Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-02-16
CLASS B SCHEME.
BiCyCIist Murphy FavOrS
LA. W. Professionals.
ALLEGED AMATEUR OF TODAY.
He Believes in Putting All the Simon
Pure Amateurs in Class A.

Public clamor seems To have at last driv-
en- the League of American Wheelmsn to
compromise with professionalism. This
great organization, which has 30 long gov
erned amateur bicyclists, has finally decided
through its racing board that professional
ism does exist in the ranks Of its alleged
amateurs, and that hereafter the wheelman
who rides for manufacturer on salary and
sells secretly the prizes he wins should be
allowed to openly Violate his amateur
status The racing board will ask the dele
gates at the annual meeting Of the l.. A. W.,
soon TO be held in Louisville, to sanction
the division OF amateur bioyclists Into two
classes, A and Is The riders In the A class
must be pure amateur, must not receive
money for riding, sell their prizes or have
their expenses paid by an athletic or cycle
club and may only compete for trophies
valued at $50 or less.
This class Is practically the amateur class
OF today as II Is supposed to exist, except
that the value Of prizes IL unlimited. say
supposed" because every wheelman in the
country and every official In the l.. A. w.
knows upon information and belief, as the
lawyers say, that the amateur class of today
is densely populated with bicyclists who are
paid for riding certain wheels, and who sell
thing and proving 1t are very different
matters Is a certain prominent amateur
riding one particular make of wheel for his
health solelyt Not during the present fnsn-
cial stringenoy. Are Eek, Windle, Coohsran,
Leeming and Stack pole training their cham
pions just to see the wseels go roundi Not
unless the wheels are cart wheels" and sin
variably in advance" Did our record break
ers and their small army Of pacemakers and
trainers continue going against time until
the snowballs were ripe for glory only, and
are they eating those same snowballs this
winteri Not while canvasbaok duck and
terrapin may be procured in exchange for
coin of the realm.
In short, most Of our prominent wheel
men on the track today could be expelled
for professionalism II the prizes they have
sold and the salary they have received from
this or that manufacturer could stalk forth
like Banquo's ghost and accuse them. The
l.. A. w. officials are as certain Of this rs
any one, but they cannot prove 1t, and they
would undoubtedly dislike to do 80 II they
could for the reason that such famous rid
ers as Zimmerman, Windle. Johnson, Tyler.
Sanger and dozen Others arc the drawing
cards at league meets and fill the Golfers Of
the l.. A. w. with the much despised but
very necessary cash. A few years ago Will
lie Windle was charged with having re-
ceived 500 from prominent manufacturer
and was suspended. He admitted his guilt
and was renstated because he was honest,
so 1t was said at the time. The fact that
Windle was then the most prominent
wheelman on the track and the leagues
best drawing card of course had nothing to
do with his reinstatement.
All last season the taint Of professional
ism was 80 pronounced in the amateur
ranks and there was such a howl about IL
that the racing board felt that something
should be done to place every rider under
his true colors. Even the mighty thinner
man did not escape, and the National Cy-
clists' union of Great Britain refused him a
license to ride on the ground that he was
paid to pedal a certain wheel by its manu-
facturers Expelling such men as thinner
man was out of the question on this side,
and the racing board are attempting to
silence public clamor and solve the difficult
problem before them by the class A and
class B scheme.
This plan, which will undou ubtedly be
adopted at Louisville, is good so far as 10
goes, but 1t should 60 further. The racing