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Show H BY J. B. SHERIDAN. H vVJ HAT'S tho matter with H f y--S tho Amorlcan youth? H T Oh, yes, I know all H . about Speaker Clark's Hj - ' defonso of tho volun- H tccr and his dlslncll- H L VJ 1 ,W nation to lot his son, H r Bennett Clark, fight H and dio by tho sldo of a pressed, conscripted, HJ general selective or mutual service man. Flnol H Speaker Clark sees the American volunteer do- H Jng things. William J. Bryan had the same vl- H sions when he spoke of 1,000,000 rrion leaping to H arms when the soil of tho United States was 1 threatened. Mr. Bryan is a man of vision. Ho Hl can ace things no other man can sco. H What's tho matter with tho American youth, H' brought up on red, white and blue milk and 1 swatidled in tho star-spangled banner? He seems H to lack the "old pep." H Young men are crying for opportunities and H doing their best to miss thorn. Tho army and the H navy offor fine careers. Arc tho young men seeK- H ing them? They are not. H One of tho largest cities In tho United StatC3 H and Its outlying territory were asked to furnish H 1200 men to tho navy. A tromendous recruiting H campaign was organized. The civic bodies, the H newspapers, every one, begged and besought Hj young men to join the navy, learn good trades ing flamo." That's It. Tho "old pop'' Is fire, dash, powder, cayonne, heat, life abundant, busy, abounding life. What's become of our famed American onor-gy? onor-gy? Thoro was a tlmo not yet thirty years old when tho Amorlcan was deemed tho very Incarnation Incar-nation of montal and physical oncrgy. It was tho European conception that tho American ran instead in-stead of walked, flow instead of ran, and novor took time to mastlcato or digest his meals. Great men all had tho "old pop." Alexandor tho Great had It. Always on tho Jump. Caesar had It, Napoleon was full of it. So was Peter the Great. All great men had "pep" rather than brains, wisdom or genius. Who aro tho loading exponents of Amorlcan energy, of tho "old pep?" Washington at tho Delaware, Brandywlnc and Trenton got up and hustled some. "Stonewnll'' Jackson, old man Forrest (got there fustcst W h',y Xy, '- i HI WSwMmW ;" Mi ff hughey W raft$ WmX mil ::: ' o-'enhings fa 1 end professions, preserve tho fair fame of tho M nation and tho city. H Yet after three weeks of hard seeking 200 or 3200 needed .boys Joined tho navy. H Does this mean that tho American boys are cowards? Not at all. Not ono man in 10,000 is so cowardly that ho is not fit to bo a good soldier. H A man may bo cowardly In private. Part of a B gang, part of a company or a brigade or an H army, ho is brave. Every man In a crowd may H bo Individually a coward. Collectively, tho crowd 1 will bo chivalrous and brave. This is well-known H psychology of the mass. All smart politicians 1 and men who deal with the mob, tho mass, 1 know this. 1 No; It is not that tho boys aro cowards. It Is H that thoy lack tho "old pep." M Tho country, tho army, tho navy, the Aviation H Corps aro not tho only occupations that aro H howling for young men with a Httlo of tho "old 1 pep" In thorn. Every business, every sport, every 1 farm, every store, every shop. Is moaning, H groaning, begging for boys with a llttlo of tho H "old pop" In thorn. VI H Energy Slowing Up. M There is baseball, for Instance. Oh, Mr. Bryan H may think that tho country and tho flag appeal H to tho young Amorlcan above all things. Thoy H do to somo of him. But baseball makes tho H greatest appeal of all. For tho ono young Amor- B lean who wishos to bo a great soldlor or a great H Bailor, 1,000,000 young Amorlcans wish to be M great ballplayors. I know that Decatur, Farra- 1 put, Anthony Wayno, Grant, Sherman, Shcrl- H dan, Lee, Jackson and Johnston were far grcat- M fer men than Mlko Kolly, Hans Wagner and Ty H Cobb. But since the sporting pagos havo takon H popular precedence over the editorial pages, ton H boys know all about tho baseball playors whero H bno boy knows anything about the great soldiers H tend sailors of tho land of tho freo. H Basoball, too. Is docaylnc for want of a llttlo H of tho "old pep' H Every year wo havo 10.000,000 young Amerl- H fcans reading about baseball and, aftor tho fash- H Ion of volunteers, training to bo baseball players. H Every year 10,000 younK Americans do In one H Vay or another seek onllstment In tho well-paid, H easily-worked, short-seasoned, much-worshiped M army of ball tosaora, H Yet not ono In 1000 of theso 10,000 picked ath- H letes possesses enough of the "old pep" to keep H baseball alive. H What's tho "old pep?" I am not quite clear H frbout Its boat definition. Richard Barry gavo the H best definition of tho "old pop" when ho called a H taan who possessed it In the nth power a "llv- wlth the mostcst men), Shorman and Sheridan had iL Always on tho Jump. In baseball, of courso, Ty Cobb. In public life, Theodore Roosevelt. In finance, John D. Rockefeller. Rocke-feller. "Pep," more than anything else, leads to what Americans know as success. It Is, or it was, tho salient characteristic of Amorlcans. Take Mr. Roosevelt. He has been accused of making mistakes mis-takes enough to destroy 100,000 men. Tho round robin on which his famo was founded would havo got most men court-martialed and shot. It got Roosevelt the presidency. Tho Ananias Club, tho Tennessee Coal and Iron deal, tho River of Doubt and 100 othor alleged mistakes woro hailed as the finish of Theodoro Roosevelt. Did they finish him7 Not a bit. They may have thrown him hard, but ho was up llko a rubber ball, ready for tho noxt bounce. I am not Impugning Mr. Roosevelt's wisdom or his genius. I merely urge that energy has done more for him than anything oIbo. He is tho Incarnation of the groat American characteristic charac-teristic tho "old pop." Thoro Ib Cobb, greatest of ballplayers. For Ave years othor players did nothing but point out Cobb's mistakes In play. Ho was a "bono-hcad." "bono-hcad." Granted that Cobb did make many bad plays, did ho let that worry him or discourage him? Not a bit. Ho fell down, was "mado a sucker of" and went on harder than ever. Looking back thirty years. I think tha't was the timo when native Americans, and all immigrant immi-grant peoples did possess tho "olcl pep." The men who went boforo us seemed to havo it. Especially tho immigrants and sons of Immigrants. Immi-grants. Yes, thirty, oven twenty-fivo years ago wo had the "old pep." It Is In baseball that wc find tho highest valuo sot upon the "old pep." The cry of the day In for "a llttlo of tho old pop." Whon tho club managers or tho club scouts aro told about a young, upcoming player, thoy ask, "Any pop?" a 'Pep' In the Old Browns. "The old pep" Is tho most valuablo thing In business, sport or life. It Is also tho rarest. GIvo a man brains, talent, genius, wisdom and he may fail. Glvo him energy and ho never falls. Day after day you hoar basoball managers Bay, "Gee. what a player ho would bo if he had a little of the "old pep." Manager after manager man-ager tells you, "I'd havo a great team If tho boys ha-i a llttlo of tho 'old pep.' " GImminy crlckotsl When I think back twonty years and remember tho playors of that day. Tho "old pep" was plentiful as hayseed in a barn. Thoy say of tho St. Louis Browns of 1917 that thoy would bo a great team if Slslcr. Pratt Shotton and a few others had a llttlo of tho "old pop" in them. Fine players, but no fight, no "pep." Jlmmta Austin furnisheo pepper for the Browns of 1917. Austin Is not a good fielder or hlttor. Ho Is an ancient, 38 years old. Evory year ho has to fight to hold his position ngalnst tho bravest and best of tho upcoming crop of player Fight, did I say 7 No, It Is not a fight. It's a walk-over. Tho young player can hit and field and run, but ho loses to tho battlo-scarred voteran of elghtcon baseball campaigns. Tho young American lacks tho "old pep." Austin cannot hit or field, but ho has tho "old pep." That "old pep" holds him his $5500 a season Job against all comers. Just ono man on the Browns of 1917 must furnlBh "pep" onough for tho entire team. Think of the Browns of 1S87, Just thirty years before Thoro was nothing to that team but "pop." Physically it was not at all go good a team as tho Browns of 1917. But the men on !t had fire. Latham. Glcason, Robinson, Welch. Comlskoy. McCarthy, all born with at least a flicker of flame In thorn. Wo can namo one man on tho Browns of 1917 that possesses flro and fight. Wo can namo seven op. the Browns of 18S7 that had all theso things. For sovon years I havo had a young ballplayer under my wing. Ho camo to mo as a member of a boy team, aged 14. H had every physical attribute at-tribute of a great ballplayer. He still has them. Ho can pitch like Nichols, hit llko Lajole, field like Owon Wilson, throw better than any man in the world. Play inflold or outfield, loo. Three times has this youngster failed to mako good In minor leagues. Knowing his great natural nat-ural ability, I have asked the managers who turned him down what the matter with him was. "No 'pop.' If ho had only a llttlo of the old Bluff ho would be tlio greatest ballplayer that over lived." 'TIs true, I know. Tho boy Is game In a quiet, dull way; he looks good; peoplo like him; but ho is lazy, which Is another word for lack of tho "old pep." I know another young player who la doing well enough with a Pacific Coast team, t asked a man who played against him in 1916 what 3ort of a player ho was. "A major lcaguo lnflclder right now," was the reply, "and a protty fair hitter. I doubt that ho will ever bo a major leaguo ballplayer.' "Why?" "Ain't got the 'old pep.' " That's what the world's begging for, a llttlo of tho "old pep." Tho present generation of youngsters young-sters do not seem to havo it. Now, don't tell mo that I am a veteran nnd that ago nover could see youth. Jlmmlo Austin is n veteran. Evory yoar youth, In columns of fours, attack Austin's position. Thoy don't got Btartod. Thoy can outfield, outrun and outhlt Austin. Thoy lack what hln age rotalns tho flame of energy. I meet managors of big league clubs and I ask thorn, "How lo your basoball club and how does it stand7" "I havo a nice lot of ballplayers, but no 'pep.' " You moot tho managers of fighters. You ask them to toll you confidentially of their own ana of other managers fighters. Thoy all como to this: "Ho has height, weight, reach, skill, punch ovcry physical attribute that goes to mako a " V . ' "-'.M'-. - - ! ,' nm great fighter. But ho lacks 'pep.' " i "Pep" In tho caso of the pugilist or ballplayer means, of course, life, action, the fighting ln- ' atlnct. Tho fighting Instinct. That's It. What's tho i matter with our famed fighting Instinct? Wo havo strong boys, good boys, gamo boys, boys who will suffer In sllenco with indifference, but thoy are not aggressive and thoy won't fight back, much less start the flght themselves. Is our fighting Instinct dying out? Go back thirty years to our pugilists. Think of tho lighting light-ing instinct, tho fire, flamo, "pop" that was In Sullivan, Dempsey, McAulIffo, Weir and scores of others. Think of tho lack of fighting instinct In the champloi. boxers of today. Wlllard, who won on sheer wolght and muscle power, who utterly lacks "pop" and fighting instinct; of Morris, of Fulton or Cowler. Plenty of power, strongth, skill, courage, but no fire, no fighting Instinct, no enthralling passion for combat, no "pep." Then think of Lavlgne. Sharkey, Fltzslmmons unu me scores oi veterans to wnom Dauie was tho breath of llfo. Tho baseball managers aro howling for "pop." President Rickey of tho St. Louis National League club, a Sunday-school man, a Y. M. C. A. lecturer, a man who never played ball on Sunday, cries for players who will. In basoball phrase, "Got on the other fellows," meaning men thar will Jibe, nag, annoy, opposing players Don't say that I am aging and sour. Tho old boys, the men who wore boyo with me, are tho boys who still furnish tho "old pep" In baseball. base-ball. Look at McGraw, who Is -IS, and who furnishes fur-nishes "pep" for an entire basoball league. Look at Jennings and Bresnahan. Veterans all. Think of tho old Orioles, Jennings, McGraw. Kelly, Doyle, Brodle, Roblson. There was "old pep" enough on that ono club to furnish sk modern clubs. with spark plugs. Three of theso spark plug3 are at present driving thrce'tcams, furnishing "old pep" for three teams, Detrolf, New Yorl: and Brooklyn. All three are always in pennant races. Four Flags in Seven Years. Thoro was lots of "old pop" thirty, twenty, fifteen years ago. Thero were tho "pepper pots', of Baltimore. Face thorn to tho firebrands of Cleveland, Tobcau, O'Connor, Chllds, McKean, Burkett and McAloer. Take tho "old pep" Long, McCarthy, Duffy and Tenny put Into the great Boston club of the late 90s. Rcmembor what McGraw, Donlln, Bresnahan, Strang and others did for New York In 1905. Remember Clark, Wagnor, Leach and Beaumont at Pittsburgh. Pitts-burgh. What about Evors, who is 3C, and Tln-kor. Tln-kor. 35, who furnished tho "pep" for tho great Chicago team of the middle 1900s. TJnko. furnished enough "old pep" to start and keop going an entlro league, tho Federal. Evers furnished tho electric spark which for seven years gave the Chicago club power to win four flags and mako $2,000,000. Then he cold his "old pep" to Boston and won a pennant for 1U Frail, always injured, .never a great ball-player, ball-player, physically speaking, Evers was always valuable becauno ho possessed in lavish quantities quan-tities the Invaluable aseot commonly known as tho "old pep." It'3 tho fighting Instinct, tho instinct that the pacifists would broed out of us. I am not sure that we would not be much bettor oft If tho fighting instinct was bred out of ub, Tho diro disasters caused by the cultivation of nonrc-presslon nonrc-presslon of tho fighting instinct may not bo ML i . " J ijjjiiwiii 1 g recompensed by tho bcnoflts which have oc-crucd oc-crucd from that source All I know Is that "th3 old pep" Is mere baseball language for the fighting fight-ing Instinct. I know thoy are bewailing tho passing of tho "old pop." That means thnt baseball mon aro bewailing the passing of the fighting instinct. Business men, professional mon, men of all sorts, aro lamontlng lack of energy In tho youth of tho day. "Give us tho 'old pep.' " Recruiting officers beseech It. Patriots Implore It. Employers Employ-ers of labor, high and low, skilled and unskilled, offer premiums for It. What's the matter with our lost "pep?" Whither has It gone? Wo aro better fod, bettor educated, hotter clothed, than were our fathers. We havo small, ougonlc families whero wo hail large, unougenlc families, quality whore wo had quantity. Wo have pasteurized milk, screoncd corn beof and cabbage, oatmeal done up In fancy fan-cy cartons, tho nipples of the nursing bottles aro disinfected beforo using, babies sleep out of doors; wo have screened porches: wo havo checked smallpox, yellow fevor, tuberculosis; wo have curbed liquor; wo havo fine public and prl-vato prl-vato schools; we havo compulsory education; tho youth of our children Is conserved, oven at tho cxponso of the ago of their parents; wo havo civic baseball, football and golf grounds. No one can deny wo aro losing our "old pop." Our ono or two sons havo not half tho "old pep" our fathers' ten or twelvo sons had. Whero, oh, where, has our "old pep" gone? Why can't Uncle Sam get soldiers whon -tho grizzled Invader bristles at our gates? Why can't basoball managors got players for $1000 a month? Why can't managors got fighters for $1000 a mlnuto? Why can't employers got employes em-ployes who havo energy? Why 13 it that opportq. nlty not only beckons and knocks once, but kicks down the door, walls, beseeches, lmploros, tears her hair, dares thorn to como out, and can't get young men to grab her by the neck? Civil "War Veterans. I don't know. All I do know and I submit that I havo proven it here Is that wo are losing our "old pop." I havo my own humblo Idea about why wo aro losing It. I am not a fire-eater. fire-eater. I am pacifically Inclined. But I nover know a man who had the "old pop" who did not despise peace Tho veterans of our civil war havo always dosplsed peace. Oh, yes, Grant may havo said "Let us have peace" and Sherman may have said "War Is hell." Thoy had had four years of battle. The old soldiers wero always militant. So I think that ono reason why we are losing our "old pop" I3 because we aro so far away from tho last war. Amorlcan energy was at lt3 highest after tho civil war. 'Twas thon tho railroads wore built, tho plains settled, tho Rocky Mountains honeycombed, honey-combed, tho cities laid out. Tho sons of civil war veterans aro mostly past the fighting age. Tho grandsons of civil war veterans aro fruit too far away from the hardy stem. We have ' followed commerce, ease, tho arts of peace, tho finest art of which is trying to "live easy." France, tho country which today has the most "old pop," nover gavo up thinking of war, never forgot Sedan, Alsaco and Lorraine. Germany nover gavo up training for war, either. No doubt you will say, "And look at what proparing for war has done to both, Gormany and to Franco.'' That is true. But Is what is happening to Germany Ger-many and to Franco tho worst thing that can happen to a nation? How about what has happened hap-pened to China, to Hawaii, to tho Sandwich Islands nnd to other most peaceful countries? Thinking It over many times In tho last threo years, I havo come to the conclusion that there ' ure ways worse than war In which a nation may decay and die. I nover see tho young loafers loaf-ers on tho street corners, about poolrooms, near saloons, on tho lots, young mon and boys who will not work; who aro not exactly harmful, but who do nothing of value, who havo "no poison" in them but no "pep," that I do not think that ; it Is bettor that a nation should dio on the battlefields bat-tlefields than decay nnd die through lack of ': energy, of fighting Instinct, which Is. in final ' fisurlng. what wo know as "the old pep." I Every spring I go forth upon tho lots and i.i " tho parks and see scores and hundreds of ' young men. Idlers, scoffed and pale with a win- 3 ter Indoors, loaf and dawdlo under the trees. I M have known some of them for years. Every spring theV como out of hibernation like gaunt B and hungry bears. They play a llttlo basoball. 1 bully the small boys, beg cigarette "makln's" I and nickels to buy beer, live off hard-working W parents jSt Onca I said to one of theso hardy annuals ot 4jjf the barrol houso and poolroom: tBSfi "What do you fellows do? Evory spring I see H you out eating grass and playing a llttlo ball H and begging cigarette makln's and beer money. H What do you all do over winter? Why don't M 1-ou go to work in the spring? Don't any of M you ever work, you big, lazy, loutish, graceless H ., ''Awh' Mr- Sheridan," said the enormous lout, H don't worry about work. The world's done H completed. Thoy ain't no more work." H I had to laugh at the rich recklessness of tho H repartoo. I strolled over to whero a policeman. H a friend, was sitting. "Mr. Officer." I said, B hav you got any of such big, burly, brutal H bums on your beat in North St. Louis as wo sc-3 H 109 indoed," said tho policeman, thought. H fully, hundreds of them. Do you know I have WM always hoped that the United States would got H into a war in which tho navy would bo largely H engagco. that they would need manv men from H the navy-, would conscript them and leave it to H tm, wman n th0 bcat to d0 0 selecting H ill bet I'd relievo many a hard-working, do- M cent, father and mother and sisters of a big. H bum son who never has done anything but cat, H sleep ant. steal at their expenses. H ,n I.n EQnd thcm t0 sea Tho-v dcscrt lf allowed B to stay on land." H non'JnfJTl P,er80ns Want tnls excellent "ca- JNH in fneT Sm " " the gun, A W conflnecW?thf CCt"UP' personal Pr,de' not " lois and h,I V PCp,' J -rcat c'- ' ", get a bo out r i100'3 every day" You n't Talk to hi 7h f0tba11 or baecba11 teams. fathers the ,n T Patr,otJs' the flag, th j but the 2h"Sid anV P3rt f th0 newspaper. J M know who George i, " d' I have heard byname Thatalf' JheT" IB havo heard of th , a"nLS aI- They may I IKL know Why It wl hn)1 Party' bUt th0y don't IB ing." " h0ld or wh0 did tho "pour- fB From whatovfn rena-. 1. 9. and sailor, baseball rnnl "" SPHne' ,d,r oger. employed 0,, nKBer' pusJ1,at,c nian- I K despto all modern imn t0' WU admlt that f V eluded wo ?r ? , mnroVcments, efficiency in- f K orabto "pCp.r ,0Slnff 0Ur ''nt and hon IjR . -''sj,v-,-i,.v.V. ',4'.. .,..-.. 'f'lf''- -J '(.I |