The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-14

OIie III the history OF cycling III Otdii,
and the action taken by the racing men
in renouncing allegiance to the racing
board of the L. A. w. will have an I'M
portant bearing upon future cycle his
tory in the state.
For the past ten years--in fact, ever
since cycle racing first engaged the at
tention of the public-no other body
than the League of American Wheel
men has attempted to govern racing,
with the exception of cash prize
league, which fiourished for a year or
two at a time then the L. A. W. re-
fused TO sanctio racing for cash.
The dissatisfaction which began to
be manifested several years ago in
different sections at the manner in
which bicycle races were being made
the means of deriving league revenue
at the expense of the racing contingent,
eliminated in the withdrawal of. all
the principal clubs and racing men on
the Pacific coast of their support of
the L. a. w. in the government of rae
ing. This action was taken for several
reasons. the principal one of which was
the refusal of the i. A. w. assembly
TO sanction Sunday racing. The Cali
fornia contingent did not demand that
the league sanction Sunday events, eX-
cept where the members of any state
desired it; or in other words, what
The majority of the delegates at the
assembly favored granting the request
of the western members but as it took
two-thirdS of the delegates present to
carry an amendment, the proposition
failed by a small margin
The California members claimed that
if left to a mail vote that the PROPOSE
ton TO give local option on Sunday
racing, that it would show much more
than tWo-thirds OF the members of the
L. A. w. favored granting it; but, on
account of the great distance of the
western delegates from the place of
assembly, it was impossible to get
representative vote on the question at
an assembly, as the majority of the
delegates present were all from the
eastern states.
In vain the delegates from the west
ern states pleaded and argued that the
conditions in the west were different
from those in the New England states.
The eastern delegates We're obdurate,
and after two years of hard work with
the L. a. w. officials, the California
trackowners and racing men gave up
in despair and the c. A. c. c. was
organized to conduct racing under
rules which We're adopted by them. The
organization has been a successful one
since its inception and its race meets
have been we'll patroniZed- California
financial returns have been most graft
flying.
California seeded only after having
been thoroughly convinced that the
west would never receive the attention
that it required. The racing game has
changed greatly since the L. A. w. was
organized and it has become such an
institution that the L. A w, which
was never intended as a race-goVern-
ing body, has found its constitution and
membership of such a nature that they
are wholly incompatible.
Detection In the East.
Eastern trackowners and racing men,
who had been suffering under the mis-
control of racing in other sections, had
been vainly trying to obtain redress
from the L. A. W., but the political
ring. nothing daunted by the loss of its
Pacific coast racing interests, and
contrary to the advice of many of the
wiser eastern members, refused to
grant the reforms asked or to drop
racing altogether and devote its time
and attention TO the prosecution of the
objects for which the league was or
ganized. The result was that the prin-
cipai racing men and trackoWnerS IN
the east petitioned the c. y. c. c. to
extend its control to the eastern tracks,
but the heads of the western league
replied that it was their intention to
devote all their time and attention to
western racing matters. and the dis
satisfied ones in the east, rather than
return to league domination, organized
under the name of the National Cy-
clists' association. The \. c. A. in the
east and the e. \. c. c. in the west
will cooperate. and riders in either
organization will be allowed to compete
with one another.
Utah has cast her lot with the new
bodies, and it is probable that her
choice has been a wise one. All con-
cerned. at least, seem to think that the
best course has been taken.
Another important event of the past
week was the announcement that the
Salt Palace company would soon COM
mence the construction of a modern
eight-lap board track in the Salt Palace
grounds. The palace Will not be opened
until the middle of the summer. but
the bicycle track will be pushed TO
completion at an early date, unless the |
present plans of the management are |
changed, so that il is very probable |
that the meet at Cdlder'S May so Will |
soon be followed by others on "A track |
that will be the equal of any of its |
kind in the country. That tracks of 1
the kind that will be built are fast !
is proven by the fact that r. a. Miller |
recently made one mile in l:53 al Hous- !
ton, Tex, recently.
Decoration Day Races.
Racing men who intend riding Dec I
Grafton day in either the road race or |
the track races can find entry blanks |
for both at the cycle stores this week. |
The road race Will start promptly from |
the corner of Third West and Fifth /
North at 10 a. m. The course will be |.
the same as has been followed in pre- /
vious Pennington races. and the dis |
lance is fifteen miles. An observation |
train will follow the riders the entire I
course, as has been the custom in /
former races. The Salt Lake & ogden
railroad follows the course the entire |
distance, and spectators win, therefore,
be enabled to see the start and finish,
as well as being afforded an oppor-
tunity of seeing them along the route.
Gum has announced the selection of
two of the officials. the starter and the
clerk Of the course. Dick Conely, who
has made q. record in past road races
as a most efficient starter, viii Of
fciate in that capacity the morning of
Decoration day. Tod Game will act as
clerk, and ii Will be his duty to line
up the men at the start. This is a
most important duty, and as Tod knows
how il goes himself, il is altogether
probable that there will be no hitch in
that part of the programme, The bal
ance Of the officials viii be selected
this week.
The record for this course is 49:40:DO.
which time was made by T. d. 'Fenton
in the first annual road race, and this 1
record has never been lowered. The 1
road is in better condition than ever
before, and unless rains should change