The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-14

than we expected under the circun- stances. We were bound to appeal, no matter what the amount of dam ages was.
 We do not want to be charged with operating in restraint of trade; neither do we want the charge of con- ducting a monopoly hanging over us"
 While declaring that he did not care to ridicule the verdict, or the justice. of the court, President John son said the attorneys for the Balti- more club talked like Lenine and Trotzky.
 You would have thought that we were on trial in Russia" the Ameri- can League executive said. I've were charged with all manners of crimes. The attorneys for the plaintiffs re- ferred to me as the 'CzaT' of baseball and gave the impression that we were on the threshold of penitentiary- | Baseball has been conducted under the present system for 40 years and 1 has been persistent in it's success of 1 keeping the sport clean and retaining
 the dignity of the game. If we have 1 been wrong in our operations. then, of course, we want to know it." | In a formal statement issued last night, MT. Heydler said:
 1 The elimination by the trial judge l of the evidence bearing on the nego- l tiations for and making of the peace 1 a agreement with the Federal League | was to me the greatest diSappOint-
 ment of the Washington trial. l If ever men acted in good faith 1 they were those representatives of the National and American Leagues who met the delegates of the Federal ! League at the Waldorf on the night l of Dec. 19, 1915, and entered into a lcompact with them for the purpose of restoring baseball order and disci- pline.
 ] At that conference and on the very threshold of it's proceedings the ques- 1 tion O" authority of the Federal Lea que Committee to negotiate and make binding peace terms was raised deliberately and repeatedly. In every such instance full authority to make a, settlement was guaranteed us by President Gilmore, chairman of the i Federal Committee. Every such dec laration was made in the presence and hearing of President Rasin on ] the Baltimore Federal League Club, ,who, neither by act nor voice, dis :sented. No agreement was ever en- tered into with more implicit good faith in that all the then remaining clubs in the Federal League would agree to the settlement. Yet because fof the courts rulings on the points of flaw in the case, this, to us important ifactor, was not given to the jury.
 Despite this unfavorab1e decision. however, there is nothing that cannot Iibe remedied by q higher court, if er- TOT has been made. Should ever the highest tribunal approve what has si-n lthat the game will go on as before. The national game on the business
 side will be conducted along lines in harmony with the final decree, and
 this doubtless will be accomplished without detracting in the least from the game as a means of entertaining
 the public or as continuing its furc-
 tion as the one great athletic stimulus
 for the youth of the nation. The
 game is not affected by the decision
 except in it's business aspects, and ]
 believe the public has little interest in those
 1 The arrangements for the coming championship season will in no way
 be affected by the decision and there is no baseball public---the owner player. or unpire---to feel anythine but optimistic over the outlook, The
 game will be restored to it's normal standard this year and it will remain there.
 This court decision Is only an in-
 cident in the long life of the game
 It will neither retard nor limit deveI-
 opment of the sport. It is the part o1 baseball that is played elsewhere than on the field that is touched by this ruling, and not the part which is pre- isented at the bay park. To that part
 we will direct our attention, and will leave to the courts and the lawyers the other"
 August Hermann. chairman Of the National Baseball Commission, wher
 informed in Cincinnati of Presiden, Johnsons propositions, said they . might be the outcome of the Balti.
 more Federal League Club suit, but
 that he did not believe it would b<
 necessary to go as far as forecast by
 the American League president.
 We have prepared an appeal in the Baltimore Club suit, will execute bond. and the matter probably vii not come up idluring the coming play. ing season. Mir. Hermann said. The National Commission as whole is preparing a statement ana this will be ready in a couple of days Pending the appeal of the verdic } against us, baseball will be conducted ias in the past