Evening star., 1940-02-25

they we're properly callused from gripping
the bowling ball. Him." said the magistrate.
Case dismissed. But you ought to know
better than to 60 on bowling so late. You
lose your form after the sixth game"
When the annual American Bowling Con-
gress tournament was held in Cleveland last
rolled the first ball down one of the thirty
two alleys Qor a perfect strike). Listed
among the contestants were three governors.
and other high officials
None of the bigwigs took any of the $l84,-
600 prize money, though 1t turned out to be
Chicago salesman named joe Wilman who
topped the list as all-events winner. A fifty
three year old cost accountant named
William McGeorge of Kent, Ohio, also dis
tinguished himself at that tourney by rolling
perfect game for score of 800, the highest
possible He was the sixth bowler to do that
in an A.B.C. tournament in thirty-nine years;
somebody has figured that the odds against it
are 294 600 to l.
Bowlers, on the whole, seem to be philo-
sophical lot. You almost never hear of fist
fight in an alley, or torrid argument; and
they cheer each others good shots even when
it means defeat for themselves. Maybe that
is why many executives of big industries
have encouraged bowling leagues among
their employees. hoping thereby to promote
good employee relations. More than $50
corporations have their own alleys
ALTOGETHER. there are estimated to be at
least 5000 bowling establishments in the
country, ranging from places with two alleys
(they are usually built in pairs) to recrea-
ton center in Philadelphia with more than
hundred under single roof.
Chicago is probably the bowlingest town
in the country. They start in high school,;
last year there were fifty-three bowling
leagues in the high schools alone Other Mid
western cities are hot runners-up, though.
When you say bowling in the Midwest -
and, in fact, in most of the rest of the coun-
try - it is taken for granted that you mean
the game sanctioned by the American Bowl
ing Congress. which calls for large pins and
a sixteen pound ball, twenty-seven inches
in circumference with finger holes. Boston
and most of New England. however, are
partial to candlepins - tall, slender pins
that are knocked down with a smaller ball,
five inches in diameter and without finger
holes. Baltimore and Washington 60 in for
short and squat duckpins. which also calls for
the smaller ball. The alleys. however. are
the same for all three versions of the game
The standard price for constructing alleys
is $1,000 pair, and the total investment in
them over the whole country is estimated to
run to some eighty million dollars. The
bearded gentleman of 1910 would be amazed
at the fussy craftsmanship that goes into
them Made of edge grained, virgin white-rock
maple and Georgia pine. they are not laid
until the timber has been aged and treated
for two years. And no alley is approved for
match play unless it is sanded and given seven
new coats of shellac every year.
More than million new pins are turned
out every year. made of Kindred maple cut
from the ten feet nearest the base of old
maple trees Balls are made of rubber COM
position, and the A.B.C. even has scales that
not only weigh them as whole, but weigh
the sides separately to make sure they are
in balance.
Last year, about 1000 new alleys were
I,,,;l% ,r,L;~l &c ro~ord Eor tho loot foxy