The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-05-10

The Basques have a saying that the
Devil studied their language seven
years and learned only three words.
If you have ever seen a Basque gram
mar you would realize that the Old
Boy was going some at that Bu@
we viii bet a new hat that if he he'd
spent the past six years trying to find
out wha: was the matter with the
Washington ball team many a goodly
man upon whom he has exercised his
wiles, with sad results to the would
be righteous, would have escaped, be-
cause the king of the world below
would have been TOO busy to put
stumbling blocks bef6.'e the feet Of
the unWary. An esteemed content
porary says the team is not winning
because it has not been hitting. We
claim the long distance record for
saying that during the past half dec
ade. That has always been the trouble
with the club, which seems TO have
been born in the dark OF the moon
with all the bat-makers in the world
doc doctor who will remove the spell
will get a large price
Keep your eye ON the Marathon taking
contest among the correspondents. cover
ing the Boyle case at Mercer, Pa.
Allen d. Albert, jr., has already won
first honors in a sprint for the truth,
but the Marathon boys are going at
steady gait OF two fakes a day-one Tor
the morning papers and one for the
afternoon.
While it is to be hoped th7re is more
smoke than fame connected with the
quiet investigation into the standing Of
high school athletes who are believed
to be over twenty-one years of age, and
therefore ineligible, there should be alb
solutely no attempt at withdrawing If
the suspicious prove true. The public
schools are a public institution where
the vast mass of Americans get their
early education and training. If low
c1icanery is overlooked in them in
matters which are Of great personal
interest to all the students, then some
thing is wrong and somebody should be
punished The code Of morality in
YOlved in trying to slip by an ineligible
student to play on an athletic team is, in
its essence, exactly that which governs
the ordinary CRATER on the public funds,
and when caught with the goods the
offenders should be treated in the same
way.
Last week at Pimlico. Better give
the old track look
Horace fOSels IN the Pnliadelpfl2a
Evening Times. hits the nail on tile
head when he says the National Com
mission can hardly be expected to sus-
pend a player who deliberately quits
baseball a year or more to take advant-
age OF an opportunity in some other
line Of endeavor. If the commission
undertakes to do anything Of the sort
it will strike a snag that viii wreck
itself and the whole system of baseball
law. This is presuming that while he is
out of the big game he does not play
with outlaws or try to induce other
players to jump their contracts, as Sc
bring did. For instance, Fielder Jones,
of the Chicago Americans, really has
excellent business reasons for not play
ing this year. Should his affairs be in
such shape that he can play next year,
81 there any earthly reason why he
should not be allowed to rejoin the Sox
without a fine2 None whatever, if he
has not mingled with outlaws. To say
that man who once signs a contract
must play to the end of his athletic
days, whether he wants to or not, would