The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-06
Commissioner in East
 to Gouern Athletics
 Suggested by Camp
By WALTER CANT Special Correspondent of The Age-heraid fCopyrieht. .Ie22. by The Age-Herald)

Sn.ciaI rorresuondent of The Age-Heraii
 fCopyrieht. .fs22. by The Age-Herald)
 New York, August 5.--Within month the gridiron gladiators will b' booting long spiral punts across thu football arenas; on the sidelines th' husky line candidates will be plung ing at the padded stanchions, th' stocky backs will be straining at thf bucking straps; the peddlers, whose sales phrase is Get your wlnnln colors' will be placing their orders for the seasons supply of peanuts
 A few changes in the rules will 20 into effect, but so far as can be seen now the season promises, noth- ing of a revolutionary nature, There is Just one possibility of marked change. Shall we have eommis g. sioner of athletics for the eastern colleges beginning with the coming football season? Will the confer ence of the presidents of HarVara Yale and Princeton result in de- cision to follow the lead of the Big Ten conference? While. it is under stood that any program adopted by the conference. will not be put into effect until the 1923 season, there still is possibility
 Novelty in Ath.eIcs
 The naming of Major Griffiths of the University of Illinois to act as the Will Hays of the 10 great middle western colleges whose policies are decided in the conference. has ap- parently appealed to many as 2 novelty in athletics. The fact that a group of colleges should look 70 one man to arbitrate their differ ences. and to act as a guide in the formulation of new policies, has seemed to many to. give evidence that the college athlete can no longer be depended upon te recognize the jus tfce of rivals contentious but must submit differences to an arbiter. Some of the alumni are saying that it is A backward step in the effort to make college athletics the last word in sportsmanship. ~ss i.
 Merely because professional pase- ban found a need for dictator, or arbiter, and because such, has been created for the producers of the legitimate stagge and for the movies. does not imply that it would not be satisfactory for the college sports as well. In the old days a football game was directed by. one official. the referee. Now there is a 'referec. n umpire, a field judge. and head linesman with assistants. College players need and desire In amateur sport the same adequate supervision that professional sport requires.
 For that matter, dictators are be- coming common. Germany seems close to such plan. English golfers would like to see a dictator who would define an amateur golfer, and here in America if we pay dic- tator enough. we will respect his decisions. All sorts of committee. management have been tried out time and again in sports. but it has.alwaysi reached the stage where either one member became the dominating fig ure and ran 1t to his liking. or else coach was obtained who ran the sport aild the cor ,ittee as well. if neither of these things occurred tho sport suffered and the organization was beaten by almost any other or- ganization run by a dictator.
 The experiment, however, of hay. ing a czar or commissioner who shafi' make a group of colleges live up t. rules. play fair, cut out proselytine. and profession ''-rn and attain the ideal of sportsmanship Is yet to 5e tried out. The western conferenc. will make the experiment.. Now the question is: Will the east do like. wise?