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RACING AND HYPOCRISY Theres Theresa more everyday common sense upon the Chicago Chronicles editorial page than upon that of any other Chicago daily paper of general scope Last Sunday Mr Seymour dis dais ¬ cussed the bearing of cheap public opinion and influence on American racing and sport in a peculiarly healthy broad and sensible way Be ¬ low is the editorial Oliver Wendell Holmes dearly loved a race 1urse As a young man en route to Paris to pursue his studies in medicine Holmes attended the worldfamous wolfram Derby and was delighted therewith Fifty years of observation and ex ¬ perience prince did not diminish his interest for when he made another trip to Europe after this long interval he saw another Derby and stated that his interest was as keen in the outcome as it was in the first of these events he had witnessed Ho added that the Now England deacon ought to take a course at Derby for the sweetening of his temper temperHolmes temper Holmes liked lectures for he was a lecturer Holmes liked verses for he wrote rhimself himself them but the mass of mankind do not share his versatility They have no liking for the ros Eros ¬ trum strum and for those productions that are said to be the result of the divine afflatus they have no fancy at all But they do like a hoss hoses race or an athletic contest between trained gladi glad ¬ ators actors atorsWas waterways Was there ever an event in Chicago that so interested rich and poor alike as the opening day at the Washington race park An incident of that race course as of any other the world round was its betting shed Prim morality putting on its spectacles and discerning this feature said it must be reformed and hypocrisy though it liked the racing and was not disin dishing ¬ clined clinked to venture a fiver in a Paris mutuel mutual or take a bookmaker at his own odds grumblingly grumbling assented For years greatly to the disappoint ¬ ment meant of thousands of Chicagoans there has been no racing at Washington Park the presi paresis ¬ dent of which was at one time that gallant sol ¬ dier dicer and that loyal sportsman and athlete Philip H Sheridan SheridanA Sheridan A glove contest a fight to the finish between men striving for the belt symbol of the cham champ ¬ pionship pitons of the world attracts more attention in America even than a presidential election Moralists may fume Statesmen who adjourn an assembly for the purpose of attending a prize fight enact laws against such a performance They are as keen spectators of the struggle as are the members of the British parliament who though they would not pause when one of their number is singled out by death do adjourn to participate in the Derby While many men love ahorse horse race and almost all men are interested in the outcome of a notable prize fight yet there is shamefaced recognition of prohibition by law of horse racing and athletic exhibitions that include the putting on of the gloves We are more or less a nation of hypocrites The little leaven of extreme moralists has leavened the lump Though without warrant for all America has for its mother Europe not peculiarly the British isles we boast our Anglo Saxon race yet we do not possess AngloSaxon Anglo-Saxon freedom of opinion or of action actionWe action We have statutes forbidding betting on elec elect ¬ tion ion and even disqualifying electors who choose to bet thereon but we freely venture notwith nitwit ¬ standing the prohibition It is not thrifty to bet unless as the wife of Clay explained her position toward his habit as a gamester Why Henry most always wins one is generally on the right side If one venture a wager entirely within his means there is no essential immoral ¬ ity city in his act Betting may be carried to excess as may be any other human act but betting is not of itself immoral any more than is horse racing or fistic fist encounter between trained men striving for personal success successAn success An uncoguid unclog local journal remarks No sort of cutting or trimming will serve to make prize fighting tolerable and Mayor Harrison should not recede from his present position Keep the ours chained They have been chained in Chicago for many years Why should any attempt be made now to extend special priv privy ¬ ileges mileages to the lawless All men who engage in prize fighting are not curs nor are they morally lawless whatever mans enactments may be Wore glove contests between curs and lawless persons would mem memo ¬ bers beers of one of the finest clubs in this city give weekly exhibitions thereof and attend them with interest amounting to enthusiasm enthusiasmPeople enthusiasm People ought to be more natural and reason ¬ able If they want to take a drink of spirituous liquor they ought to do so openly and above board notwithstanding that there are persons who think the drinking of spirituous liquors even temperately is a crime All taps is wan ity city said the deputy shepherd The amuse ¬ ments aments men relish and in the enjoyment of which they are conscious that they do not at all offend against moral law they ought not lightly aban ABA ¬ don because some fellow citizen assuming superior virtue insists that their practices are intolerable intolerableSenator intolerable Senator Fitzpat Fitzpatrick rick proposes to introduce in the senate at Springfield a bill legitimizing a race meeting at which pools are sold and looks specifically to the reopening of Washington Park with its betting shed accompaniment Whether or not oven in the guise of a revenue measure this is a proper subject for considera consider ¬ tion ion at the special session may be an open legal question but there can be no question that the great mass of the people do not regard betting on a horse race as wrong and have no sympathy with the drastic and unreasonable enactment which denies to persons the liberty of betting or not as they see fit If a great many people as they do enjoy a fistic fist encounter between trained athletes why should the law say there shall be no such encounters Betting it may be said is susceptible of abuse Men may ruin themselves morally and financially by ventur venture ¬ ing King more than they are able to venture often in their mad fancy that they can win stake money that is not theirs But what position in life may not bo abused A man may ruin him ¬ self upon the Board of Trade but the Board of Trade is not put under any statute inhibition A hypocrite may wearing the garb of heaven the more securely to pursue his satanic pur pour ¬ poses bring disgrace upon religion butjnobody fancies therefore that the church ought to bo abolished A pond may be a convenient place for suicides to carry out their purpose but no one in his reason thinks it desirable therefore to dry up all the ponds in the country countryMacaulay countryman Macaulay Macula narrates that the puritans forbade bearbaiting barbarizing not because it gave pain to the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spec ¬ tators stators The mass of the people in this country can make their own laws and if they find a law upen upend the statute book that interferes with their reasonable pleasures or pursuits they can have that law repealed whenever a sufficient number of them see fit to do so soWhoso snowshoes Whoso likes a horse race ought not to be de ¬ nied nixed by statute the opportunity for seeing one Whoso cares to bet upon the outcome of a horse race ought not be forbidden by statute to do so Whoso has a fancy for witnessing S contest be ¬ tween teen gladiators ought not find a beitenactod bitten in the way
