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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1918)
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOJiTAN, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 20, 19!8. t r i - , . 'vr , w - - ' 'D'':""''' " I llll - -r . K , ; .o .. :- , ; ' i I , ' ' ' ; His Good Humor Is an Asset of War, and the Government Is Fostering Music and Fun as a Means of Producing Efficient and Effective Fighters ".V ""Vi t M? , i, 2- . - Wrestling in the Air a Hilarious Sport in Which Contestants -Are Carried on Shoulders. trawn Up for a "Sing" at Camp Kearney, San Diego, CaL Song Leaders Are Holding Up Sheets Bearing the Words. Training Camp Men Playing an Exciting Form of "Medicine Ball.". ' - 1 YVi , W ' Billiards in the Amusement Zone (Near Camp Lewis, Wash.) BT EDWARD FRANK ALLEN. mHE successful man Is the one who I keeps interested in his Job. When the' United States was drawn into the world conflict the War Department realised this fact and laid its plans ac cordlngly. How have these plans worked outT Look to the western front for your answer. The men who, in camp and cantonment, had time and opportunity for healthful diversion. athletic and otherwise, and who kept Interested thereby, are now successfully coins tnelr part toward beating Prus ianism to its knees. One afternoon at Camp Kearney, near Ean Diego, CaL, I saw 300 soldiers play Ing on the parade ground. Every one of them was stripped to the waist. Their guns were stocked in ions rows of threes, and beneath these were shirts, blouses and service hats. Lieu tenants were standing by looking on. Men and officers seemed to be enjoying the fun. The camp director of athletics ex plained how these men happened to be having such a i:ood time during a pe riod of what was technically military drilL 'The commission on training camp activities, which is under the au thority of the War Department." he said, "is behind this. They have demon strated the value of not only body building, muscle-hardening games, but also of what have been called fun efficiency games. HmTlMn a Good Time. "I don't need to tell you that every one of these men is having a good time." He didn't, indeed, for they were all shouting and lauKhing like a crowd of schoolboys at recess. "But," he con tinued, "it may be less apparent that they are getting real military benefit from It. Look at those parallel rowsof men bending over. They are engaged In a medicine-ball race. The ball is being rolled between their legs down to the man on the end of the line. He grabs it now watch him! runs 100 yards up ahead of the line, returns to the front of the' group and rolls it back again to the . rear man. mho re peats the performance. The team that finishes first wins the race. "Games like this keep alive the spirit of competition and teach the men ag.l ity and alertness. That Is why they are considered a part of military drill The men need these qualities in flght- aim... . r - . SS'.3 r-v . . i I III ' . r. " I 4 " ! ' J&5p lU-t-r - - C !" x . ' , . : y-, . - - . t-,- : A Lively Form of Laughing Athletics in Which a Man Is "Passed" Like a , Ball ing the German.. The good humor that goes with them Is recognized by the Government as a valuable bv-Droduct. On another section of the field men were doing second-story wrestling. Seated on the shoulders of their fellows. they tried to throw each other to the ground, generally with the result that all four men engaged in the bout piled up in a heap after the first onslaught. doubled up with laughter, but eager for another go.' I .thought of the 2.000,000 men in France who had gone through this training in all of the camps of the united States men who could not only fight but laugh, and fight the bet ter for It. The relaxation furnished by the com mission on training camp activities plays a big part in the stimulation of morale. It gives more than athletic di versions; it puts a song-leader in camp, for example, and encourages musical expression. After a drill on the parade ground the regiment Is drawn up in front of the reviewing stand, or in the armory, and from 15 minutes to half an hour of singing follows. This is also a fun-efficiency exercise, but with the addition of inspiration. General Per shing recently cabled. "Sen.d more sing ing regiments." because he knew that singing raises men's spirits and in creases their powers of endurance. Sol diers on the march step more briskly to such a chorus as: We're on the way to Heligoland To ret the KaiseHs coat. Up the Kiel Canal we'll float la a rood old Yankee boat. I'm a son of a son If I sea a Hun. I'll make him understand We'll knock the Heiigo into Hellgo uui ot Heligoland." It Isn't so much a matter of what they sing, as Raymond B. Fosdick. chairman of the commission, said, as that they sing. And they certainly do sing on every possible occasion, with the same Joy with which they play-and with the earns snap .with which they fight., After the mud and boredom of the trenches, after dreary days of being billeted in forlorn villages, there are entertainments for the soldiers by .pa triotic actor folk who have gone to France for this very purpose. It keeps the men in high spirits to be able to hear Elsie Janis sing the latest songs of home, to see E. H. Sothern in im personations of some of his famous characters and to be diverted by dozens of other well-known players. From their . dramatic everyday work these soldiers turn to the drama for recre ation. They even put on their own amateur- shows with the help of the 1. M. C. A. Picture a khaki audience in a train shed somewhere on the western front. On an improvised stage a spirited play let is being given. The men are re taxed and. for the time being, war is forgotten. It is better than the movies, for they are being entertained by the spoken word and in their own language as well. Suddenly there is a whispered order from somewhere in back of the hall znd men begin to leave. The per formance continues. The military drama must not interfere with that of the make-believe word and so the order for solemn matters is whispered. The American soldier wants to have fun and his Uncle Sam is making it possible for him 'to have it at every available opportunity. But best of all, he has the will to play and the will to sing and these, in combination with his indomitable will to fight, are what are making the United States Army ln- vinctDie. He generates most of his own fun that may be the best of all but pic tures, on the screen, in the "funny sheets," cheery reading and every other source of wholesome Jollity that lifts the strain aad keeps him healthy and normal la a welcome source - at this hour, i 11 mWO weeks ago in answer to an in- Xquiry I treated of the conditions justifying the overcall of one's partner's no trump bid with a suit bid, major . or minor. Last week under s somewhat' different guise I treated to some extent of the same subject, my policy in this case being suggested by Lieutenant-Colonel Richardson's letter from London with reference to tne American 'practice of denying suits. To day I treat of the practice of denying a suit bid with a suit; in other words, of the overcall of one's partner's suit bid with a suit, of higher or lower value than the one bid. . This occurs somewhat less frequently perhaps than the overcall of the no trump bid with a suit bid, and I am not sure that the practice or its importance is generally understood.. While this overcall or warning of danger is of greater importance at a no trump bid than at a suit bid, its usefulness in the latter respect admits of no dis cussion, and many a hand through its agency has been turned from threat ened defeat to assured victory. There are many things to be consid ered in connection with such overcall. In-the first place, if-it be in 'a better suit than the' one the partner has bid, it does not necessarily mean that the hand is without help1 for the partner's bid; such may be the case, but, on the other hand, it may mean simply that the player is strong in the suit called and desires to adopt as the trump the suit which win go game in fewer tricks; to use the suit-of greater -value as the trump suit and the one of lesser value as the side suit. For in stance, if a player bids a minor suit which at love score would call for five tricks to go game the controlling de sire or each player, be it borne in mind is to make game on his bid and his partner overcalls with a major suit, hearts or spades, either of which would go game at one trick less, or four, it by no means says that he, the over calling player, has no help for the minor suit, and the original bidder should not of necessity so construe it. What it does say is strength in the suit bid, sufficient strength to justify the bid, and the wish so to inform the partner that if in his judgment it seems best, the hand may be played at this rather than the- minor suit. In a case of this nature the thing of prime im portance is to inform the partner of the major suit strength! whether, or not the hand has help for the minor suit becomes in a sense non-essential, so far as informing the partner is concerned. If it have-help, so much the better; if it has not, all, the greater reason for the, hand being played at the major make. When the overcall is. made in- a suit of less value than the-one the partner calls, it says absolutely no help in the suit, but strength, possibly four honors, in the overcall suit. Such overcall is distinctly- a - backward ' policy, and in the words of Miss Irwin, "no sane player will - walk . backwards, t except with a reason." - " . "Let it be distinctly understood,;-then, that when the overcall is in a better suit than the one the partner has called, there may or may not be help for the partner's suit; when it is in a poorer suit than the one called, the hand is absolutely without help for the first suit. By help is meant not necessarily high cards of the partner's suit, but a sufficient number, at least two or three, to insure the side holding the majority in case tne nana be played at the suit. There is danger otherwise that the opposing side may hold- the majority. In either and both cases the overcallinrv suit must have genuine strength, both numerical and high card. - Under no circumstances' should one make a weak overcall bid. The partner must have strength in the suit he has named or he would not have named .it, and it is better that the hand be played at his good suit, though one has no help for it, than at your poor suit in which your partner may be equally without help. The overcall of a suit with a suit is of course no more binding upon the I original bidder than the overcall -of his no trump bid with. a suit bid. It is simply a precautionary measure taken by the partner to inform him, as far as possible, of the condition of his hand, and then to leave It to him,' the first bidder, to decide whether or not to act upon it. While he should re view the conditions carefully and well before making his decision, he has a perfect right to persist, with his bid if in his Judgment it promises best for the two hands. It may be - that he is exceptionally strong in the suit he has called, or js without help in his part ner's suit, in either or both' of which cases he may deem it best to go on with his own .bid.. If he elect to do this he takes the full responsibility of the hand upon himself, and absolves his partner quite from any share of blame in case the hand turns out disastrously. The overcall bid, or. warning of dan ger, should not as a rule be given more that once. If the partner choose to disregard -It he must have some good reason for so doing and as a general thing should not be further interfered with. It happens occasionally, how ever, that each partner persists with his own .bid, the two virtually bidding against each other. This suggests an interesting and somewnat. unusual phase of bidding which I will bring up in some future .issue. ....'- The better to illustrate what has (Continued on Page 3.) Dandruff Surely Destroy the Hair Girls if you want plenty of thick. beautiful, glossy, silky hair, do by all means get rid of dandruff, for it will starve your hair and ruin it if you doift ' ' It doesn't do much good to try to brush or wash it out. The only sure way to get rid of dandruff is to dissolve it, then you destroy it entirely. To do this, get about four ounces of ordinary liquid arvon; apply it at night when re tiring; use enough to moisten the scalp and rub it in gently with the finger tips. By morning most, if not all, of your dandruff will be gone, and three or four more applications will completely dis solve and entirely destroy every single sign- and trace of it. ;, You will find, too, that all itching and digging of the scalp will stop, and your hair will look, and feel a hundred times better. You can get liquid arvon at any drug store. It is inexpensive and four ounces is all 'you will need, no matter how much dandruff you have. This simple remedy never fails. Adv,