Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 288, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1918 — OLD UNIFORM MUST BE USED NEXT YEAR [ARTICLE]

OLD UNIFORM MUST BE USED NEXT YEAR

None Made After Present Stocks of Goods Exhausted. Further Restrictions Placed Upon Production of Athletic Supplies and Equipment—Tennis and Golf Are Hard Hit. The war Industries board has put further restrictions upon production of athletic supplies and equipment, and this fact, with added taxes coming, will make any sort of “tool” used in sport next year a precious possession! Not only have restHctions been placed upon the production of certain of the more common sport supplies but in some eases further manufacture Is prohibited after the present stock of material in hand is exhausted. The followers of . the various branches of sport will note with Interest that more leeway is allowed in the matter of the baseball and football output than in the case of tennis and golf. This is due not to discrimination, but rather to the fact that greater quantities of rubber are used in the manufacture of the ball used in these games than in baseball and football. According to the latest ruling not more than 40 per cent of the tennis and golf equipment produced during the last four months of 1917 shall be manufactured during the final months of the present year. In the uniforms department the regulations specify that no material will be available after the manufacturer has used the supplies now in stock. This will affect football and baseball to a far greater extent than will be the case among the golf and tennis players, for while special clothing is considered desirable among many of the devotees of the games, it is not absolutely necessary. Because of the greater personal contact in baseball and football, uniforms with special padding and armor are not a matter of personal choice, but rather essential as a protection against bodily injuries. . During the past year the price of new athletic equipment and repairs to old paraphernalia has mounted in keeping with all other commodities. The cost of all material and labor involved has increased as the player of any game realizes when he takes a tennis racquet to be restrung, a golf club/to be repaired or, sport shoes to be resold. Under the circumstances the outfitting of teams next season, should organized sport play be possible, ‘will be an additional tax upon the management of such teams.