The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-19
THOSE TWO TEAMS STILL FAR APART Bragg Answers Letter of Fer guSOn and Cabaniss OFFERS ANOTHER DATE Reviews in Detail the Lengthy Con troversy-says Auburn Has
 Been Very Generous.
 His Statement.
OFFERS ANOTHER DATE

Thomas Bragg. in charge of Auburn athletics has answered the letter ot Alabama representatives in reference to the Auburn-Alabama game. and the teams are no nearer together than several months ago. His letter, in full, fullows
 Auburn. Ala, October IT, 1908. "Adessrs. Hill Ferguson and Jelks Caba- miss, Birmingham, Ala.
 ..Gentlemen-Yo favor of the 18th inst. has been received and l would have replied earlier except for the fact that the letter not having been mailed until the afternoon of the 14th, did not reach me until the morning of the 10th. q note that you state in your com munication that we have never made any concession from the stand orig1- naliy taken by you and you further characterize all of our demands as 'un- fair and unjust
 s.In view of the very broad ana sweeping statements which you make and which I have quoted above l wish to inquire why it is that you term unfair and unjust our suggestion that the selection of an umpire be delegated to the central board of officials of the general rules committee of the United States. a board which by reason of its competency, fairness and impartiality is called upon to designate officials for some of the most important games played in this country.
 .sYour contention that we have never made any concession from the stand originally taken by us is readily re- futed by the correspondence which has taken place on our part with regard to this matter.
 AS stated several times before. we only requested that an eastern official be selected after the two arrangements had made fueile efforts to agree upon some southern official as umpire, and when negotiations with regard to the game were again resumed, we receded from our original position with regard 10 an eastern umpire and proposed to leave the selection of that official to a committee composed of reputable coaches and athletic directors of south ern colleges, d proposition which the press and the public quite generally pronounced eminently fair.
 You rejected this proposition, as you will remember, chiefly on the ground that southern colleges with whom you might have games might be desirous of having some of your formations and plays declared illegal and irregu- lar. You will also remember that in order to meet this objection, we pro- posed that the committee of coaches or athletic directors should be selected from southern colleges other than those with whom you had games this sea : son, this being a still further conces- sion on our part.
 AS evidence that we were disposed to make all possible concessions in the matter, I would say that we suggested in the same letter the alternative plan of leaving the selection of an official to the general football rules committee of the United States. In designating all of our propositions as unfair and unjust. are you likewise apprehensive that an umpire selected by the general board referred to might declare some of your plays and formations illega or irregular?
 
 ingness to concede everything that was reasonable in this matter l would call attention to the fact that in our let ter of September 19 we suggested foul different dates which we rendered yor for our contest, offering to cancel ol transfer one of the games falling or the dates mentioned, while in the sam' spirit of concession we offered to pay one-half of the forfeit in case it Wal necessary for you to cancel a game.
 You have consumed nearly fou weeks time since my letter of Septem ber 19 in reaching your present a elusion, and in the meantime two O these dates have gone by. You nov state that you are willing to play u on November ', or some date afte Thanksgiving thus selecting two date which in my letter of September 1 were positively and unequivocall, stated to be unavailable for the pro posed contest. You must pardon me i ~. = I am little skeptical as to your eager ness to meet our team this season i view of the fact that you have sug gested for the game two dates upo 
 meet Alabama, as you should hay known by referring to the followin clause of my letter of September 19 Our remaining dates are with team that we have been playing regularl for years, Gone of these games bein, played under a fve-year contra ct while still another is our annua Thanksgiving game, which, by require ment and rule of the board of trustee terminates our football season eac year.
 Tn this connection I note that whil you state that you have endeavore to secure the cancellation of your dat with Georgia for November IA. you d not say that you have even made an attempt to open up any Of the othe dates which we suggested in our lette of the 18th ult. viz: the 10th, 17th an 31st of October and your committe las remained absolutely silent upon tn subject of those dates.
 ~Our game for November is wit Georgia Tech. this game being playe under a hve-year contract and not withstanding the fact that we knes that the Tech would be averse to giVinj up or transferring the game, we hay had several telephone conferences witt them with regard to the matter O .naniru nm inc date referred to f.