Wisdom from the World by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 8, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 10.

Wisdom from the World

By Editor

In speaking of the coming fight between two great pugilists, Jeffries and Johnson, in which the white race will be pitted against the black, and in which sporting men have so great interest just now, the New York "Journal" predicts that Jeffries will be defeated, and gives the reason why:

"Quantities of whisky, every drop of it poison, every drop of it making the brain less efficient than it was, have been absorbed by that huge fighter. It is very likely that whisky will tell its story in the ring. The man may appear to be in perfect condition, he may skip the rope five hundred times, which all admire; he may strike the bag with terrific force, but that means nothing in battle. The whisky does not keep him from skipping the rope, it does not keep him from running five miles if he stops drinking for three months and trains hard. Whisky slows up the whole system; it makes the pause between brain and nerve. That pause defeated Sullivan. It will be very interesting to see whether or not it defeats Jeffries."

Another paragraph well says:

"If human beings were civilized, if they had real ambition instead of the ambition of the fist, they would care nothing at all about the result of this fight. If they tolerated it in the least, it would be as an interesting test in endurance and quickness. They would insist upon the utmost fairness for the black man. Those believing in the superiority of the white race, would hope for the white man's defeat as a sign of real superiority. If you begin at the top of animal life on this planet, you will find that the lower down you get the better the fighting quality in proportion to size. Any brutal, ignorant, low-browed individual of average strength, could probably defeat ninety per cent of all the really great men that have ever lived."

All of which is true. Christians should deplore it. Many states make laws against it, while the same states permit the constant sale of whisky and all its allied poisons that embrutalize men far more than prize-fights even. It is a pitiable thing that men should be weighed or measured by mere brute force or mere physical skill, neither of which ever brings any real happiness or elevation to humanity.