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OPPOSING THE MILLER BILL Toronto Out March 20 The Canadian Sportsman this week makes the following comment on the Miller bill billThe The attention of the good people of Canada and of the members of the House of Commons in par tlculiir is directed to the action of the district attorneys of the state of New York assembled In convention at Albany on Wednesday March 10 A special district attorney George Austin of Greene County recently appointed by Governor Hughes and given the additional emulumeiit of a commissioner ship to investigate the state purchase of lauds in the Adlrondacks made an impassioned plea behind closed doars far an ollicial rccognition on the part of the association ami endorsement of the gov ¬ ernors socalled antiwagering measures now before the house at Albany It is a significant fact reported in tlie New York Sun of March 17 that the Iwdy as a whole rejected the plea nnd ridiculed the governors original antirace track legislation passed in 1907 declaring that the gover ¬ nor knew himself when it was framed that it was inoperative arid Incapable of endorsement to the ex ¬ tent indicated by the governor In bis speeches from pulpits in opera houses and from tlie rear of specially chartered railroad trains when he made his famous tour to secure the election of Senator Wallace In Niagara County It is also reported that the governor attended the ollicial dinner of these gentle ¬ men at Albanv on the evening of Wednesday March Hi and remained twenty minutes making a few perfunctory remarks but not touching upon the rac ¬ ing situation situationIt It is regarded as extremely significant in view of tlie revolt against interference from Washington in Republican state affairs that the governor and his satellites have seen tit to modify the Agnew Perkins bill now before tlie legislature for jecou slderntlon In such a way that Individual betting Is not to be made illegal Mr Perkins the gentleman who introduced the original measure in the legisla ¬ ture is now quoted as saying what we are now aiming at specifically is the bookmaker and the poolseller tlie professional gambler at the race track but not the individual I myself am not an extcmist I ffel that If a person at the race track wants to make a frieudly wager he or she ought to 1 1e e at liberty to do it without fear of violating any statute If this bill becomes a law oral betting will not be illegal on the part of individuals who see fit to make an oral bet with one another but it will be illegal for men who make a business of it to accept such oral wagers wagersThe The governor knows and so does every other in ¬ dividual who has given anv thought to the matter that Itr is Impossible to differentiate between indi ¬ viduals and those who have taken stock in the pretensions of Mr Miller Rev Mr Shearer and the others who are behind the Millor bill in Canada are iiow Offered incontrovertible proof that the measure which thev advocate will not accomplish the pur ¬ poses Intended Great stress lias been laid upon the fact that the HartAgnew hiw which they have taken as a ihodel hits killed speculation on the race tracks in New York arid that it is the great panacea for all socalled gambling ills It is a fact that it has done nothing of the kind All that the HartAguew law lias done in the two years of its moral ion has beeri to destroy vested interests and to bankrupt hundreds of horse breeders who had their all invested in thoroughbred stock For thir ¬ teen years the state encouraged the breeding and racing of thoroughbred liorses and took a certain percentage of the moneys paid t the gate and distributed them to the farmers through various county fairs held throughout the Empire Statei Suddenly Governor Hughes realized or thought he saw opportunity to make himself politically powerful by the advocacy of ii socalled antiwagcr iug measure He was told when he first siioke about It that it was political dynamite and to let it alono but he did not heed the counsel of wiser politicians in the Republican party and with all the fanatical strenuositv at Ids command and in vokirig tlie aid of the cliurclies and the force which had made the anticanteen law a possibility he jahinied bis measure through throughIt It is hardly possible with the farcical outcome of such legislation in the great Empire State of New York that tlie conservative element in Canada Will permit so unfair a measure as the Miller bill to be ¬ come a law particularly as Englishmen the world over are good judges of race horses and If they feel so inclined like to make a small wacer upon their judgment as to speed and xwirage With short meetings siiv of ten or twelve days duration and under the propoui espionage and control Canada would still be iuTthe position of being as sarie ns Australia or any other British colony where the sport of horse racing is regarded in the same light as it is in Erigland the sport of kings
