Omaha daily bee., 1912-03-26
TENNIS PLAYERS ASK CHANGE
Present Scheme Of Representation is
Not Satisfactory.
COMMITTEE TO REPORT SOON
Contention IL that Club Of Ten Men,
bers should Not Have Same
Voice as q Club with 100
Players EnroIled. M

L
..s Player. EnroIIed. b. g..
NEW YORK, March 3.-Many lawn ten
mis- players are wondering whether any
thing will come OF the effort being made
to bring about change In the present
method OF representation In the United
States National Lawn Tennis associa-
tlon. The matter will come UP ut the
annual meeting Of tho association on
February .. at which time the committee
on representation, which was appointed
at the last annual meeting, Is expected
to make It's report. This committee con-
sists Of Joseph II. Carpenter. jr., Phila-
deJphla Cricket club; Ward C, Burton.
Mlnnetonka Yacht club. Minneapolis,
MINI: Calhoun Gragin. West Side Tennis
club New York; Frederick C. colston,
Baltimore Country club, and Thomas c.
Bpndy, Los Angeles lcal) Country club.
The appointment OF this. committee BY
President James Dwight last summer
was the result OF an agitation which has
been going on for a number OF years.
Calhoun craigin has been one OF the most
persistent advocates of change In the
system Of representation, and two years
ago a committee OF which he was the
head brought In a report making certain
recommendation. These did not meet
with favor. however. and when they
were discussed at the annual meeting
they were voted down. cragin has kept
up the fight, nevertheless. and at the last
annual meeting the taking OF a proxy
vote on the matter at a late hour was
avoided only by the promise that another
committee would be appointed 10 study
the subject. Cragin was satisfied that
this was the best he could hope for and
he withdrew the motion far n proxy
sote. s.-,k 49,. -,
: Ceatention of Crsnis.
/ Two classes Of members compose the
organization Of the National association
clubs and associations OF clubs. The
former has one vote and the latter three
or more. depending on the number OF
clubs In their organisation. The con.
tsntion OF cngin and his supporters 10
that II 10 manlfestly unfair to give club
having. say ten members. the same voice
In the councils Of the association a. an
other having q hundred or upward. In
the discussions that have taken place
Il has been pointed out that there are
clubs having less than half dozen men,
bers, yet they have the same vote AZ
the West side Tennis club, which has
more than 100 members
The ahsurdity Of this 10 recognized. but
what stands In the way Is the difficulty
OF finding new system that will be sat-
isfactory all around. For example, II q
large club IL given more votes Il must,
OF course, pay more dues: and TO this
some OF the clubs would object most
strcnuously. Again. there Is admitted
difficulty In fixing the vote Of clubs that
are not purely tennis organizations
country golf and cricket clubs, for In
stance There Is the New York Athletic
club, which Is member OF the National
association. What representation shall
Il have, with Ito 1900 or more members,
only very small and constantly varying
proportion Of whom are tennis playcrs7
There are dozens OF other big clubs
which are In almost the same position.
and some OF them are naturally aye-se
to having any changes Whatever made.
And. as they are very Influential in the
councils Of the association. n Ia obvious
that any plan submitted by the COM
mittee must be satisfactory 70 them In
order 10 have much chance OF going
through.
! Composition of Committee.
The composition Of the committee IT,
self has very decided bearing on the
matter. Two Of the members. Messrs.
Carpenter and Colston, represent big
cricket and country clubs OF the kind
referred to, while another, Ward c. Bar
ton. comes from q yacht club which has
only a small number Of tennis members.
bundy is In an interminate class, for
he has affiliations with both country
clubs and tennis organizations This
leaves cragin a. the one member Of thu
committee whose interests are solely with
tennis club.
At the same time there IL excellent
authority for saying that the other
members Of the committee are not hos
Tile TO any change. They merely rec
ognize the great difficulties standing In
the way Of finding a system that win
serve Tie interest OF all the members OF
the association-the classes mentioned
and the ''hotel'' members. who form
still another element. There are abou,
a dozen Of these. mostly clubs formed
Tor the purpose Of conducting tourna-
ments held at hotels
So great has become the need OF a
revision Of the constitution and bylaws
Of the association that 1t Will be taken
up in earnest at the annual meeting. The
instrument is an ancient one. having
been adopted at the lawn tennis con-
rention" which met at the Fifth Avenue
hotel. New York. Saturday. May q, ISL.
4 Since then II has been tinkered with at
suecessive annual meetings. but /, stlu
etains many Of the crddlties Inherent
a document that was framed for the
government OF a body numbering less
han score OF clubs. but whlcg, has now
grown until its membership Is nearly
20
At meeting OF the executive COM
mittee held in December the subject Of
a revision was brought up. and It was
decided to recommend to the annual
meeting that the association authorize