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a OLD-TIME ATTACKS ON RACING. I I While racing has been the object of attack of t man] a legislature in the paal ten years, all the n trouble that has eome i., the sport lias not been t , ontined I ihis generation. Time and agaia there li have heeu vkrhsis attacks and. unfortunately, many of iheiu have for a time orevalled, hut always Hie ,] sjHirt has come hack to ils own. r •I lank Iurestei s Horse ami Horsemanship of the j t United states and British Provinces of North Ann v lea," bj Henry William Herbert, and mm of the i most prised "I early |Miblicattons on the snorl in t America, ilealii with this itersecnttoa. This work I ■ was published in ls--,7. so that even at that tun- the I | turf had its troubles. Mr. Herbert -ass in his chapter on the attacks 1 I 1 against the s|„.i •• : I e ••If Ho- advantage to be derived from the tbor ■ oughbre«l horse depended ■ n no more than his applic- I ! « ability io tin tiii aid his fitness for racing purposes t I -iionid not have assigned p hint the prominent * place that he occupies in this work. in fact, the race course was not. in the beginning, so much x thought oi as the scene t v the display of his hjgk ipi.ilitie-; much less was racing considered as an end. for which the eastern horse was imported Into laiioie bj our ancestors. ••It was im the Improvement of the native stoek I of horses in tin- various European kingdoms, by -ri |ng to them s| I and endurance, in which i ther lleeil Can ro|M|:H v.ilh ihem. that the Asillie and North African hois,, ua- s., eagerly sought by the : monarch. es|ieciall of England, during tie- -even- teenth and the eail part of the eighteenth century. . ••A! Irsl tin- raw-course was resorted to solely as a method of testing the prevalence of superiority in certain animals, or iieeds oi animals, ol those quail i,.- .,f spied and emlii ia lee which can by ji . other met nil he so completely, so accurately and so fairly l ght i" the test. ■ ••Soon after tic introduction of the thoroughbred horse this process of testing his qualities -lew into i a favorite sport with all classes of persons in Bag- I mi I sad racing became an established national in stiiutioi.i. •Thenceforth, in some degree, tin- objects of the j ponwMaurs and heelers . f race horses underwent a change-; and what had lieen the means he. ami- more or less the end. Horses iii a high form, of the ■ purest and BlOSt favorite strains of blood, were eagerly Bought, and commanded large prices, for the j purposes of sport and Ismorable competition, as was the cose In iiiieient Greece, at the period of the j Olympic games •■At t a fatter date, i second change of the object i .,. taken place: aad, with hot few except Ions, the ] thoroughbred In is. is n»w kept both in England and [ tin- country, for tin i.ai.n. nt purpose ol tnonej making, eithet l»y the actual winning of his prises. ei hj ins s,,n, in the -iini. after his racing career I nalabed: for either or both of which objects, the ! highest development of the two qualities, speed and endurance which can only exist in conjunction with thorough blood coupled with form and size, ire : nisi diitely required. •Still the lisl end of impr.ning the hieeil has never been lost night of. ami racing has been tilwa -,. constantly regarded a- the nlv method of in i dicing the maintenance "f Mnds of tborooghbreds and the continuance id a supplj of pure hi mil. •■Uacing and race coarses, therefore, are still as they ware, intended to be trout the asat, the beat of £ anil he of race BM .! • Ject no not fl That * tut "j who bu land Hi that - Ih "l: Ml Mr. I:l " both J" a nisi " ■* ! -i" " to lr JJ " the ■" ami Iv ,v * "" on ■ • " Pel S* on "" nt on di el al g-- .it ami al ol of only mode of really improving the general stock sa uny country, although the annuals employed may ■-: kept merely, or generally, for the giatilication bj by cupidity and the excitement of the contest the w courses patronized by the seekers of an amuse meat, in which i e hut fo.ls and fanatics can linil m anything intrinsically ldamahle or demoralizing. fi for "If it he admitted that the race courses are sab- fi to occasional abuses, that is only to admit them yi to he exempt front :i necessary condition of v everything human, nol excluding religion it-elf. pi they are peculiarly, or more than other insti- a ions, involving large congregations of men and si women, suhjeet to such aliases, is in no respect tl demolish aide or true: and 1 will defy any person has ever wilinseil a general training in the ,| steadiest ami most straight -laced of the New Bog | States, or a camp meeting anywhere-, to say of he has not been directrj cognisant ol more " gross Immorality at either of these than he ever beheld on a regularly established race coarse." Dealing with the charge of gambling, which was . made even in the earliest days of horse racing, ■ Herbert says; "Two charges especiaUy of gamhling and cruelly have been brought against racing and rate courses. charges irrationally and unjustly, although ., of tin- legislatures of America which seem to , nave an especial mission for legislating aboul every thing which ought Io In- let alone, and lor letting of alone everything that ■ uht to he the subject of ! legislation have assumed the right of passing Judgment on both these charges and prohibiting, or V as the utmost discouraging, a noble sport, directly , lending to the improvement of the first and most valuable domestic animal and the development of wealth, the resources ami tin- power of a nation n the manhood of its iiilian and rural popnlat i--u. n "The lirst charge is false, as belonging particular- I T. to racing, or being especially stimulated by it. b Men. it is known, who wish to gamble, will gamble - anything r nothing. Tiny may certainly bet on n horses running on the track, and do so hut they 1 also on every athletic game; « • j i main Kcieatifk- s sanies, in which chance has ,, • perceptible influence; o their own powers: on elections; on casual events; v drawing I |g Ktraws; on the running of water I drops down a window pane. I "I have never beard it proposed to put an end to elections because men sometimes bet on tli-cm. I- although betting, in such cases, is nol merely I gambling, but barefaced bribery of the worst kind. I as such intended, yet it would scarcely be m re t absurd to prohibit elections than to prohibit contests running horses." c
