That Hose Race.

That Hose Race.

在另一个列我们从乔打印沟通hn J. Shea, Foreman of Barnes Hose Company, of Burlington, Vt., in answer to the challenge of Bates Hose, of Denver, Col., to run another race for $10,000. The Barnes Company decline the challenge, for several good and substantial reasons—first, they haven't $10,000 second, they don’t feel like traveling 4,000 miles to gratify their challengers ; third, they regard the conditions imposed in the challenge as unfair; fourth, they do not think the challenge was put forth in good faith. They offer, however, to run the Bates Company a friendly contest, in accordance with the Tournament rules, in the public streets of Burlington, any time the Bates Company chooses to come on. Mr. Shea intimates that the challenge sounds more like the challenge of professional runners than of a practical, working Hose Company.

It seems to us that disinterested persons must concede that the Barnes Company has the best of the controversy. At the National Tournament, they were the winners of the first prize—$500 in gold, the champion belt, and a handsome Hose Carriage, presented by the Silsby Manufacturing Company. The Bates Company, it is true, ran the distance in less time, but the judges decided that their pipe was not properly attached to the hose, and they were, consequently, ruled out. They, therefore, claim that they were defeated by a technicality, and, since their return home, their local papers have indulged in much abuse of the judges. Other Companies were ruled out on precisely the same ground, so it is evident that the rule regarding the pipe connection was enforced impartially. That rule was understood by all, for it had been discussed the previous evening, by all interested, at the meeting of the Illinois Association. It was then decided that a 1-8 inch washer might be used, and that the pipe must be "set up" as tightly as it could be turned by hand. The judges decided that the Bates' pipe was not so "set up."