The Washington times., 1907-06-25
SULLIVAN'S FRIEND
CONSIDERS ABUSE
SUFFICIENT ANSWER
J. ]. Conlen Makes Childish and UntruthfuI
Charges and Displays His lgnorance-Trap-
ped by His Own Statement
By THOMAS S. RICE.

Fretted possibly, by the failure or
the newspapers to print extra Sunday
supplements devoted to informing an
eager public what a great work he has
accomplished. John J. Conlen, superin-
tendent of the athletic bureau at the
jamestown Exposition, address Norfolk,
Va, seeks to bulge into print by mailing
to the dailies and. mayhap, the period
zeal press also. a scurilous and libel
lOUs attack upon myself.
He takes his Monograph in hand and
manifolds copies Of his piece for the
papers. which he sends forth as an
answer TO certain structures 1 made upon
the management OF the athletics and
press work OF the jamestown EXPOSE
ton, published in the Washington Times
on June 9.
Incompetent Champion.
But. while this is the ostensible rea-
son for wasting the exposition's stamps,
the real object is to enter a defense for
James E. Sullivan, president Of the ANA
teur Athletic Union, whose name and
methods are not unfamiliar to the read
ers Of this paper and the athletes of
Washington in general. The task of
defending Sullivan and exploiting him
self has been discharged in such an in
competent manner that it is to be hoped
1t is no criterion of the ability with
which Conlen earns his emoIument as
director Of the athletic bureau.
As is usual with hired champions OF
unworthy causes Conlen substitutes vii
ihcation for refutation. and considers
he has purged the pure, white soul Of
James f. Sullivan and established for
all time the unparalleled excellence Of
the exposition's press agents when he
charges me with attempting TO extort
money from Sullivan. If he means to
say this. he is a liar. If Sullivan told
him that ever attempted or even con-
templated such a course. he is also a
liar.
Can They Say as Much?
have been actively and continuously
interested in promoting amateur ath-
letics and public Fairgrounds since 1894
and have written many thousands of
words on the two subjects, but 1 have
never received one cent Of salary as
press agent. a portion Of the profits, or
expenses as an official from any meet
or team with which I have been con-
nected or whose interests 1 have ex
plotted. When I attended the annual
meeting Of the Amateur Athletic Union
in New York I'm 1898 and took an active
part in the fight the right-thinking MEM
bers of the Atlantic Association of the
A A L. were making on the Philadel-
pbia cronies of James E. Sullivan, every
cent of the expenses of that trip was
paid out Of my own pocket, and at that
time I was a student working my way
through college
Speaking Of my story of June 9, Con-
len says. among other things:
Abuse for an Answer
His statement wherein he attacks
President Sullivan is understood to be
mainly for business reasons, which both
could easily explain. Years ago when
the S. A. A. (South Atlantic Association
of the Amateur Athletic UniOn) was en-
deavoring TO get control Of the territory
IL now occupies. tLis man Rice was
looked upon as a Joke at the annual
meetings OF the Amateur Athletic Union.
He is always referred to In New York
city as the Washington TOUGHER. When-
ever you meet a professional 'toucher
You can always put them down as being
an opponent of James Z. Sullivan, the
president of the Amateur Athletic
Union. II is a weIl-knOwn fact that at
times Mr.. Sullivan is abused by men
who would not know honest sport II
they met it on the athletic field.
I have undoubtedly touched Sulli-
van and his ignorant and incompetent
champion ION the raw as the saying
goes. As regards being TOUGHER IN
the sense he evidently intends to convey
in his vicious and poorly constructed
sCreed. | have already stated the tacts
about him and about Sullivan, If he tries
10 fall back upon the man for whom ne
has linked the mimeograph-
What Turned Sullivan's Head.
Sullivan. in his continuous and anus
ing holier-than-thou campaign in the
history of amateur sport. has always
affected TO ignore what was said about
him in the papers outside of New
York. probably assuming an air Of
grieved innocence. and assuring his
friends that he was merely victim Of
the shafts of malicious envy hurled by
those without the innate probity or in
tellectual capacity to grasp his lofty
purposes. To give him his due. he has
been remarkably successful in getting
by with this system, but it is a safe
prediction that it will not do equally as
well In the future, since the attention
of so many leaders of athletics outside
OF New York city has been drawn to
him and his ways.
Sullivan is a type of the peculiar ego
ism characteristic OF the vast ma jority
of the deniZens of New York, who are
so situated they can get their names in
the newspapers of that city. They think
that those papers alone count. and
value a line Of praise from them more
than opposition united elsewhere This
mistake has wrought the .undOing of
men beside whom Sullivan would be as
insignificant as Conlen.
Awakening Intelligence.
That 1 have touched him on the
raw" sufficiently hard to bring forth