The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-11-25
BOWLING BESET
WITH TROUBLES
Lack of National Governing Body
Greatly Retards the Sport

Diogenes with his lantern had no
more difficult search for an honest man
than the guiding lights i'm bowling are
having for a panacca for the ills that
heset the game of tenpins The why's
and wherefores of bowling always
have been. and still are complex in the
fullest sense of the word II seems Ia
have been the lot of each succeeding
administration in all the Yarious assoc
cations throughout the country To he
go besct with the details of one reform
cr other that practically nothing has
been accomplished.
Scarcely a decade ago it was the
hope of the leaders i'm tenpins that
there would be one national govern
ing body, but AT Louisville, i'm 1906 the
arrogance of those in power. who hap
pcned to be under western influence,
literally drove the fasteners away.
Thus Il second organization was found
ed in the present National Bowling as
ISOLATION, countrywide in its scope. but
largely eastern in its control.
When August Hermann, chairman
| Ui the National Baseball commission,
was president of the American Bowl
ing congress, the western body, which
was originally founded i'm the east, he
proposed a commission composed of
The officers of the National American,
Canadian and the Far Western assoc
Citations. This commission was to
have had much the same power in ten
pins as the baseball commission in
baseball.
August Herrmann's Plan.
II was Herrmans plan To have all
The winners of the championship tour
uaments of the four great associations
I'm North America brought together
for the worlds title. Furthermore,
hc proposed that the commission gov
crn the sport for the two million
howlcrs throughout the country. 1t
was too big an idea for the average
man in office to grasp; thus it failed.
Another source of friction is the
loaded ball Perhaps the greatest
mistake ever made was the letting
down of the bars To this instrument
when the y. T.. a. tournament was
held in Madison Square Garden in
500. /, was thought a practical move
"a that it would attract "A large west
'ru entry. 1t was little less than
foolish, when it was considered that
such men as Charles H. Ebbets and
Frank VI. Clute fouGht tooth and nail
against its introduction i'm the east
IN FACT it was this particular sphere
ma it's promotion by the western
hoWler| that had much to do with the
cleavage between the east and the
west. The east admitted the loaded
bah five years ago. and it is still here.
Last year the west saw the light and
abolished it.
Then the Ohio State Bowling assoc
citation, being uncertain as to the atti-
ud" Of The eastern body, decided To
srr"de from the a. -. c. and go its
"Wh way, which makes matters de-
ld"dly unfavorable for the A. II. c.
tournament in Buffalo this year. Chi
ago bowlers have gone on record
against the loaded ball, the New York
stat" LEAGUE. composed Of cities in the
northern tier. has barred it. and the
Ne" YORK Bowling association has |
$50 established "a han against IL. The
'aius of the question in the y. u. ~ |
Us AT present in the hands Of q com !
hi'lee which will report at the next |
meeting The pessimists think that |
much viii he said ana nothing done.
No Professional Class.
nose who are in power not only in /
"' local governing end, but i'm the
association of alley owners, argue loud
nj long that the game is free from
WI influence, that the day of the pot
'"hter is done. and that the victims
Vaccinations on the part OF un-
'Fupulous howlers are few and far
'''ween. BE that as 1t may, there
no such technical thing In tenpins
professional bowler, though Il
''S l"n| been predicted that such a
MSS would he established sooner or
"''r TIE fact remains that in all
W. open tournaments in the greater
NY competitors shoot for cash prizes,
'nu the use of the alleys Is donated
the proprietors Of the various aca-
"lies' White IL is claimed that there
''' no professional bowlers, 1t would
an easy matter tn mention a dozen
more who make their living nj
owing, precarious though IL may be.
3" mas been advocated that owners