Evening star., 1919-12-27
NO HOl lDhY TRUCE
IN bFISE Wall WAR
Rebels Hold Secret ParIey;
Bake Depiores Delay in
u aiming Chairman.

NEW YORK. December e..-f.ven
the Cf 'istnas holidays find no truce
III me war Of factions i'm the Ameri-
A IAN - 4ague. Col. T. L. Huston. half
owner OF the Yankees WAS prepared
70 ~ end the Christmas holidays at
DoH9 Hall Ga, and had intentions
% n manning there until after New
EAR day. But on Christmas eve he
Se we'd a telegram calling him to
Sea York, and he spent Christmas
oaS a:, Journeying back To the city.
acre were some important devel-
oS nents yesterday in the war which
e minority faction of the American
eague is wagiug against Johnson.
Enough most of them kept under
Lower. There were hints, however. of
SOME big developments that Will
Fcanse the American League president
4 some more sleepless nights.
What is left of the old board of
directors of the American League
4 held a meeting yesterday afternoon
in Rupperts office. Despite the fact
that they We're retired by the rest OF
the league. the so-called big Three"
'stiil are working together.
Comiskey "Listens In
The meeting was attended by Rup-
= pert, Huston. Frazee and several at
| torneys. Owing to illness and the fact
that he did not want to leave home
t on Christmas, Comiskey was not at
a the meeting, but the other revolu-
= tionists kept him informed ON the
- distance telephone and lie voted in
favor of the different resolutions
=, presented.
There was a certain amount of Sc
| crecy as to the bushes of the meet
l. ing. but that it was of an important
nature was evidenced by the fact that
Huston was called all the way up from
\ Georgia to attend. Huston plans to
! return to Dover Hall within the next
. ! few days.
The purport of the meeting was to
take up the action which now can be
:: started by reason of the order granted
: by Supreme Court Justice Vernon
. Davis on December 2S. This order
| permits 4 cross s-examination of the
n officers of the Cleveland club and an
= examination Of the Cleveland clubs
o stock books. I:
d Another of the matters taken up
d was the blanket subpoenas which
I were served on johnson and his
d loyal club owners at the Ameri-
7 can League meeting here a fortnight
h ago. The lawyers instructed the diff
= ferent base ball men who attended,
|. the meeting that silence at this time
O is golden" For the present they deem
| it desirable to conceal their legal
tricks from the opposition. I
e Still After New Chairman.
The question of finding a new chair
g man for the national commission still
: is of great interest to William Baker
= of the Philadelphia National League
= tee TO suggest the name of Il candi-,
date for the office. Baker discussed,
the matter at the National League,
offices yesterday and said that john
sons failure to meet the joint COM
mittee early in the winter was large-I
: ly responsible for the present uncer-
tainty on this important subject.
a There never was a time when a.
n big, strong man was needed to take:
+ charge of the commission and the!
: game in general as there is today,
q said Baker. with these charges OF
h gambling and other squabbles, base
4 ball certainly needs Some big figure
d at the head who can act judge OF
r disputes as well as n directing head.
f The National League committee
on the chairman still is functioning.
= IGarry Hermann said at our annual
Il meeting that he would retire at the
8 end of thirty days ii ten clubs still
+ iopposed him. Those thirty days arc
!, fast expiring. but we shall have to
e lwait until the end of the thirty days
s to see what Hermann intends to do.
Committee Lacks Authority.
However. the joint committee has
been Handicapped by lack of author
ity. 1t was because of this that We
wanted to meet with the two major
league presidents in the late fall and
90 come to some kind of a decision as TO
~ the salary We might offer a man and
~ the length of a term we should want
~ him to serve. We also wanted to Dc
= able to offer a man the chairmanshlp
Ie when we approached him.
But Mr.. johnson declined to meet
the joint committee. because Col.
Rupert, his own appointee, was
,6 present That spoiled everything.
33 But this committee doesn't intend to
u have a repetition of that rather un-
% fortunate affair of last fall. when
y several club owners approached for
a mer President Taft on the chairman
ship problem. They had no authority
to make Mr.. Taft any tentative oner.
and we do not want to repeat TINS
- move When We approach a big man
> we want to be in q position to make