TWO CHAMPIONS TOPPLE.

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 15 June 1935, Page 4

TWO CHAMPIONS TOPPLE.

•The defeat of Max Baer in the boxing ring and of Huey Long on the floor of the United States Senate arc incidents which do not mean much to people in this country. Of the two, the dethronement of the world’s champion heavyweight is, of course, of greater interest. And yet, for those who have caught a glimpse of the personalities of the two men who occupy, in their different spheres, so much of the public limelight in America, there is something of passing interest in the fact that they both should meet failure at about the same time. Max Baer and Huey Long are similar in temperament, though not in physique. Both believe in self-advertisement of the showy type. The handsome Mr. Baer misses no opportunity of belittling every prospective opponent and of telling the world just how easy it is going to he for him to win his next match. Mr. Huey Long, in the political field, is another drum-hanger, loving crowds, noise and bombast —and most of all, himself. He is pushing himself forward for selection as a candidate for presidency and there is quite a substantial body of Americans of good breeding and taste who fear that'this demagogue might eventually “get there” by sheer stunting. His fifteen and a-lialf hours’ speech in the Senate has failed to obstruct the passage of the Bill for the extension of the powers of the N.R.A., for the simple reason that a sufficient number of his opponents had made up their minds to remain in the House indefinitely in order to prevent Mr Long from forcing his opinions upon the nation. Mr. Baer, the boxer, has had reason to learn that there arc limits to what the individual ean accomplish by himself. Apparently it took him about five rounds to realise that his sneering grin and contemptuous laugh were not going to be sufficient to stop the up-and-coming Mr. Braddock. The majority of people constituting the public of Messrs Huey Long and Max Baer are not going to waste much sympathy over them in their defeat. A man has to he good in any sphere to he able to laugh the whole world to scorn. As long as lie is on top he may “get away with it,” but as soon as he topples off his pedestal he is likely to find out that there is more than a cash value in the possession of the sympathy of friends who believe in him and want him to win.