The Alaska citizen., 1916-01-31
COAST ATHtETES MUST
 BE RECKONED WITH.

BE RECKONEO WITH.
 SAN FRANCISCO. Dec 25.-While the great VT has prccluded any in t.lnaucnaI competition. the past year c,nprals Is considsrcd to have been a banner one for the amateurs throughout the United States, and particularly for the Pacific Coast due to the Panama Pacific expo siticn. Thanks to the big fair greater number of high class na- tional performers have visited the coast than at any other time in tho history Of it's athletics.
 That this has given the coast a tremendous impetus in amateur ath- letfcs Ill all branches is the con cens.s of opinion and the resul' of the National Championships held in the exposition stadium last sum r4 r has pretty thoroughly convinced all hands hat the coast athlete mist be reokoned with. His per loImaucas compared favorab!y with tAcse of his eastern brethren.
 The Pacific coast has been well represented ir the roll of national ard worlds champions by such ramfs as Mclaughlin, Johnston, Horine Beeson. Drew. Kelly and others. and there are many who think that this list would have been augmonted had more championship events been held within reasonable reaching distance. The east prac- tica'ly has had a monopoly on them, IL costs both time and money to 2.t .- teom from here. The a quisi- t.-l cf the national tennis title is a shining example of this.
 This brings tip the oft discussed subject of the fairness of holding Chqmnicnship competitions where athletes from all parts of the coun- try will have q reasonably equal charco of reaching them ill order 10 participate To hold the tennis championship. for example, year af- ter year. on the edge of the At lantic is considered by many on the Pacific coast a manifest hard ship on the rest of the country and unfair. That greater proportion of athletes are in the east near the oenters of population is not denied. but that the Atlantic seaboard Shsu'G be selected instead Cf some centrals states point is deemed un- just.
 That the New York or Philadel- phia athlete would think twice be- fore going to Europe every year to play for a title is unprecedented. Yet McLoughlin and Johnston, of San Francisco, in order to defend their tennis honors. are required, year after year, to make journey longer than the sea voyage, requires about the same length of time to To the new and untried aspirant for honors the conditions practically a1n nrl '.iE-tive, An hour or two and a dollar CT two is all the Atlantic coast player who wants to try his fortune has to have at his disposal under present conditions. it is point ed out
 The argument is applicable to all lines of amateur sport champion ships which presumably are open 10 the nations athletes The ques- ticn is not raised in the case of an event such as the boat race held by the college crews on the Hudson river, which is an annual affair belonging to the competing crews quite as much as the annual boat race on the Thames between l. cig&t7 of Yale and Harvard is theirs. It is where a national or an open title is to be competed for such as an Amateur Athletic tni- on event. that the far western ath- lete feels that time distance and expense are all against them, ele- o.ents with which the eastern ath' lete does not have to contend