The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-21

llurSQaS-ACmc VS.. IouudAo' = !
Mayor Charles A. Bookwalter of In
dianapolis, president of the American |
bowling congress In an official statement
yesterday predicted that unless the con-
gress is freed from the influences Of the
manufacturers and the loaded ball fight IS
settled amicably, dissolution of the con-
gress will result. He said: :.
"My year as president of the American
bowling congress has convinced me that
bowling as a sport and the bowling con-
gress as the national organization of the
bowlers will lose many of it's most ell
thusia site followers if commercialism
continues to dominate and the amateur
side Of the sport is not preserved. But
the chief danger to the sport and to the
congress lies in the petty jealousies be-
tween the east and the west. The east
prides itself on being in the game for the
sports sake. The eastern bowlers say the
men of the west are largely professionals.
That is not true. My observation con- !.
vinces me that the men east of the Ane-
ghenies are just as eager to bowl for
! money as the men west.
ST think that the congress next week
will provide a limit for the weight of balls
that may be used in tournaments here
after. Then the future will depend on,
| whether the men that swing the loaded
ball are more closely welded to the heavy
| ball than to the congress. 1t they are
willing to give up the loaded ball for the
congress all will be well. But If not the
| congress cannot survive.
| .'Recent press dispatches say the bowl
/ ers Of wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota will
| bolt the congress unless Milwaukee gets
! tloe 1904 tournament A man who says in
| advance that unless you pay his way he
| will not play at all shows a streak of yell
1 low We of the great northwest pride
ourselves on our gameness, SO Will not
ie hat
4 the delegates from those states are an
element Of danger. The east and west
! should meet in give and take spirit and
settle the loaded ball question. If they do
not I see only a choppy course ahead for
the bowling congress and fear she will
+ pound herself to pieces next week on the
2 rocks Of discussion"
4 Thomas Curtiss of Brooklyn enjoys the
rare distinction of being the father OF
bowling He is 10 years OF age, and de-
lights in taking a :whirl at the pins even
in his advanced age. Speaking Of his long
career in bowling, Mr.. Curtiss said.
IT first took UP the game of tenpins in
the summer Of 1870 when on the road as
a commercial traveller. took a weeks
:. vacation at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie
. stopping at the Beeby house with some
friends from Cincinnati. We found q
Il bowling alley, which was rather a. crude
. affair three feet wide and City feet long
The pins were eighteen inches high ane
the balls all sizes, from twenty to thirty
8 inches in circumference, without any holes
4 Efor the fingers. You placed the ball in the
/ palm Of the hand, rolling it Slowly. It II
!, remained on the alley and reached the
head pin the ten pins would go down sure
The difficulty was to keep the ball or
. the alley the whole fifty feet. At leas
1--we times out of ten 1t would roll in thu
RI gutter. -@ Is II
i Nothing was said about strikes It o,