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FINAL EFFORT AT ALBANY TOMORROW. t Friends of Racing Will Moke a Concerted Attempt to Obtain Legislative Relief. ■ Albanv. M. Y., .Tulv 15.— There is still a chance J that the New York Legislature may enact legislation riving some degree of relief to racing before its sine die adjournment the coming week. There was talk todav that a new bill may be drafted which will be in the nature of a compromise upon the vital , question of the criminal liability of directors of race j tracks for violations of the Hart-Agnew and Agnew- , l-rkins anti-bookinaking laws. If this should come , ta pass It is thought that it may be possible to rush t the bill through the various stages of legislation In both houses without opposition during the few re- t luaining davs of the session. If uo satisfactory com- t promise can be reached Senator Jilt ins probably will , make a final effort on Monday to pass his bill re- . lieving racing directors of liability. The general opinion is that there is only a forlorn hope of passim* the Gittins bill, although some of its more op- limistic supporters still insist that there is a good , chance that it will become a law. The Senate is the t siiirm center of the proposed legislation, it being -generally conceded that the Assembly may be de- s pended "upon to concur in any action looking to the , relief of racing that the upper house takes. When j the Gittins bill was voted on Thursday it received ] only twenty votes. To pass it in the Senate twenty-six votes are necessary. It is said that Senator f Gittins was aware that he did not have enough , votes present to pass his bill, but that he preferred ■ to have the matter brought to a vote so that certain senators of whose stability he was fearful might be pot on record. He feared that if a vote was further deferred he might lose some support of which he felt confident at the time. Senator Brackett of Saratoga, whose vote last year made possible the enactment of the Directors Liability law, voted for the Gittins bill on Thursday, lb said that he did so because racing is vital to the prosperity of Saratoga Springs and because he was satisfied that the racing interests had no idea of I. Hunting gambling as it used to be conducted be- 1 fore the passage of the Hart-Agnew bills. He re- i ferred to the mortgages which had been placed upon l 1 lie small homes at Saratoga since racing had been rippled and declared that as a representative of the j S.iratoga district lie was compelled to vote for the i bill. "I want to say." declared Senator Brackett in the 1 course of the debate, "that I have no interest what- 1 ever in racing. 1 have been on the Saratoga track l only three times in thirty-nine years. But a great i business center has grown up at Saratoga around the 1 lacing business and I am interested in that. I shall vote for this bill, but I would not do so were I not ! ~sured that its passage does not in any sense mean a return to the old order of things. The men who i are supporting this bill do not want to return to old i conditions. iut they do not wish to give up racing, and if some legislation like this is not enacted racing ! will be discontinued.* After the vote on the bill had been taken Senator Brackett announced that it was his intention be- i twecn then and Monday to draw up a bill which i would permit racing and yet make certain there I ■would be no gambling. He believed that he could frnine this hill in such a manner as to have it meet wiili Hie appro**] of the Legislature and of Governor Dti. Senator Xewcomb. who ha-s been lending the opposition to the Gittins bill, admitted today that the j. res. nt laws works an injustice to owners of race l racks and directors, and said that he believed a bill could he drawn that will afford the relief desired by the racing associations and that he would support" such a bill should it be presented. The discussion of the bill before action was taken Thursday consumed three hours. At times the galleries of the Senate chamber and the floor space behind the rail were jammed with spectators, and Senator Newcomb, who led the fight against the bill, felt at one time that the outsiders were crowding in among the senators and he objected. Lieutenant Governor Conwav instructed the sergeaut-at-arms to keep the floor clear of intruders. There were many clergymen among the spectators. At times the debate waxed warm and excitement ran high. Shortly after the Senate convened at eleven oclock Senator Gittins began the battle for the salvation of racing by moving to have the rules suspended to permit the passage of his bill. At the time there were ten absent senators, including Allen of Rensselaer. Argetsinger of Monroe. Bussey of Wyoming who arrived later. Emerson of Warren, Griffith of Wayne. Harden of Kings, Hewitt of tavuga. Thomas of Madison. Walter* of Onondaga and White of Schenectady. Senator Gittins motion to suspend the rules was carried by a vote of 22 ayes to 20 noes. Senators Bard and Bussey, who voted against the bill on tinal passage, supporting this motion. Senator Xewcomb then began parliamentary objections. He raised points of order that the bill could not be taken up by the Senate because it bad not as vet been considered by the Senate Codes Committee and copies of the bill had not been placed upon the committee files. Senator Stilwell. chairman of the Codes Committee, disputed Senator New-comb in each instance. Lieutenant Governor Con-wav ruled the points of order not well taken and a motion of Senator Gittins to discharge the Codes Committee from further consideration of the bill was carried by a vote of 21 ayes to 19 noes. Senator Kurd also supported this motion. It then became apparent that the bill would be voted upon, and for a few minutes the scenes about Hie Senate chamber were the liveliest of the session. The sergeaut-at-arms was sent scurrying after absent senators. It occurred to Senator Newcomh i during the wait attending the sergenat-at-anns round that it required twenty six affirmative votes i to suspend the rules, and he made a point of order • that the motion of Senator Gittins could not prevail Senator Grady reminded Si nator Newcomb i that he was many minutes late with his objection, as the rules had already been suspended and the . Codes Committee had been discharged from further • consideration of the bill. Senator Newcomb withdrew his point of order long enough to ask Senator Gittins to have the consideration of his bill go over • until Mo, ulay night or Tuesday, and upon his refusal I 10 do so Senator Newcomb renewed his point of 5 order. Lieutenant Governor Conway ruled that Senator • Newcomb raised his i oint of order too late and that t his failure to raise it promptly acted as a waiver. Had the point been made in time, the chair said, it would have been sustained. Senator Brackett I agreed with Lieutenant Governor Conway. Senator c Newcomb appealed from the decision of the chair, . . which resulted in the lieutenant governor being sus-1 lined by a vote of ." : to 2. Senator Hinman alone % voting with Senator Xewcomb. Senator Brackett t then urged that the bill be made a special order for r Monday night or Tuesday, but Senator Newcomb , would not agree to this. Senator Grady insisted that t Hie bill ought to be put to a vote then and there, and this course was taken. In defending his bill before it was put to a vote. Senator Gittins said that much to be criticized had j been done bv those opposing his bill under the cloak t .f religion and reform which the decent people of f Hie state would not tolerate, in his opinion. He declared . his only desire in Introducing this legislation j was to place officers and directors of racing associations . upon the same plane regarding criminal prosecutions . as are the directors and officers of other t corporations. He reviewed at length his connection , with this years racing legislation, despite Senator r Ncwootnbs frequent points of order that Senator f Gittins should not go into such an exhausthe treatment . of the subject in explaining his vote. Finally Senator Xewcomb permitted Senator Gittins to continue . without pressing his objections. After Senator r Gittins. Senator Grady spoke at length before casting ° , his vote. Senator McClelland, in favoring the measure, de-dared . that he had never seen a baseball game or a j horse race, but had not missed a glove fight in fif-l.en . years. He bitterly denounced the methods of f some " sensational reformers conspicuous about the , Senate Chamber for the past six months, lobbying I T against the Gittins bill. He declared the present law would be the cause of making an innocent man j guilty of a crime, and for that reason cast his vote , . for the measure, "as every man should, as it appeals to all who desire to enjoy personal liberty." The Senator was particularly bitter toward the so-called reformers and warmly declared they have no license t • endeavor to regulate the morals of the community. Senator Sage Republican, in voting for the bill, said he was happy to favor a bill that would encourage and promote the breeding of high grade horses, and that racing was an essential to the industry. IV nator Saxe of New York City, who comes from a district that contains the largest hotels, said his Constituents desired the passage of the bill and he believed it just legislalion and that it should have the support of the Senate. Senator Duhamel. the only Independence League member of the Senate, said he was for the bill because its passage meant work for a great many of his constituents. Three of the Long Island race tracks are located in his district. The record of the roll call on the bill follows: For: Democrats — Senators Black. Cronin. Cullen, Duhamel. Sanner and OBrien, of Kings: Senators Frawley. Grady, McManus, McClelland. Saxe. Still-well. T. D. Sullivan. . D. Sullivan, of Xew York; Harte. of Queens: Gittins. of Xiagara, and Ranis-perger. of Erie— 17. Republicans — Senators Brackett. of Saratoga: Sage, of Albany, and Ormrod. of Monroe — 3. Against: Democrats — Senators Griffin. Pollock and Wagner, of Xew York: Baync. of Richmond: Burd and Loomis, of Eric. Ferris, of Oneida: Fiero, of Greene: Long, of Suffolk: Muriaugh. of Chemung, and Roosevelt, of Dutchess — 11. Republicans — Senators Bussey. of Wyoming: Coats, of Franklin; Cobb, of Jefferson; Hamilton, of Chau- t ■ J , j , , t t t , . , t s , j ] f , ■ tauc]ua: Heacock, of Herkimer: Hinman. of Broome: X. u comb, of Xew York: llatt. of Steuben; Rose, of Orange; Travis, of Kings, and Wainwrlght, of Westchester— 11. Absentees: Republicans — Senators Allen, of Rensselaer: Argetsinger. of Monroe; Emerson, of Warren; Griffith, of Ontario; Hewitt, of Cayuga; Thomas, of Madison: Walters, of Onondaga — 7. Democrats— White, of Schenectady, and Harden, of Kings — 2. Several senators, chiefly from upstate sections, said privately after the vote had been taken, that they regarded the Gittins bill as proper legislation, but felt compelled to vote against it to "save their faces." as they put it. Since Governor Hughes, three years ago. conducted his general campaign against race track gambling, certain elements of the population, it was explained by the upstate lawmakers, believe that anyone voting for any bill which could possibly he construed as being helpful to the race track interests is immediately blacklisted. For that reason at least a dozen senators who personally favor the Gittins bill voted against it. Following the adverse vote on his bills Senator Gittlna moved to reconsider. This prevailed by a vole of thirty to nine, and the whole matter was then tabled, to be taken up when deemed advisable. The nine senators who voted against the motion of Senator Gittins to reconsider were: Senators Coats. Cobb. Heacock. Hinman, Xewcomb, Rose. Travis, Republicans; and Senators Loomis and Roosevelt, Democrats. The friends of the measure base their hopes for additional support of the measure when it next comes to a vote on Senators Allen. Emerson, Harden. Piatt. White and perhaps Wagner and Pollock.
