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FAVORS STATE COMMISSION SECRETARY V. P. RIGGS APPEARS BEFORE MARYLAND LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. Hearing Is Given to Representatives of Maryland Jockey Club on Hall Bill, Patterned After Hughes Legislation in New York State. Annapolis. Mil.. March 1::. -That a state-wide racing commission should lie created lor the purpose of controlling horse racing in Marvlaud was I lie opinion expressed li.v William I. Rings, secre-lar.v or the .Maryland Jockey Club, at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the Hall ant i betting bill. The hearing had been arranged lo accommodate the opponents of the bill and those uiio came were representatives of Pimlico. of the Timoniuiu lair and of the llagorslowu Fair. No representative of the Laurel or the Havre de Grace track was seen or heard from. The chief plea for the continuance of the life f the Iimlico track was made by Stuart S. Janiicv. counsel for the Maryland Jockey Club. Mr. .lanncy read a long paper giving his story of horse racing, tin invention f the book-making and pool-selling systems, and pleaded that racing was iicccssarv to improve the breed of horses and that the races onld not go on without loss unless belting was permitted. In the course ot his statement Mr. Jnu-"e.v said that the concern had last year spent 7.1,0tH more than it would have taken in had Micro been no betting, and that with the pari-mutuel svs-tciu the club had not only made the 5,000, but s 17,00 besides. lie argued for state regulation and the limiting of race-track profits, saying that the surplus should go to the Slate for public uses as it does in several of the countries of Europe. Cnder the prohibitory laws of other states, ho said. Maryland had more than its share of racing, but a state commission could regulate this. William 1unnll Hall of the committee asked many questions to bring out some of the facts con-erniiig the management and ownership of the Iimlico track ami the profits it has made iu the last few years. Mr. .lanncy insisted that those in-I crest cil in the track were willing lo take- 0 per cent, in their invent nie-iit and let the balance go to the jsurn. He- denied that the action of the Kaltimorc Ceuuly Racing ConlfRlssIoil iu insisting on the use of the jiari-iuuluel machines had created a racing rust in Jlallimore county, as Asa Bird Gardiner, who was present on behalf of Tiuumiuiu. explained that 1 lie machines used at the Baltimore count? fai last year were loaned by the Pimlico people. In answer to a question by Mr. Hall. Mr. Riggs denied that the decision of the Iimlico people to give their surplus to charity was prompted by a desire to allay public sentiment against racetrack gambling. Iu answer to furlhcr questions by Mr. Hall. Mr. Riggs said that he had not been approached either directly or Indirectly by anyone for money iu con nection with pending legislation, neither had lc-been so ipproachcd at any other time. further. Mr. Itiggs declared that the closing of the raw tracks iu New York stale, instead of de creasing the number of poolrooms, had increased them live times over. Thomas A. Iolfenberger argued for I lie 1 lagers town fair and a similar plea was made by Mr. liardiner for the Baltimore County Fair. In an swer to a question. Mr. Gardiner said that the fair last year lost 1914.sh,500 on the betting by the use of the pariniulucl machines, that the fair could not exist without betting and that the betting could nor be carried on profitably by the machine system. Tor the Hagcrstowii Fair Mr. Ioffcnberger said that it could not lie run on a Sunday School basis; that it hud been a great industry for fifty years, that it got only .sr. out of the betting last year, and that it niude on I lie fair as a whole n surplus of ,000. but no dividends had ever been paid. In addition John B. Wailes of Arlington presented a petition signed by 159 residents and business men of the vicinity of the Iimlico track, who said they did not want it to be closed. In closing, the Iimliero people tiled a lengthy brief Willi the committee, which concludeel as follows: If this bill the Hail Itill merely sought to curtail a pleasure we have enjoyed, and if if could be shown that our pleasure was purchased, or must, if permitted, be purchased at the cost of our moral degradation or that of our fellow-citizens, we would not lit here today. The Maryland Jockey Club is composed of men to whom the good opinion of the people of .Maryland is more vitally important, in both their social and business lives, than any possible pleasure or proiit racing or lietting could ever bestow upon tlieni. "Xo legislation is necessary to terminate the career of the Maryland Jockey Club. Should it at any time, by any act, forfeut the good will of those who make public opinion in Maryland, its members would fall away from it like the- birds of autumn. They could not afford to do otherwise. We are here today because we and our fathers before us, since 1S80, have enjoyed the support of public opinion in what we have done to Improve the breed of horses in this country. We are not here to defend the unrestricted taxation of betting for proiit of individuals. "To do what we did last year in the interest of horse breeding, without any proiit whatever, we. had to spend 5,148.58 more than we could get from any source which would be available if the Hall bill becomes a law. Hence the Hall bill means the absolute destruction of racing in Maryland. "Where did we get the 5,145.53 to cover our deficits in 191.5V We got it and 7,920.40 more by taxing the betting at our races under the pari-mutuel svsteiu. Did we make any secret of these facts V We did not. We published all of them, as well as full particulars of what we did with the surplus, in all the Baltimore papers. "Did public opinion condemn usV Not by word of sign. On Hie contrary, we were commended for all that we have done. A minority of the people have always wanted to pass a Hall bill. Another minority- of the people have always wanted to have unrestricted personal liberty as regards betting. The great majority of the people have not favored either of these extreme courses and neither do we. "The great majority of the people have watched tile effect of a bill similar to the Hall Bill in Xew York. They saw racing destroyed for a time, but not bettug. They waited for some evidence of moral uplift to follow this great reform. There was none. Secret gambling nourished more than ever. There was no decrease in the number of e-ases in the criminal courts: no diminution of poverty. Horse breeding suffered, hut who benefited V "And now even racing is coining back iu New d-Yeirk. but under what conditions? Instead of e-oiu-plete publicity anil every safeguard against fraud, such as exist at Pimlico, the patrons of the New York races are at the mercy of the betting men they huppeii to know or with whom they can establish credit. The temptations to dishonesty and corruption are overwhelming. That is what the bill upon which the nail bill is patterned did for Xew ork. Wo are here, therfore, to beg of you to save Maryland form such a fate. The control of racing in Baltimore- county is now in the hands of n competent and honest commission. In addition to the duties it has performed, it should be required to insist upon the -publicity of earnings and expenses of racing organizations which the Maryland Jockey Club has voluntarily adopted. "The State should then determine what is a fair return for the owners of race tracks, and compel the appropriation of all surplus, over such limited returns, to public uses. The example of Baltimore county, with these modifications, will be found a safer guide toward real, permanent reform than Xew York, after which the Hall bill is patterned."
