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A CALL FOR PUNISHMENT The late Brighton Beach meeting though marked by some good racing was not exactly satisfactory in all of its features the sequel being the expulsion of several persons and horses by the stewards of the Jockey Club at their meeting Wednesday night Some days prior to this action the following bitter roast of certain tendencies that had become manifest in eastern racing appeared in the Moraine Telegraph and perhaps had some effect in stimulating the action that brought some evil ¬ doers to grief griefThat grief That the racing of the past fortnight has been most unsatisfactory every one who has kept in touch with the trend of daily events must admit Most extraordinary things have happened at Brighton without meeting with any protest on the part of the officials except in one or two instances instancesBrighton instances Brighton holds a peculiar place in the fam fame ¬ ily idly of metropolitan racetracks From the earl ¬ iest est days when the Brown Gelding was in frequent evidence and when the starter and the judge did all that they could and success ¬ fully too to make the Brown Gelding1 win to the present time horsemen have considered Brighton as fair and legitimate prey preyBut rebut But with us the assumption of power by the Jockey Club the turf passed into a new era Or at least it was supposed that racing had fallen upon more prosperous and cleaner times There was to be no more Brown Geldings like Jolly Joe at the electric light Mazpeth Matzoth affair when it was said the managers tried to win out and did it in spite of the fact that Jolly Joe finished last What matter if Jolly Joe did finish last He was placed first anyway anywayNo anyway No more of the old Guttenberg Gutenberg days either when it was alleged at the last meeting there half a dozen big New York bookmakers were robbed of nearly a million dollars An official who had something to do with that last Gutten Gluten ¬ berg meeting said he was always in fear and trembling lest some time the deal would be shifted and every horse in the race would be dead that they would all be pulling to each other and that they would never get to tha than finish finishThe finish The Jockey Club said that these hilarious times must be relegated to oblivion For a time the new broom swept well Evil doers were held in check But now the turf seems to be drifting back into old ruts again Is it not time to call a halt Is it not time that the stewards of the Jockey Club grasped the reins firmly and whipped unruly members into sub ¬ mission missionIt mission It is unfortunate that the conditions here are such that the turf in its relations to betting cannot be managed on the same plan that is adopted in England There the betting men cut a very small figure They are not in a posi posit ¬ tion ion that they can assume in any measure to dictate or that they can demand privileges not enjoyed by other patrons of the sport Under the system in vogue here racetrack managers are no doubt often inclined to look on in com ¬ plaisance pleasance at things which they would otherwise condemn most severely severelyIt severely It is a short sighted policy however which truckles to any class or interest in connection with the metropolitan turf The institution is so vast that all it needs is proper management to make it selfsustaining independent of all outside contingencies Let the people know that all the racing everywhere in this vicinity is oa the level that it is square and honest and that any man who attempts unfair practices will be promptly ruled off and the accomo Tacoma la ¬ tins at the racetracks wiii ba inadequate to hold the people who will patroiz patronize the spurt A CALL FOR PUNISHMENT Continued from 1st Page In professional circles that is to say among the betting men the plea is often raised that if there was no opportunity to get through a job now and then the bookmakers would have to go out of business Let them go out of busi bus ¬ ness If the public is willing and anxious to furnish the sinews of war as it most assuredly will do under proper management where does the bookmaker come In Let him make his book but let him make it on live horses not dead ones If he cannot profitably make it in that way let him quit and get out outThis mouths This is a broad proposition that is worthy the consideration of the stewards of the Jockey Club namely to run racing entirely in the in terest sternest of the public If that be done there can be no f hadow shadow of doubt that the racetracks will not have to look beyond the public for hand ¬ some dividends dividendsThe dividends The tendency of the times just now is toward the deplorable state that existed five or six years ago before the Jockey Club instituted the cleansing process He who runs may read It is apparent everywhere And something must be done Undesirable persons persons who are operating all the time to lose when their horses are favorites and to win at big odds must be dealt with firmly The turf must continue to be honorable decent respectable respectableThat respectable That it can be made so the Jockey Club has already proven All that is needed is the firm determination that was apparent in the first two years of Jockey Club rule It is not neces nieces ¬ sary scary that officials should be obtrusively and perniciously active Fortunately evildoers on the turf are in a very small minority But limited as they are in number when govern ¬ ment meant is loose and careless they have the power to work untold injury to turf interests interestsLet interests Let men of wide experience be appointed to stewardships thorough going horsemen such for example as some of our best known train ¬ ers Give them a degrae degrade of liberty of action and back them up in their rulings and decisions NQ fear of scandals There will be no scandals On the other hand racing will be protected from scandals and the ragtag and bobtail who would sooner win one crooked dollar than ten straight ones will very quickly find that the eastern turf is the wrong place for them
