The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-19
REVIEW OF ACTION OF ALABAMA AND AUBURN IN ELIMINATING THEIR ANNUAL GAME-UNJUST CRITICISM FROM UNINFoRMED.

After much discussion and wrangling. the University of Alabama offered to meet Auburn on the football arena next fall, the proposed contract providing:
 O That each team should bring 20 men to Birmingham.
 @ That $S per day should cover the ex- penses of each man.
 (3) That the umpire should be chosen by joint committee of Auburn and Alabama alumni from among the number of um- pires who have been officiating in the south.
 Auburn refused this contract for the fol- lowing reasons:
 CD Graduate Manager Bragg desired to bring more than 20 men to Birmingham.
 @ Graduate Manager Bragg wanted the expense account of each man to be more than $3 per day.
 (S Graduate Manager Bragg wanted an eastern umpire to officiate in the Ala bnma-Auburn game.
 Considering the above items it seems that the contract offered by Alabama and rejected by Auburn was fair one Inas- much as only Il men are required to play o 6diiC OA lbOlDdils II uDbS Stti1 lldl ~ would be sufficient from which to draw the players, substitutes. and gate-keepers.
 Either the Florence or Morris hotels would entertain the teams at a rate of S3 per man per day.
 Alumni of both institutions in Blrming- ham think that the talk of an eastern of ticial is ridiculous. especially as it would reullire a considera hIa avpanditIre of money to bring one to the scene. There are men In the south who have officlated as umpire for years and years. It Is ab- surd to charge these men with incompe- tence, and unwise, to say the least, to in- sinuate that they would give one of the teams an advantage over the other
 Auburn's action in this matter is indica- tive of a desire to evade it's annual game with Alabama. The cleverness of Coach to the offensive formations of Coach Pol lard. This fact was exemplified last fall, when Alabama, with team the individual men of which were vastly inferior to Au- burns, held its adversary to a drawn fight. During the last three years Ala bama has won two and tied another foot ball game, won two and lost one series of baseball games, and defeated Auburns track team. Auburn's action. therefore, in not accepting a contract such as the one above leaves the impression that it had planned to dodge the Alabama game on technicalities rather than by flat re- fusal without reason.
 The elimination of the Alabama-Auburn game from the seasons schedule is blow to football lovers of this state. The Ala bamaAuburn affair, heretofore, has been the game of all games, the only one, in fact, in which everybody in this state was interested The elimination of this game can but result in decreased interest and attendance, and will bring about a finan- ciaI loss to both institutions for both will have games in Birmingham, which city, incidentally, has rallied enthusiastically 10 the support of both.
 It is to be noted in the reasons that Au- burn gave for rejecting the contract of fered by Alabama there does not appear a single reference to Alabamas purposed withdrawal from the Southern Intercol- legiate Athletic association.
 When the news of the probable sever ance of athletic relationship between Ala bama and Auburn became generally known, Percy Whiting of the Atlanta Georgian, who has always shown unrea- sonable dislike to Alabama because of The Age-Herald's expressions concerning the rottenness of the s. I. A. A, of which Whiting is the only champion, had occa- sion to draw the conclusion that Auburn rejected the contract for fear that Ala bama would play others than amateurs. Had Auburn offered this excuse its action would have been tenfold more ridiculous than it is today Although Whiting has overlooked the fact Alabama has not withdrawn from the bands of the S. ]. A. A, and according to it's original .n- tenton, will not prior to December 2S of this year.
 The people of this state believe that athletics at labama and Auburn are as pure as at any other southern institutions. It is believed that there are members of the Alabama baseball team who have played summer baseball with towns other than their home towns. The Age-Herald is possessed of affidavits to the effect that two or more members of the Auburn base ball team have played with towns other than their home towns. It is believed that such men can be found on the teams of every other southern college.
 But such discrepancies are not to be compared to the cold-blooded disregard for the laws of the s. l. A. A., as shown by Georgia last fall, when that college transported to Atlanta, the home of Whiting, hired men for the purpose of defeating it's great rival, the Georga Tech. Did Whiting discover this the greatest affront to pure athletics that the south has seen in recent years? We do not know. But did he say anything about it? He did not until after Grantland Rice of Nashville exposed the fraud and de- manded punishment for Georgia.
 When the S. l. A. A. whitewashed Georgia and blamed a coach for Geor- gia's sin, and then, to excuse Its rank neglect, framed new and ridiculous laws for the further purification of southern athletics, every honest man knew that the & l. A. A. was weak, ineffective and rotten to the core. Grantland Rice, who discovered the fraud, stated in the Nash vile Tennessean that if the s. l. A. A.. refrained from blacklisting Georgia at It's December meeting then the s. l. A. A. shou,d disband because of its ineffective ness, or words to that effect. The s. l. A A did not blacklist Georgia, and has
 . = ..,,,, ,,o+ voluntarily disband.