The chronicle=news., 1913-11-01

world. from the formation Of tae Ia
t.rnaiionai Federation Of American
Athletes. the first congress Of which
was held reccstiy At Berlin. Gays J.
r. sullivan.
! had the honor OF being QUE Of
ihs American dele gates. and have
American delegates and have no hes.
i,alion 10 sa,inG that the n,esxsr
reports published in the American
papers OF the proceedings In no way
conveyed an idea Of the in.portanes
OF the session.
One had TO he present To undor.
stand this great eoneixvc OF tho na-
tions OF the world collected In ose
building. and with but one thought
uprrmo~i In their minds. and that
was the betisSnirnt and standardin-
iion OF track and field sport. mixht
say that this vast Organization
which covers the entire earth. 10 yet
hut Ia embryo. but Il twill gradually
A<sdsaS Snc psV3sVs D"opVs
Ns>t year NC arc 10 have our see
oud convention In Paris. Francc. and
by that time wo expert 10 have tho
rules and bylaws whipped Into shape
Perhaps for the first time In athletic
history the proper definiticn Of A.
amateur will m kaown aad for one"
and ~! the athletes Of the world will
lie ,onfroated With satisfactory rules
10 siude then.
\ long and very tntcrsiins discus
sion took place when u came 10 de-
Gliding ns to what constituted inter.
national citizenship. Py this !
mean In case where al athlete GOcs
from m" country to another. ana In
tn" now cline fulfiiis the rights. ae.
cordinE TO law Of naturalization. and
arms hImsc'f with tho right TO com.
pete In the Olynpic Gamcs for the
land Of his adopttou. .I
Tho Europcans and the EnEiish
saw m reason why u man should be
allowed to compete for his adopted
country. and they were willing to
vote for rule which stipulated that
an athlete could only compete for
the land Of hin birth. could not
agree to the rult. and saw trouble
right away between England and the
t'nitcd state. II tho rule was apssed.
For Instance. Row would II be with
the athletes Of the Gaelic Athietia
associations Of Ireland who admit no
sffiliatiou With tho Amateur Athlet.
ic association Of England when they
wanted I, come to America. The
Gaelic man. from, an American stand
point. may be q good an amateur as
the Engiishman. yet why should We
disc oriminatc against the Gael. Fl.
nalIy. the rule was apsscd. but the
United States and England were ex-
cmptcd. and Gaelic mon can come
here and compete without q permit
from England. u
see no reason why tho lnterpa-
iionai federation should involve It.
sc,! in politics at ali. II ireland and
England should happen to have
drawn politics into sport. Il Is not
the business OF tho International fed
cration or OF America to interfere.
As far as could see on my last
trip abroad Ireland Is on the way to
home rule. aud then a. n country
the Green Isle will be entitled to
what constitutes y country. and. Of
course. viii be NJ liberty to have a
team in all future Olympic games
II Canada. South Africt and Aus
traliu, British dependencies. are en-
titled to have their own team. 1t
strikes me that It would be wrong
FOR England TO try to have ireland
the oldest athletic country en- earth.
Kept out OF olympic competition. i
am sure that II II should come to
pass no nation will object to gee the
Green flag flying at Berlin in 1916.
I think the Germans won't for one.
In decidfg on the standard list OF
events we had several funny discus
slons. OF course. the American dele
CATION fought hard to have tho stan
ding high and standing broad jumps
retained on tine international pro-
gram. We coteded that the eventa
had been on the program at Paris,
1905. England anl Stock
holm. in the Olympic games and that
they deserved being perpetuated.
1t was useless for II. to try and
stem the tide. for all tho smaller
were dead set against them
partly on the ground that they were
eymnastic stunts and had no place
oth1nttru nrnnor Tho uapnn c,rt