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NEW YORK RACING TRIALS IMPENDING CASES IN COURTS VIEWED ANX ¬ IOUSLY ALL OVEE THE COUNTRY Issued Involved Must Be Settled by the Highest HighestCourt Court and Long Delay Seems Inevitable InevitableBefore Before a Decision Is Reached Enst west norlli south and across 5n Canada Inrfmen and those interested in racing watch the slow threshing t of the legal straw grown from the IlartAgnew laws in Xew York The process is in its beginning and such decisions as have been ren ¬ dered in the courts are but steps toward the New York Court of Appeals In this progress graver and more farreaching issues will be joined for judg ¬ ment when the many men under Indictment are tried than any that have as yet reached the various judges for decision There is no doubt that the ionstitutionality of the HartAgnew laws will be challenged for one thing of great gravity Other aspects will come up for adjudication not as yet presented clearly In a fashion the action of Governor Hughes in calling an extraordinary trial term of the Supreme Court to sit in Brooklyn before tills month ends forros the Jockey Club into earlier action than it desired In defense of racing its best lawyers will almost inevitably be forced to take part in defend Jug the meji to be tried at that term of court It will bring about the raising of questions the Jockey Club would prefer having deferred until subsequent to the coming election However it is just as well that all concerned should know where they stand in the light of the new law as speedily as may be possible It may be that in the course of these Impending trials all the questions necessary to the tslablisliment of the validity or invalidity of the new law will be presented and passed upon so that all will go up together to be considered and de ¬ cided by the court of last resort resortSo So far but one point of great Importance has been established This is the decision of Justice Bischoff of the Supreme Court to the effect that a bet be i veini two persons is not nil offense against the new law Another recent decision by Justice Gaynor upholds the Bischoff decision and amplifies it by definitely making a distinction between what might lie called amateur betting and professional betting holding that the intent of the legislature and the jinrpose of the law was to abolish professional bet ¬ ting on the race tracks without interfering with the right of persons nonprofessional to back their opin ions in such ordinary cases of controversy as might sirlse from time to time timeWhether Whether the BlschoffGaynor views will be upheld 1 the New York Court of Appeals or not is a mat ¬ ter to be revealed in the future In the meantime St has been found feasible to conduct racing with oral or private betting at both Brighton Beach and Saratoga This because of the 1ischoff decision Itut the conditions at the two tracks were not the same No otlicial interference lias marred the peace ¬ ful eonrse of the Saratoga meeting On the other baud at Itrighton Beach constant espionage and frequent arrests followed by ninny indictments by the grand jury of bettors and track officials attested acting District Attorney Elders dissent from Justice Risehoirs interpretation of the law and his determi ¬ nation to try for a different ruling in the trial of ses in which the liberty of the indicted men is imperiled In his course Elder really represents Governor Hughes intention to destroy racing with betting root and branch branchFrom From all of this the present condition is necessar 51y one of exi ectancy It is probably a condition llial will continue for many months If the trials set to begin August 25 result in decisions appeals may be set down as certain no matter what those decisions may be But there Is also the chance that no decision may be readied for a long time The cases will undoubtedly be jury trial cases and re ¬ sults similar to those attending the trials of saloon keepers in Chicago for alleged violation of the Sun ¬ day elosing law are not at all improbable It is quite certain that the remaining metropolitan meet ¬ ings of the present year must be carried on without aiiiy considerable variation from the circumstances jnarking the conduct of racing at Itrighton Beach It Is furthermore quite probable that the Xew York racing of next year will be carried on with the Bailie attendant vexatious and harassment The proverbial delays of the law are not likely to be escaped here where interests of such great magni ¬ tude re at stake The prospect is not pleasing but it is one that must be endured until the one authori ¬ tative arbiter the highest court of the state of New York has made and published its decision decisionIt It is to be observed that racing has not ceased in Xew York It is not likely to cease If in tle ultimate decision the HartAgnew laws are upheld with the qualification that the Bischoff decision is good law and applicable to betting on racing the experience of the Brighton Ieaeh and Saratoga associations serves to show that racing can be con ¬ ducted successfully in conformity with that decision The racing associations will not make as much money as in the past They will have to cut down the sum of their offerings in stakes and purses and the owners will not reap such stable earnings as they did in the past Such changes and diminutions will be endured philosophically for the good of the squirt until a different governor and another legisla ¬ ture can rectify the havoc wrought by Governor Hughes through an unwilling but bulldozed legisla ¬ ture tureIt It is not to be overlooked that the election of next fall may bring relief to Xew York racing before any final action is had in the courts If tne Jersonal Liberty League lias anything approximating Hie strength claimed for It a legislature and a gov ¬ ernor may bo elected within a few months from now conjointly roady to repeal the IlartAgnew law and restore the PercyGray lav under which Hie turf flourished so great I v But the chance in this direction Is obviously not so great as it would lie in an off year and is to be considered only a pos ¬ sibility sibilityNew New Yorks racing is the heart of American racing and the issues to be fought out there are of pro ¬ found importance to the future of the sport On the whole while the waiting in suspense Is bound to be irksome Daily Racing Form believes the outlook Is hopeful The people In control of the big tracks there are game sportsmen wealthy able and dis ¬ posed to exhaust all legal resources in its defense Jn that they differ from the Chicago quitters who Xive up without the semhhmco of a struggle Speaking struggleSpeaking of elections It is not at all impossible that one result of the election locally may be the restoration of the greatest of open air diversions to Chicago tracks Here since the Illinois Supreme Court overthrew the law of 1SS7 in the Swigert ease there have boon many years of racing but It was always through otlicial forbearance The iiresent states attorney effectually closed racing luring his term of otlice but his predecessors did not take the severe course that lie saw tit to adopt ind it may come about that lie will have a successor who will view the matter as those predecessors did Jt Is not to be expected that any man elected to this high office will willfully neglect his duty But in such a case it is largely a matter of discretionary construction as to whether a distinctively repres ¬ sive course is to be pursued or one of moderate pun ¬ ishment for offenses in which no moral question of real importance to tlie community is involved
