The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-03
WILL NOT ACCEPT
MONEY FROM CITY
Explanations Made of the Small
Number of Delegates to A..
A. A. Convention.
President Wilson Tells of Mis-
understandings and Replies
to Heyf Charges--Have Ban
quet at the Jefferson.

Uncle John" A. Wilson. president OF
the American Automobile association
and by the way cousin or WOODROW
Wilson. president of the United States
last night expressed his regets that
there should have arisen two unpleas-
ant occasions during the very pleasant
session of the association in Rich
mond.
The f,rst he said was the charge made
by DIR. Heyl. of Cincinnati, that the
association is ring ruled" and the
second the misunderstanding regarding
the number of delegates which would
be brought to Richmond to attend the
gathering.
An appropriation of $3.50 was made
for the entertainment of the visitors,
1t having been understood that several
hundred, perhaps a thousand, dele
gates would be in attendance. That
there were less than hundred here
when the convention concluded Its first
DAYS session. appeared disappoint-
ment and created considerable COM
ment
Won't Use City's Money.
Much money raised for the enter
tainment of the visiting members OF
the A. A. A. was subscribed by auto
mobile owners in Richmond. In fact.
enough, Il is said, to provide ade-
Quate entertainment for the visitors.
and 1t was declared yesterday that no
money of the city's appropriation viii
be used In enter tanning the delegates
to this convention.
Officials of the American Automobile
association. first hearing of the criti-
cism, looked upon 1t as being criticism
of the association, insinuation that
someone had tried to put something
over on the city" This was not liked
by them and they declared they would
not have a penny of the city's money
used in their entertainment. The en-
tire matter Is looked upon by officers
and delegates to the convention as
Misunderstanding and President Will
son last night expressed the sentiments
of thas association In the following
words;
Tho attendance at our meetings Is
always geographically Important.
rather than numerically strong. We
are sorry that any impression existed
that we were to come here in nun
dreds. From the various State bodies
the most important men In automo-
bile organization work are the ones
which we expect and secure for our
meetings.
Speaking of charges made by DR..
Heyi. Mr.. Wilson said;
THE talk of ring rule Is too redi-
culous to deserve mention. All the
influential men who will give OF their
time and money, we want in this So
called ring" 1t Is inevitable that In
our organisation. like in many others.
there will be small coterie of OBJ
tectors to the policy of those intrusted
with the administration OF affairs.
However. we hope to continue TO null
tiply In strength and extend the scope
OF our work in bringing about coun-
try wide convenience in the use of
self-propelled vehicles. OF necessity
we are in the greatest degree inter-
ested in highways Improvement. We
offer no apology for our substantial
endeavors In this direction. for we con-
slider 1t one OF our bounded duties TO
help in this most essential work OF
lettering. not only the most trave&able
highways OF the. State. but also the
"a Do