the usual number of men performed, per-formed, there were approximately 3,-ivin 3,-ivin players of "organized ball' alone entertaining the fans of the countrf. It would not be an exaggeration to estimate that probably two million persons saw the gameB of theso teams', Outside 'organized ball' there were several thousand teams In the coun try playing, inClUCllllK aumicuio seml-professional6, each contest having hav-ing lta own crowd, some of them rivalling ri-valling and in a number of caBes ex-ceedings ex-ceedings the throngs at many of the minor league games There is no way of getting a good basis for an estimate "on the total number of spectators spec-tators at such games, but it might bf: anywhere between five million and fifteen million Thousands engaged in such sports as tennis and golf. In the o-called Metropolitan district alone around New York there are Co golf courses and. according to roliable estimates, about 30-1 tennis courts. All of thCi were crowded all day long. Chicago and Philadelphia are almost as well supplied in this way. and every other city of anv size in the country has Its golf and tennis devotees in large numbers. . . . Track and field meets were held in nearly every city In the country, and many of the smaller towns had their principal ovents of the year of this kind. Chicago, with tho national champ tons hipe, of course, leads off. with the hip event which winds up today In New York there were nearly near-ly a hundred different sets of athletic games, on every available field and! park Hundreds of those who can afford yachts, motorboats or automobiles took part in contests or outings that in a general way can be classed under un-der the head of sports. Bathing in the sea, lakes and rivers may be treated the same way, even where there are not regular competitions. Horse racing, both of thoroughbreds thorough-breds and harness horses, provided entertainment for man And. while on the subject of animals, don't for get ma'.'s best friend, the dog, who was the center of Interest in a number num-ber of big bench shows, and also the fish who was hooked by many a happy angler Also the rifle and shot- 1 gun popped merrilx, both in shootlnc I competitions and in plain, good old-fashioned old-fashioned hunting. There were boxing contests, large ' and small in several citieB of the country They did not offer open-air Inducements in nnn rases, but they provided the mental thrills which are at least one-third of the main Idea. There was an archery tournament in Philadelphia, cricket in several cities and also rowing regattas aplenty. Nobody could name a list of the holiday's sports without being sure : to forget some, so numerous were 1 they. But what we had yesterday does not maek up all the sporting ac- 1 tlvity of the great American public. There are the games of other sea- i sons football, lacrosse, hockey, bil-'l iards. basketball, handball, gymnas-i :ics, wrestling and then some. Where's a man who says the coun-:r coun-:r is not going sport-mad'' And ivhere's a man who says it is not the aest possible thing for the country? rr |