I think as a rule, we should always question something that doesn't make sense to us. The process would have been to contact the North American WPA representative --- John Lewis, at that time, and ask him to inquire about how the rule came about. John would have questioned Bob who was on the rules commmittee and would have found out and Bob did not encounter the change. So obviously it was changed outside of the committee.
If it was a mistake, it could have been corrected. If not, then I think it's important to find out who decided to make that change and why. If it was intentional, then maybe they didn't realize their logic was flawed and they needed to hear from someone who understood the game and it's logic better than they did.
Well, as I mentioned, it was the rule that was in effect when I came back to pool after a 25 year layoff and I certainly did not know that it was different from what had been in effect.
I guess that you or someone who had been in the industry for awhile might have been able to inquire and set the wheels in motion to change it back. I am guessing that is actually what happened and that they made the change the next time the committee met, but I bet you Bob Jewett would be in a pretty good position to tell us. There were leagues going at the time, in New York and probably out by Bob Jewett I think. I would guess that some of them read the rules that were in effect and noticed the change and did something about it.