The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-25
PRESIDENT TENER'S 53RD
 BIRTHDAY

John Kinley Tener, former profess sionaI ball player, ,ex-congressman. ex- governor of Pennsylvania and now president of the National League, will today receive the congratulations Of the nagnatcs-or some of them -on his f.fty-third birthday. President Tener was born on July 25. 1863, 1n County Tyrone, Ireland, which makes him ineligible for the presidency of the United States, but as the executive head of>the National League he ;7as almost ss many worries and responsi. biIities as the occupant of the White House. What with warning nagnates, fractious players, critical scribes. "ei- l1scrent fans and Johnny Evers. Pres ident Tener earns his $25,000 year. f
 There IS world of difference pe- tween the jobs held by Tener and Johnson. Byron Bancroft is dic.a- ftor, an autocrat, star. He doesn't [ claim to rule by divine right, but the result is the same. He has been hold ing down his job ever since his league was started, and none of the magnates of the young major circuit have ever dared to even think of deposing him. Anybody who would suggest such a thing would be branded nihilist and sent to Sahara or Siberia of>wherever it is that Emperor Ban. sends poli- tical prisoners.
 It is true that when the National League moguls offered the presidency to MT. Tener they gave him g. contract for four years. They did it, however. in the same spirit that the sovereign voters gave to Dr. Woodrow Wilson a contract covering a similar period. They reserved the right to criticise, knock and asperse their chief in any way they might see fit or unfit. The National League is a democracy of the aristocracy, just like ancient Greece and Rome, and what is permissible for the patrician magnates is taboo to the player slaves, as Johnny Evers has learned to his sorrow.
 Although he has had his troubles such as drove President Pulliam to suicide-President Tener hasn't suf- fered perceptibly from the strain in- cident to his exalted job. It may be that his six and a half feet of manly physique doesn't radiate quite so much good cheer as in the days when he was kissing the babies and passing about Hibernian blandishments and Wheel ing cigars to their parents, seeking election to congress or the governor ship of the grand old state of William Penn, but neither is he noticeably Respondent or low in his mind.
 In the years preceding President Tener's tenure of office, the National League was conducted pretty much as Mexico has been in the last four years. The Maderos and Huertas and Villas and Carranzas and Zapatas of the circuit split up into little cliques and waged almost constant warfare on each other. The selection of Gov. Tener as president marked the begin ming of period of comparative peace, internally, although the Federal League war gave the new chieftain and the club owners plenty to think about.
 The busting of Charles Webb Mur- phy from the league removed one live ly bone of contention. It is under stood that this is merely a figure of speech, for Charles Webb certainly was not a "bone" above the ears, but one of the shrewdest magnates the league has ever had. At the same time he enjoyed a wide unpopularity. and his passing helped to clear the National League situation.
 President Tener has fOstered several pieces of baseball legislation which have helped to put the game on bet ter and firmer foundation, and he has accomplished by indirect and diplo- matfc methods several reforms which Ban Johnson has put through by i'm perial fiat. MT. Tener's long experi- ence in the political game, his per- sonal knowledge of how it feels to be a big league player. and his Irish gift of gab, have enabled him to make hia