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MEANS TO CONTINUE RACING CANVASSED. New York. March 20. — "I would sooner see my . horses dead than put on the market and sold for a song." is the way James R. Keene talks to his . ! friends as to the effect of the anti-racing laws if passed. Even a primary schoolboy knows that great . deterioration in values of the thoroughbred would . j follow closely upon the heels of Governor Hughes only pet measure if it became law. All sorts of plans to evade the effect of the Agnew-IIart bills I are discussed. If they become law one plan would I be to race Ufore a crowd made up of club members . who would subscribe 00 each for a series of thirty-day meetings. It has been figured out t-hat a good I large sum could be raised by subscription, from which handsome amounts could be given as prizes, leaving a balance from which reasonably good profits j could be made. Something of the same methods as govern boxing , matches in this state, wherein members are elected on short notice, has been talked of as a means of helping the race courses to carry on business on a i paying basis. Not that the racing associations are in need — far from it: but the idea is that even a jockey club could not be expected to go on year j after year and lose money. "If we could be sure of " five percent returns on our investment we would be satisfied to race on indefinitely." said one of the stewards of the Jockey Club today. The members of the Metropolitan Turf Associa- ■ Continucd ou sixth page. MEANS TO CONTINUE RACING CANVASSED. Continued from first page. tion — the bookmakers club — do not seem to be much worried over the outlook. Leading men in this association declare that they are ready for any emer-g.iitv. though some of them do not seem clear on the question as to whether or not credit betting could go on at the tracks if the governors pet measure becomes law. Maxy Bluinenthal told me today that in none of the proposed measures does the word betting occur, hence he and many of his associates seem to think this would let individual wagers continue. I asked John Evans, secretary or manager of the • Mets " clubhouse, if it could be possible to form in New York large clubs on the same i.lan as exist in London, where layers and players meet and talk over forthcoming events, and where bets are made on the Derby and many other future events. Mr. Evans answered that this is a matter which has been canvassed in the club, but no definite decision reached. It seems to me that there would be room in New York for at least two big clubs of the kind suggested. You no doubt recall that for some years after the season of 1S95 the layers as a body voluntarily contributed to the race funds of the various associations, and that this sum in time grew to very large proportions, helping to create a fund from which the associations gradually increased the values of added money to stakes until it became a fact that it was more profitable for horse owners to keep their racers in America than to send them to England. There is no reason why such a state of affairs could not be restored, if the clubs would a.cept the contributions, but it is not necessary, because the associations, or at least the two oldest and most profitable — Coney Island and BrooRlyn — ■ have large reserve funds, the aceuniulation of the past few years of vast prosperity. Another view of the confiscatory nature of the pending bills has been brought before the people by .1. H. Alexandre, a governor of the Conej Ishmd Jockey Club, and one of the principal men in the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association. He shows that if the anti-racing bills pass, the five per -cent tax on gn.ss receipts at race tracks would still he on the statutes. This he denounces as unfair, and with justi.e. In brief, the laws, if passed, are as surely contNeatory as if a robber held his pistol at the head of a citizen and took all he had in his i»oekets. And yet a man with Governor Hughes much vaunied acumen and sense of fair play — the man who is reported to have wept when the mother of a murderer pleaded for her sons life — can cooly urge legislation which is little short Of theft. Thanks to the hysterical press of this city, laws have been passed in two years, the effect of which will be to create anarchy among the poor people who for some time past have been freely enjoying the transfer system on the surface railroads. Now these roads are nearly or actually bankrupt, and they are likely to be soon sold to the highest bidder. They will probably revert to their original owners, who will undoubtedly run each line independently, and the first step to be taken will be to abolish the transfer system. Thus the people will be called on to pay three or four fares where they are now-paying one fare. This could be obviated by wise and courageous legislation at Albany, but. just as they say they feel on the anti racing bills, the senators dare not stand up and vote out on the open floor against the bills, because those bills have largely the hacking of the shrieking yellow press. Hypocrisy rules the roost, and hence it is no wonder that such prominent turfmen as James R. Keene. II. P. Whitney, August Belmont. H. B. Duryea, John E. Madden and others are quietly planning a general hegira to England with their best horses, thus force*] to leave their culls for the delectation of the American public. J. J. Burke.
