Recently France decided upon the establishment of a Ministry of Athletics, and now Japan seems to be tending in the same direction. The trouble in the latter country, has come to light through the examination of the present year's class of conscripts for drafting into the army. A decline in physique and morale is reported, and alarmed are the authorities that they propose the immediate institution of games and physical contests om the lines which formerly brought out the manhood of the country. in its thousands, The "Mainichi" explains the prevailing state of affairs as follows:—
While there is a general thirst among the rising generation for new ideas and for the reading of books and magazines dealing with several questions, to the deterioration of morality and health, the practice of improving their physique by competitive testing of their strength which was so much in vogue in the provinces, is almost gone.
That way lies national pessimism, if we accept the records of other countries, and it is a bad thing for a nation, probably requiring some great crisis for the shaking of it off. Only nations cannot afford to wait for the crisis, and if the facts are as reported in our Japanese contemporary, the authorities are not one whit too soon in taking steps to counteract the evil.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.