Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-31
PLUMMER's POSITION.
a. a U. Secretary Does Not Favor 8. A.
A. Suggestion.


The Spy, Wednesday morning. pub
lished a statement regarding the action
taken by the B. A. A., to the effect that
the Boston club was willing to contrib
ute $3.50 towards the support of the A.
A. u, provided that other clubs were
willing to do the same; and also pro-
vided that the present registration plan
be abandoned A representative of the
Spy had a talk with Secretary William
H. Plummer of the n. E. A. A. U. about
the B. A. AS proposition, Secretary
Plummer, while not in favor of the reg
istration scheme as it is now in force,
does not like the suggestion of the B.
A. A. On this point he said:
| do not favor the proposition made
by the B. A. A. l think this would sim
ply centralize the power of the A. A. u,
The A. A, L. ought to be a solf-support-
ing organization under it's own rules
and laws. | am in favor Of registration
and always have been, and I cannot un-
derstand why these colleges and schools
are against it. l suppose it is because
they are opposed to the one-dollar tax
alton. Well 80 are we here in New
England,
Now the question comes, what rule
shall we adopt TO satisfy all parties
The registration scheme itself, outside
of taxation, is one of the best plans
ever adopted by the amateur athletic
union, in that it regulates The sport and
keeps tabs on the athletes. | believe
that if my proposition was adopted, the
resolution l have introduced to the eff
feet that the fee be reduced to 25 cents
it would cover the cost of registration
and still retain the rule without the
obnoxious feature.
We cannot keep UP the registration
rule without charging some small fee,
and no amateur athlete who has any in
terest in the A. A. e. should raise the
slightest objection to it. While money
is an outside question in amateur sport,
still there is the financial feature con-
nected with every undertaking, and so
II is with our organization. The re-
ceipts from club dues do not exceed $500
a year in the waoie union, and since
this rule has been adopted, Mr.. Sullivan
has been obliged to employ one stenog-
rapher all the time and two other clerks
in the busy season, to assist him. This
does not include the stenographer's worl,
for the subordinate divisions The ex-
penses of stationery and slenographers
services amounts to over $1,000 a year
and to cover this expense is the ticklish
question before us, so to speak
At the last meeting of the A. A. u
there was an attempt made to raise the
club dues to $40. But it failed A com
promise on $3.50 was effected Former
ly clubs had to pay according to the
number of members they had. The
small clubs now have to pay more ano
the large clubs less, proportionately
They all pay alike, $3.50 for each club
The New England Association, the New
England intercollegiate Association ant
the Interscholastic Association are
against the dollar tax. But we have
had to fight all the other associations o.
the A. A. U. who are in favor of it.
A proposition was made to the Inter
collegiate and the Interscholastic asso
Citations that they retain one-half of tn,
dollar taxation. But they were not sat
1sfied with the concessions we made, 81
we are no better off than before.
l favor a 25-cent registration scheme
bers into the A. A. U. than we nav,
ever had before. There sre thousand
of young athletes in this country VIII
would be glad to register and pay 2
cents, and there is no reason in tn
world why the college men should OBJ
3ect to a 25-cent tax. These colleges ar
never called upon and never have beel
TO help the A. A. U. financially.
To sum the whole thing UP, the col
lege men and the school boys want u
to abolish the rule altogether, but, OF
the other hand, the governing body 0
the A A. U. believes that the. schem
ought to be retained. ! hope that it vii
not bring on, as Mr.. Sullivan has stated
an athletic war. IL it does, I canno
see who is to be the gamer. 1t vii
simply hurt amateur sport, which i
Just now more prosperous and cleane
than 1t ever has been