The times., 1898-12-25

also members of the League. These
clubs have a direct interest In the sport
and for that reason these members are
also directly interested. Then there are
thousands of League members who at
tend race meets and who do so for the
love of the sport. These want to see
good, honest racing, even If they are net
members of the clubs promoting them.
A third class is composed Of the racing
men. the amateurs, who are members of
the League, and there are hundreds of
them
They are directly interested. as they
want to be sure that they are contesting
on Il sportsmanlke principle with every
other man, and they knew that compe.
tent government must be at the head.
4 fourth, and smaller class, is composed
Of the members OF the national and State
racing Boards, the handicappers, track Of
fciais and others directly connected with
the government of the sport. Those
classes together make a total of members
reaching into the thousands and l firmly
believe that If 1t could be arrived at that
IL would be found to mean an actual ma
jority of the total League membership.
If IT is not majority it is at least very
large percentage and those who are agl-
tatins Cor the divorce Of racing from the
League are artagonizing just that many
members. That is why it seems to me
they are making n serious mistake and l
also believe that If they would discontinue
the agitation their divisions would in
crease their memberships remarkably. In
this connection it is peculiar fact that
In Pennsylvania. where there has been lit
tie or none Of this agitation, the division
has caught and passed New York where
there has been the most of il. \ year
ago the difference in membership OF these
two divisions was thousands. yet Penn
svlvania now leads. and l think great
leal of the New York difficulty has been
the perpetual agitation of the racing ques-
/ ton
These views are held by many other
members of the organization, particularly
the racing officials. 1t has been said that
these officials have a pecuniary interest in
| the sport, but as a matter of fact there
I is not an office in sthe league aifording
ANYTHING like a living salary, except the
: Craftsmanship of the racing board. Then,
again. these officials have been appointed
because of their ability to govern the rae
| ing. and their real reason for nghtlng TO
maintain it is that they have worked FOR
/ years in building no the greatest athletic
governing organization in the world and
they do not want their efforts TO go for
/ naUght.
To the uninitiated the attempt of the
! track owners to assume control of cycle
! racing may appear to be severe blow
! to the l.. A. w, but TO those who most
thoroughly understand the existing condi-
tions of affairs this fact is believed to be
| the most unwise that has yet been at
| tempted.
At the present time more than three
| fourths of the leading tracks of the East
are under the ban of the League of Ameri-
can Wheelmen and not because of any
ignorance on their part, but rather be-
| cause of actions decidedly detrimental TO
the sport of cycling in general and the
racing men in particular.
| Berkeley Oval in New York is suspend
ed because they owe their proportion OF
the $4,000 or more debts contracted by
the National Track Team Association
the past year. Manhattan Beach is
blacklisted for the same reason Willow
Grove at Philadelphia was for the close
OF the season blacklisted because a pro-
noting association-the same that fig
ures so prominently in the present agi-
tation for the control of racing-let their
grounds to a coterie of professional fax
irs who promoted race meet and then
left every bill unpaid.
The tracks located at Bridgeport
Springfield, Newark and other places
are now serving an uneXpired term oi
| blacklist because of unpaid bills to rae
ing men, the same men who are now
| asked to come under their wing and bi
governed. The Boston track, while moi
suffering from blacklist. is no better
than the rest. and only managed to es
cape by means not yet made public. Al
waltham the erstwhile famous track !!
Idle because of a failure to pay th'
prizes won by racing men under the pro
lection of the L. A. w, and the SAM
condition prevails at Ambrose Park. il
| New York. It is well remembered how
the Detroit track was closed because of {
failure on their part to pay Jimmy
Michael for exhibitions given on tina
oval, and the Chicago track was closet
for inhuman treatment of racing meI
and actions not-conducive to honesty.
This list could be continued indefinite
ly. and in each case the racing man ha.
been protected by the League of Ameri
can Wheelmen against the track-owner
for INSCRIPTIONS conduct, and yet TIL
racing men have been asked to throw
over their protector and habitate witt
those who have wrought SO much finan
cial ruin upon them Among the racini
men who are at the present time suffer
ing from depleted bank accounts, owini
to the mismanagement of cycle racini
by the track owners, are Eddie McDuf
fee. Tom Linton, Tom Butler. Fred III
tus Major Taylor. Jimmy Michael, Ed
; GUARD Taylore, Clint Coulter Frank Star
! buck, Charles Hadfield, w. F. Sager
E w. Swanbrough, F. P. Kent, q.
Henshaw. Frank Mayo, W. F. Saunders
, ]. T. Keiiher. ]. ]. Casey, Victor Eek
berg and others too numerous to men
ton.
: The racing men who have been tendere
an invitation to come and be governe
by this class of people have their choic
. of believing the track owners, to con
slider the racing men imbeciles, or els
of thinking that this is done in a spirit O
deep sarcasm. They can take their picl
Century Cycle Club.
Last Sunday Capt. Ed. S. Byrne
r. c. Williams, Howard Fisk and A. E
Griffith started for Great Falls on thei