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NO MORE MESSENGER SERVICE TO THE SING. Odds for Women Arc Now Laid in the Grandstand at Latonia The Dollar Book Question. Cincinnati, O., August C. The recent departure of the management hero in abolishing Its grandstand messenger, service to the liettlng. ring, and permitting the messengers under a sufficient guarantee bond to lay the odds In the stand for women speculators. Is. to all appearances working satisfactorily. Considerable discrimination is used in choosing from among: the ,mariy candidates for these positions. As each, messenger is required to deposit with the association $."00 in cash a3 bond, ample protection Is afforded, as few of the occupants of the grandstand bet more than at the outside on any particular race. From twenty to tweny-two messengers have been handling the grandstand patronage .so .far more, they claim, than caii make a profit out of the business unless " It may le on Saturdays and .holidays. The chief difficulty encountered in the employment of this plan seems to be-.a disposition on the part of some of tiie messengers ;to assume too. much on the .privilege, granted ami to" use language In discussion with patrons that would not lit in with drawing room surroundings. Manager Young, however, has taken that mutter in hand; and hereafter tiie men who expect to quote odds in he .grandstand will have to observe the" usual canons of courtesy -and politeness. This catering to women speculators has always been a thorn In the side of racetrack managers. A majority of the women who go racing want to have siime little pecuniary interest in the results.. Most ot them make modest wagers merely for the excitement of the tiling. As a rule, oii even the biggest" and best regulated tracks, they have "been up agaihstlt" in their dealings with the messengers who have lie.en sadly addicted to the habit of either welching entirely or else falsifying odds and onttalklng the women turf followers when it came to an argument. The same difficulty formerly existed In Chicago, and It has long been a problem that has exercised the serious attention of the eastern racetracks. There Is little doubt but that tile laying Of jodds in the stand offers more protection to "patrons than the messenger plan, but the ways of ;tliese persons are often devious and uncertain, aid any system of taking care of this end of racetrack speculation needs sharp and constant supervision Of equaljrir greater Importance than the messenger questlon.-aid especially on the western turf where the volum of business Is comparatively light, is the; dollar or .field book. Each track operates from two to fonr of these hooks which cater to persons whb uipally bet not more than one dollar on a horse. Whei racing nourished in Chicago, with the big -jrftendances there, and the large amounts of money wagered in the ring, the dollar books were both a convenience and a necessity. But down along the . line the speculation is not of such volume that the boobs In tile ring cannot handle the dollar offerings. In fact a majority of them would be glad to have the "dollar play" as It would help to round up their books. The Innovation of doing away with the dollar books was tried at New Orleans last winter and it proved very successful and decidedly popular. That the abolishment of these books on any racetrack would be a popular move cannot be doubted, for they offer oVlds that average forty per cent, less than those quoted in the ring, so that the man who desires to chase his dollar up and dawn the board has small chance to break into the Tanks of the plungers. Under conditions where tiie letting ring can handle this dollar pl.1y. and would lie willing to do so. It would be a popular move and a benefit to the small speculator to put the dollar books out of commission. The small loss of revenue would be more than made up in increased attendances and in increased business In the big ring. That, at any rate, is the opinion of some of the bookmakers who carefully watched the experiment at City Park last winter.
