Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-05
ANOTHER PLAN FOR
 REBUILDING OF LEAGUES

All kinds of people, including Fed eral league agents, try their hands now and then at the problem of making one league grow where two grew before. IT. most cases they have about the same success as that attendant upon the late unlamented Fed farm venture in this section.
 Out in Milwaukee there. is a mem Der of the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Engineers who has taken a fling at mapping out s1 leagues through out the United States, changing the classification, making new scales of payment for players and doing away with the term major leagues As a league builder he Is a good engin- ger, if the other 80 leagues are any, thing like the one he has scheduled to take the place of the Eastern as- Sociation.
 This man, John J. Lawres, makes his plans on the basis of a saving in mileage for the various circuits, but apparently with little thought to pe- culiar local conditions, carefully con- sidered by the men on the ground Lawres redistricts the entire country into eight classes of leagues, accord ing to population doing away with the term of major league, and mak- ing the highest rating Class A. He says that the 52 leagues in operation last year under this@ play are torn to pieces and rearranged on the short est constructive mileage, without the various leagues losing their respecta- bility. The population, in some cases, is cut somewhat, while in other cases it is raised, but the mile age on all is cut at least one half, in some cases three e-fourths and in others as much as seven-eights. Un- der the new arrangements the pres- ent Class D leagues would become Glass F and there would be still low Q a1Q SSffiDafinnS The Ea stern QSS0ria tion would be ranked as 8 Class D league with a salary limit of $2,- 500 per month and a roster of 14 players. There would be three grades of players. The first grade drawing $240 per month, the second $210 and the third $1sO. MT Lawres does not state, however, how he would deter mine when a player is to be advanced a grade or by whom Lawres further provides that all salaries are to be paid by a league business agent, so that there could be no violation of salary limits.
 In 8 sample list of leagues made out by MT. Lawres appears the follow ing of interest locally:
 Class D, salary limit $2.5o0; play New London, Norwich, Bridgeport, Waterbury, Meriden, New Haven. To- tai mileage 16s; population 446,o0o.
 This league, to say the least, is faulty in several respects. In the first place it. includes four poor cities, three of whom during the past two years have corclusively pro*en that they will not support Aclass baseball. These three are Meriden, Waterbury and New Britain. The fourth poor selection is Norwich. Conditions in in this city are peculiar. inasmuch as the population is considerably larger than that of New London, though in terest in baseball here Is very slight Norwich. however, has not had league ball in recent years, and should it be put into a league with New London the inter-city rivalry might carry it along.
 On the whole, however, while the league as proposed cuts the mileage considerably, it does not offer as good @ field as the present Eastern association. If his other leagues are based on the same plan as the one he puts forth for this section, then there is considerable doubt if they would ever prove a success. The idea is correct in theory, but in practice 1t might not prove to be all that is desired.