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FROM A CANADIAN VIEWPOINT Francis Xelson writing in the Toronto Globe makes the following sensible and interesting com ¬ ment on American politics as the same affects the great racingThe sport of racing The sweeping success of the Democrats in Xew York in the recent elections has been canvassed with mil oh interest in regard to its probable effect jn the racing situation in that state The pretense that the hostile legislation in Xew York or in Texas was a moral uprising was just the ordinary Tiumbug It was lisefiil as a Apolitical measure otherwise it would never have had gerious considera ¬ tion In no country on the face of the globe ex ¬ cept some narts of the United States does there exist legislation prohibiting betting on race courses and it is impossible to regard notoriously corrupt bodies as sources or expressions of higher moral tone In Texas they have legislation similar to that in Xew York and the higher level of public spirit which we used to be admonished to emulate inspires communities down there to occasionally burn alive in the public souares a few of the free and independent citizens in order to illustrate their superiority Two of them were so dealt witli last week Without suggesting that there is any con ¬ nection the coincidence of these demonstrations of advanced public sentiment might be worth studying studyingThe The drastic laws which Governor Hughes blud ¬ geoned through the legislature may not be repealed but their enforcement is certain to be less keen ander the regime of a party that opposed their passage There was no desire for them in the communities in which racing has been held in the state and all the threats and powers of the gover ¬ nor had to be exercised for their enforcement where the local sentiment was antagonistic to repressive measure Most of the men who voted for them went down in the recent landslide and the powers at Albany will probably leave the situation to take care of itself in a sort of local option In Michigan there has been prohibition of race course betting en the books for a generation but it does not now represent public sentiment and all over the state there is open poolselllng at the meetings while the speculation at Detroits Blue Ribbon meeting is probably the heaviest at any In America The law is a dead letter as a rule but the dangerous feature of such a condition is that its existence allows cor ¬ rupt and unscrupulous public officers to use it or suspend its operations for their own purposes
