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RACING ATMOSPHERE HEALTHY NOW. It will take in ire than the ■■■»■■! rainfall to dampen the ardor of the racing enthusiasts who are making Saratoga their own for the moots ot August, and there is evidence on every band that the sport lias il iiiiiili-iici" and support of the good citizens of the land When a thoroughbred yearling will retch 2.. ".on at public auction and a two-year-oW colt in active training brings 9,000, while another coll of tbe same age bu j change band* anj rlaj ror 0,000, it i- time t" take notice. It baa been a long light, but those who believed in the aport and who never wavered in then allegiance to the thoroughbred through all tbe years w in n racing was under a elon.l. have it la-t conn- into their own. It i- ■ chastened sport which is engaging the attention of Saratogiana and those within our gates, -horn as it Is of so element that gave cause for criticism in former years. Where one heard i sly tales "I winnings by bookmakers or plungers, there is today talk nl the thoroughbreds liemselves. their individuality, their prowess, their lineage and, best of all. their worth as an economic ante! to tbe conn try at large, loo long tlie thoroughbred was n garded as a gaming tool, bis speed the means to an end. Tin lew who knew .1 bis merits in breeding, of his wonderful prepotent qualities, were either too ■ litlnleiit or Indifferent to Hay a 1 word lor him to tell of tie part be baa played in bulhlbig up tin-high standard of tbe horse product of France, Germany, Russia and o bci i-ontinental countries where the breeding of good homes has become an exact science. The European war baa caused a tremendous wastage of horseflesh, and parehaaas have been made by the belligerents In every bind when material of the proper - n conld be secured. The United States ha -been ransacked, and manj hundreds of thousands of .avail remoonta and artillerj burses have left our shores. Soate of the ould be span I, notably those bought by Italy; bu! tin re baa arisen a perplexing situation in the announcement that there i- a abort age of the prooer t i «■ of horse In tbh coon try, de s]iite over 21,000,000 animals, as reported bj the last census. Testimony of experts like Lord Orkney, who is paasing on purchases for the British government and who recently rejected fifty out of tin . eight bead offered to him la tbe Shenandoah Valley, and Walter . Farmer of Tennessee, who reports that it was Impossible to pick dp forty selected 1 all breda tor officers mounts In this district, although the price ran as blgb aa 50 per bead, cannot be disregarded. Th ■ federal government has done - ■ borse breed jug, mostly iu the east, where they have eighteen stallions, chiefly thoroughbred*, with ■ few trotters, Morgans and saddlers, but tbe work is too limited in its scope to show anything tangible, and then, too, it baa onlj been In operation tor a fen yean. The original appropriation for t.hla work was |."s , hhi. ami in spite of the fact that each succe year baa seen a decline in the amount until only 5,000 i~ available for the current twelve nth-. striking results have been achieved. The Depart-i in • i Agriculture baa had charge of the work, but There are signs that ii will pass to the War D meiit. where it rightly belongs, as thai branch of tbe service knows the type ot horse it want- and la prepared t" take the steps to produce it. The arm] is a unit in declaring that the thoroughbred la the bent officers mount in the world, while for tbe troopers the half or three-quarter-bred horse is hi st adapted. We need racing t i bring out the qualities in the thoroughbred sire which be In turn transmits I bis progeny. Frame and German] subsidise tbe sp rl and encourage borse breeding in every way. It was :i part of their plan of preparedness for the struggle thai is now befog waged, and In these days, when war clouds hover over even our own laud, we should n t be is liind baud In the march of progress which is ever onward and upward. —Daily Saratogian.
