The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-07-06
(Reg. U. s. Pat. OffD BY OSCAR FRALEY
United Press Staff Correspondent

New York, July 6-UP)--The mouldering argument as to wheth- er any man ever will run the magic Jour minute mile is flaming again today as result of the world record f:02.6 performance in which Arne Anderson burned out the brakes Dn the Swedish stop watches.
 Skimming over 1,76O yards of Scandinavian cinders to clip two full seconds off the infant mark of the famed Gunder Hagg, this new est smorgasbord sensation caused an immediate gathering of the af- firmative voters in the "400.0 club"
 Stunned by the "hallelujahs" of the large chunk bitten off our frac- tional margin of safety, we unbe- lievers were a little slow getting off the mark. But TOW we've rallied behind that remaining :026 seconds and-until Hagg, Anderson ct all take 1t aWay-still refuse to side with those four minute eggs.
 At first glance the negative case appears weak. Since 1882 the milers have slashed 18.8 seconds off the 4:21.4 mile mark established by the late w. G. George of England. He started the parade with a 4:12A clocking four years later and Norm Tabor reduced it to 5:12.6 in 1915. Eight years later the flying Finn, Paavo Nurmi, startled the track world with a 4:104 performance and the record became an interna- tional footbal.
 Jules Ladoumeque of France knocked it down to 4:092 in 1941 and two years later Jack Lovelock of New Zealand whipped around four times in 4:07.6. Glenn Cum ningham, the old iron horse from Kansas, continued the shaving with a 4:067 in 1884 only to have Eng lands Syd Wooderson run a 4:06.4 in 1887. Cunningham went 4:04.4 on Dartmouths indoor track, paced by four quarter-milers, but the record was not accepted.
 Better and Better
 So Wooderson's record stood until Hagg, now touring the United States ran 4:06,2 and subsequently, 4:046 last summer Then Anderson suddenly popped up with his 4:02.6 last Thursday and the storm broke again. Only few strides away from their Holy Grail, the four minute sages once again are beating the dums-but they'll find those few yards the difference between fan tasy and reality.
 For instance, in 1982-When the mile mark assault started-the boys were speeding 100 yards in 104 sec onds. Down the intervening years, the best in the world have been abe to knock off only one second. Four men hold this mark, Frank Simp- son in 1929, Prank Wykoff in 1880, Jesse Owens in 1885 and Clyde Jef- fries in 1940. This would indicate that here too, the peak almost has been reached.
 The four-minute addicts point out that the pole vault ceiling appar- ently had been reached in l937 when Bill Sefton and Earle Mea- dows slid over the bar at 15 feet Il inches-only to have a cloud-bust- ing Californian named Cornelius Warmerdam make them look like novices. But they forget that i'm proved technique and equipment helped Corny vault 15 feet, 8A inches.
 Tn such events new systems and equipment can mean all the differ ence in the world. But in running, the most important method is pick ing em up and laying 'em down faster than the other guy. So, if and when somebody clips off our last :O2.6 seconds, we are going to shout loud and long for just one thing-a grade A salicia test.