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NEW YORK AND THE RACING SITUATION From the conduct of the policemen sent to the race tracks in this city previous to the issuing of Justice BischofTs restraining order last week an unprejudiced observer would be convinced that the police department had decided not to enforce the new antibetting law but to frighten visitors away from Hit traces The measures adopted by deteo tives and patrolmen were of a kind to jnaku their victims feel that they were violators of the law be ranse of their mere presence within the gates The police wore guilty of unnecessarily annoying patrons of the tracks to i ilogrto that was intoler ¬ able ableHad Had it been the object of tho authorities to make the new law odious they could not have adopted more effective tactics Iotting was illegal and with Ilils excuse patrolmen interrupted conversa ¬ tions ordered men to move on when their solo onVnsn was chatting together or informing them ¬ selves as to the names of the jockeys Tins sending of groat iminlKTS of tin formed police to the tracks was wholly gratuitous for no swell show of force was needed to compel obedience to the new law lawThe The idea of the authorities seems to have been that the racing clubs would seek to protect betting by physical force On no other theory can the ridic ¬ ulous precautions taken be explained The mental processes of the inilice are worthy of the study of the arsonists New York Sun SunIf If sonic of our illinformed legislators who re ¬ cently struck a blow at racing in this state could have seen the sport of kings at Sheepshead Hay yesterday and seen tlie persons by whom it is sus ¬ tained and enjoyed Governor Hughes bill would have been defeated New York Herald HeraldWhile While the futnrc of racing in this state is still hanging in the balance and no man can tell what effect the adverse legislation at Albany will eventu ¬ ally have on the sport the outlook is not so dark and foreboding as it was a week ago The size of the crowd at Sheepshead Bay on Friday and Saturday proved conclusively that the bookmaker was not the only attraction and that the sport is popular enough to live and perhaps prosper under an order of things that many believed would mark its ruin The more pessimistic point out that the lure of racing is still strong upon those who have been finding it their chief source of amusement and this may be true which would account In part for the big crowd that turned out to see Ballot win the Suburban Handicap on Friday and Colin the Tidal Stakes on Saturday The more optimistic however see In the size of the crowds and the tn thusiasm over the winning of good horses a future for the Iturf which was not dreamed of and an assurance that there is much more in racing than betting rings and bookmakers Time alone will settle the muchmooted question but in the mean ¬ time those In control of the sport will start build ¬ ing anew In an effort to keep alive that interest in the thoroughbred which has l een so pronounced in tho last few years In talking with a wellknown member of the Jockey Club on Saturday the opinion was expressed that once the courts had construed the ntAv law and had made a ruling as to what constitutes a violation conditions would be much better He said further When this present un ¬ certainty of what constitutes the rights of the associations and their patrons is over it will be possible to make plans for the future The opinion seems to be general that the police have gone too far in an effort to prevent what is not a violation of the statute and If individual betting is not a violation1 those who must wager to get their full enjoyment can do so while those who like to see the horses run from the pure love of competition can go to the track without feeling that they are under police censorship Then it can be decided whether it will be best to raise the price of ad ¬ mission to the main inclosiire leave things as they are or make racing more of a spectacle by adding two or three events and establishing socalled pop ¬ ular prices of admission New York Tribune
