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Show When Jeffries Had Good Opinion of Johnson I for alfalfa, gin or prize fights. Ho is earning a salary that puts him In a class with Caruso, and what has he i done to deserve it? I Nothing. It is all duo to the Tact that a big negro licked an underalzod white man In Australia, and that the public Is jollying Jeffries along In tho hopes that he will shy hl3 castor Into the championship ring and recapture the laurels for the whit race. In short, It Is what Johnson has done that has made Jeffries a foot-light foot-light faorlte, and Instead of being hateful toward Johnson, Jeff should feel grateful. Jeffries' fighting weight is given at 245 pounds, as against 200 for John-tvn, John-tvn, but it Is probable that the retired retir-ed champion can shed ten or tirteon pounds by the time he is properly trained. Of the to men in their present I shape, Johnson comes nearer to the popular Idea of the latter-day gladiator. gladia-tor. He ha3 Eplendld arrrni and back, and his physique generally suggests more elasticity and freedom of motion mo-tion than does that of his prospective opponent. But shape is not everything. Jeffries Jef-fries in his heyday showed himself capable of defeating all manner ot men. from freak-limbed Bob Fltzsim-mons Fltzsim-mons to burly Gus Ruhlin. Such, being be-ing the case, it Is not so much a matter mat-ter of how Johnson and Jeffries compare com-pare physically as to what extent Jeffa marvelous fighting talents have been preserved. I (By W. W. Naughton.) San Francisco, April 2. A fighter's opinion of a fighter Isn't a thing to pin much faith to at the best of times, and j when the fighters become rivals each one's estimate of the other Isn't worth the breath or the ink required to place it on record. Take Battling Nelson and Packey McParland, for Instance. About the time the Dane lost to Jlmmle Britt at the Auditorium he began singing tne praises of a budding phenomenon In the lightweight division whose habitat habi-tat was tho stockyards region or Chicago. Chi-cago. "He Is only 17 and not done growing." grow-ing." Bald Nelson. "HCs a wonder a great all-around fighter. He Is the coming champion of the world, ail . right, and he'll lick u6 all some day." Times change, and men change with them. "Alien Packey reached his full development and became a challenger of Nelson, the Dane spoke differently, ; even.though he may not have thought differently. "Who did he ever lick?" asked Nelson, Nel-son, with curling lip, "His record was faked up by his manager, and until un-til he shows himself worthy of it he will never get a light from me." Then there Is Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson. To read all that Big Jim has had to say about Big Jack lately, one ; would be led to think Jeffries has IbB utmost contempt for Johnson's fighting fight-ing abilities, and courage as well. I don't know -whether Jeffries has taken to making disparaging remarks about Johnson, but I do know that while Joffrles was far out of the game and had little idea that he would be yanked into It again, he considered Johnson the greatest heavyweight before be-fore the public. I had his own word for LL and, knowing what a level-headed, level-headed, faLrvnjfoded IMIlow Jeff nles is, I do not believe he would hesitate over awarding Black Jack the same meed of praise right now. Thoy say that personally Jeffries detests de-tests Johnson. This may be so, but it seems to me that It would be easy enough to persuade the big rellow that he ought to feel kindly toward the conqueror of Tommy Burns. Certainly Certain-ly Johnson has put Jeffries In the way of -becoming a rich man, even IT Jeffries never enters the prize ' ring again. Just look at the way things were a few months back at Los Angeles. Jeff had tried alfalfa farming and hadn't made more than a million a year at it. Then he lent his name to a saloon sa-loon scheme, and If reports ' spoke truly, the gin-mill was not a particularly partic-ularly big money-maker. Another venture In which Jim was interested was the Vernon Athletic club. This never showed a dollar on the profit gide of the ledger, and tho club house, 1 understand, is now closed clos-ed and can bo bought, at lumber rates, i As tilings are now. It matters little to Jeffries whether there Is a market |