The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-23
WHITNEY THE CRITIC
He Seems to Have 1t "In" fol
Butte'S Football System.
AN EXPLANATION DEMANDED
The Eastern Writer Comes Out to
the Coast and Devotes All His
Time to Finding Fault With
Sports In General.

| Olympic teams for their alleged profess
sionalism, is given in full below. Manager
Mcmillan was unable to reach Mr.. Whit
ney by telegraph at Seattle, so he has
written him a long letter which he ex-
poets will reach him at San Francisco,
urging him to either prove his charges
against the Butte team or withdraw them
| in as public manner as he made them.
Mr.. Whitney is given an urgent invita-
| ton to stop off in Butte on his return
trip east and thoroughly investigate the
conditions which govern amateur sport
| in the great mining camp.
The following is the interview which
Mr.. Whitney had with the Seattle CORE
spondent of the San Francisco Exam
liner:
"Caspar W. Whitney, the well-known
writer for Harper's Weekly, arrived here
Monday night direct from the East and
spent the day in gathering information
regarding the various branches of anna
teur sport in the Puget sound country.
He left tonight for Portland, where a
days stop will be made in investigating
the condition of amateur sport there be-
fore going to San Francisco.
~ am prepared to stand by every
thing which has been written by me in
regard to athletic politics around San
Francisco bay said Mr.. Whitney to-
night. L am not visiting the Pacific coast
to resolve myself into a court of inquiry
to try and hastily condemn everything
which does not meet with my approval.
1t is merely an editorial visit in the in
terest of the publication with which
am at present associated, but of course
i shall endeavor TO post myself in the
most reliable manner possible athlet-
ic matters while touring this promising
section of country. No, 1t is not my in
tention to roast the general condition of
affairs in California In place of that 1
shall imbibe the condition of things
they really exist there and reserve criti-
cism until after that.
=" But IL is not to be understood by this
that l was not sure of my ground when
| made my recent attack on the condi-
ton of California athletics, especially in
baseball and football circles What was
said then was by no means hastily writ
ten and without proper material at hand
These criticisms came about from the
fact that it required especially directed
words to have any effect on the practices
of the Reliance and Olympic clubs in the
handling of their baseball and football
teams.
The condition of athletics in the Pa
cifc Northwest seems to be much health
Ter than in California. Perhaps IL is be-
cause the fatal germs have not have had
time to take root. and l hope they never
will. The cause of all the trouble in Cali
fornia, and the same reason may be APP
piled to many other sections, is the ten
dency to sacrifice everything to the mot
to. We must win The San Francisco
and Oakland clubs are continually going
outside their numbers for star players.
thus discouraging utterly the struggling.
yet apparently less gifted athletes who
are spending time and money I'm en-
deavoring to give their club an honest
representation on the diamond. gridiron
or track.
81 have excellent authority for the
statement that the Olympic and Reliance
clubs have fostered this practice to an
abnormal degree. The general criticism
that athletic affairs on the Pacific coast
were in a bad condition would not have
reached with telling effect any particular
club. / was acquainted with the condi-
ton of affairs In San Francisco to a con-
siderable extent They never were on a
very good plane. and when l tried to
have a change made for the better
through personal correspondence with
several of the most prominent athletes
and deVotees / only met fiat failure. I at
last realized that more drastic measures
were necessary to the accomplishment of
the ends l sought. Only then did l re-
solve upon resorting to a public exposure.
The seed which these clubs first SOW
ed i'm the way of importing players of star
abilities has borne abundant fruit. Nearly
all the smaller clubs the entire length of
the coast have become more or less con-
taminated with the example of these met
ropolitan organizations. The managers
are continually striving to outdo each
other i'm the securing of the finest mate
rial and thus the best inducements are
required to get the best men. The per-
sonnet of the teams is consequently ever
on change and the club members lose
their interest accordingly
The Butte football team, the most
Il.
potrated on a sport-loving public, is the
extreme result of this system. and /
think II caps the climax. They have not
even a semblance of an athletic club
up there in the mountains, and Million
aire Clark handles that aggregation
Some men delight in the expensive lux
ury of keeping up a kennel of blooded
hounds: others take more kindly to
horses. but this horrible subjugation of
human tissue and bone TO the same uses
is something new. They did not do much
at Seattle. TO he sure. but at other points
where their antagonists We're strong they
played havoc. i do not say that a single
cent was paid to a man on the Butte or
California teams. IL does not need ex-
change of legal tender 10 constitute pro-
fessionalism. Boarding at athletic clubs
free of charge or receiving a fat sinecure
job as a chrome for star work Is the
most dangerous professionalism I'm spirit
because il is the hardest to eradicate. Yet
without this system the Reliance Olym-
pic and Butte teams would not have up
held the standard of their past seasons
work. They have not given their own le-
gitimate athletes a show, however prom
Using they might have been. and the sea-
son has been stigmatized throughout by
the continual outcries of the respective
managers. who each feel that the others
are abusing him."
Passengers destined 10 points beyond
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