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, : : • I ] 1 SETS FORTH THE SITUATION SUCCINCTLY. The report of the State Racing Commission of New 1 York, presented to the legislature at Albany during the past week, aud carrying a recommendation for t the passage of a law to relieve directors and officers * of racing associations from liabilitv to prosecution i for violations of the anti-betting law. is available t at greater length lor publication than as covered by telegraph. The commissioners said among other things that "the existing statutes have terminated I J running races iu New York state and if the present I state of affairs shall be long continued the breeding and development of thoroughbred horses will entirely | cease and the thoroughbred will disappear from the United States. "That result would, in our opinion, lte so serious that we consider it to be our public duty to present ! the following considerations to your honorable ImxIv. The statistics, the records anil the expert opinion have clearly demonstrated that the most valued I blood in horse is the thoroughbred. It is the blood I of stamina and of early maturity, the fountain head I of all that is best. "The experience of foreign governments has long since proved that the thoroughbred is best fitted to i ndow the coarser strains with increased stamina, intelligence and quality, all of which are most de--irable in the general utility horse. But more than this and of especial importance to us as a nation is ; the fact that the thoroughbred is absolutelv indispensable in furnishing the qualifications neeessarv in the good cavalry horse — the capacity to carry weight over a rough country at rapid pace and for extended distances. "European eountrio- have without exception recognized the importance of this sabjeet. Nnaserous illustration- might lie cited, but it must suffice to note that the Flench government has expended in one rear as high as .ooo. nu» on its breeding bureaus: that tin- Russian government has purchased many Bagiish thoroughbred -itallions. paying no less than 30,000 for one, and that the German government has also among numerous purchases of Baalish stallions paid over 00,000 lor a single stallion. With the great foreign powers thus blazing the way. why should not our people realize the absolute necessity of fostering and utilizing the tboroagh bred.- The que-tion of his value to the general utility horse is an important one. but even that is overshadowed by the consideration of his paramount importance in co-operation toward the production ot proper and capable armv and cavalrv horses. The I nited States is tow S7.0OO horses short for mobilization and would require olO.OOO horses during the ti;--t year of a war. "To enable the thoroughbred to i e kept at his best or anything near iiis heat, the race course test is indispensable. Racing and racing alone bring- about his highest development. Peter the Croat proclaimed in 1722 the necessity of instituting horse races with a view to improving the breed by emulation and comparison. and in our own day au eminent German writer epitomized the teachings of history in one sentence: " •The ou r appropriate test proved bv the experience of two centuries is the race course. " It is declared ihat the anti-racing legislation of 1fHis and UtlO in New York State inflicted serious damage to the breeding of tbomgbbreda, and since 1010 the exportation of stallions, mares and young horses has been enormous. The commission declares its belief in the |K ssibility of the re-establishment of the industry if racing can be resumed by the enactment of a -iinple. fair and reasonable statute. The oommission further reports that in answer to an inquiry it has received from W. H. Rowe. pub lleher of the American Stud Book, a statement of the comparative number of thoroughbreds in the horse breeding industry shows ilia: on January 1. MOB. there were 22,300 thoroughbreds and on January 1. 1913, there were 7,500. The report continues: "With the criminal law in respect to gambling as it is. and properly enforced on and off the race course, it may be possible for race tracks to he open, but not if the olticei - of a eoriioration. dulv licensed to conduct a race meeting, are to be held criminally liable lor violations of the gambling law committed by other persona, "Where there is horse racing it is inevitable that there will be some lietting. Inasmuch as letting and wagering is not criminal, why, as a matter of common fairness, should officials of a race course lie held responsible for Hie s »cret recording of a bet. That matter is one beyond their control. "It is a matter of common knowledge that bets and wagers are commonly and continuously recorded by individuals the world over and it seems remarkable that the only place where any cognizance is taken of it should bo upon a race course and then that the penalty -boiild lie visited upon those who have nothing to do with it." August Belmont, chaii-nian of the lackey Club and president of the Westchester Racing Ansacia Hon. when he had read the report of the commission, said for publication that he had always con -idored tin- liability law as a decidedly unfair one. and one that never should have been passed. He said that it would work a great good for both the lacing and breeding inlcrcst- if it was repealed. Philip J. Dwyer. president of the Brooklyn Jookev Club and of the Queens County Jockey Club, saiil that his racing associations would opeii their gate-if the law was amended. "I would certainly take a chance of lo-ing money to belli revive the interest in racing." was the way he put it. Andrew Miller, secretary of the Saratoga Association, agreed wilh Mr. Dwyer that the repeal of tin-law would mean that racing would come hack to the New York tracks this season.
