Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23

KUN BANCROFT JOHNSON,
- at one time the veritable car
of base ball. probably has made
IL his last utterance as an Off
cial of the game.
Today in Chicago the president OF
the American League will either re.
sign or face the prospect of being
forced out of office by the club owners
driven to the action by the ruinous
course Johnson has pursued since he
was stripped of his autocratic powers
and supplanIed as dictator of the ma
tional pastime by Kenesaw Mountain
Lands in 1920.
That a man. who has been such an
important factor in the upbuilding of
major circuit, and with it base ball
in general, should suffer reputation
by members of his own official family
seems as regrettable as it is odd, but
there apparently is nothing else that
! Will serve to safeguard a business that
is worth many millions of dollars.
Where Johnson at one time was by
all odds the biggest man in base ball
he now is facing the yawning chasm
of oblivion tor the simple reason that
he has become positive menace to
its peace and prosperity
Ban Deserves Much Credit.
Johnson unquestionably did more
than any other one man to raise base
bali from a comparatively obscure
position of doubtful value in the in
vestment field to the rank of big bust
ness.
With Charles A Comiskey he was
the leading spirit in the founding of
the American League in 1900, and
through his ingenuity and enterprise
this organization prospered to such
an extent that the competition pro-
vided for the National League resulted
In benefits all along the line, better
the owners and higher salaries and
improved conditions for the players
themselves.
Johnson first betrayed evidences of
slipping as a practical and efficient
organizer and administrative official
following his break with Comiskey
some years ago, circumstance of
which many versions have been adj
Vanced and which is believed to have
been personal in nature.
The apparent bitterness and ami
mostly he harbored against his erst-
while business partner and bosom
harmony that threatened at times to
disrupt the organization.
Landis Long His Target.
When Landis was installed as boss
of organized base ball. following the
disclosures of the Black Sox world
series scandal, the judge was made
the object of antagonism by johnson
fully as vehement as that he directed
toward Comiskey, and since then the
commissioner has been d target at
which the American League executive
has missed few opportunities to fire.
Johnson's attack on Lands in the
Cobb Speaker case simply is another
instance of this. but unless all signs
are misleading it will prove his last,
for even in the event that his own
club owners should decide at their
meeting today to stick by him, his fate
undoubtedly will be sealed at the
meeting called for tomorrow by
Lands, for the commissioner is fully
empowered to Gust johnson from base
ball.
johnson has an iron-clad contract as
president of the American League
calling for q salary of $4,000 a year
and running through 1895. In what
way this will be abrogated remains to
be seen, but that the American
League club owners will have to
remove johnson from Office even If 1t
entails paying Johnson the $360,000
his contract calls for seems obvious in
view OF the pledge they made to the
two years ago after
johnson had criticized the rulings of |
Lands in the O'Connell-D olan case.
Leagues Pledge to Judge.
At that time the American Lea
guers gave Commissioner Lands this |
I'VE recognize that conditions have
arisen that are gravely harmful to |
base ball and that must be intolerable
10 you and that these conditions have