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RACING AS A HEALTHFUL RECREATION. As predicted, the Canadian racing season is going ; forward with as much success as ever. The crowds s -com quite as big and aa joyous as at ordinary f times, but I atu told that the amount of money that t h e k p ■ i a of ; a ,■ a .- R i i , | t , , , , , J t , j [ i I t I ti i a t l i | i i i | . ] i- changing hands does not compare with that wag- 1 end iu former years. That is. p rhaps, a matte,- J hardly to be deplored, except as a sign of the depressing period through which we are- passing; hut a- tin attendance is still large it is also a proof that everybody does not go for the single purpose betting. One of the charms of racing is its freedom, its sense of equality and the finding that all are out with the same object, to he pleasurably entertained. Bacing is tue greatest genital health and courage giver, both to man and beast, of all i -port-. It absorbs the feeling of self, gives a. sur-Ceaae of care, and whether winner, loser or non-gambler, it is restful to mind and body and. therefore, invigorating. Kven the laser more often than not learns on the race coarse how to face disappointment. It also fosters a love for the horse and is iu no way detrimental to public enterprise of public spirit. On the contrary, there are more broad-minded, open-hearted men among • race goers than can he found in any other class of the community. Lard Itnsebery once said that iu j hi- opinion friendships were formed and a knowledge of the world gained on the turf that are invaluable : to any man who W lanes to get on in life. The race course is a gathering place where there is a com- mingling that is most healthful in the social life. It is tin- om- sport where freedom of action and freedom of movement are possible. At the race course yon are not chained to a seat until the limbs become rigid. Almost everything, in short, connected with racing, in my views, if taken in the right spirit, is invigorating. Chris Iilzgerald. who wiil he rcrncml ered as ] the one-time manager of the .Montreal Jockey Club after the demise of Brighton Peach, recently pith lish.l a letter in th" New York Sun. of which he was parr -porting editor, deploring the depletion of mat - that is going on in this country and in the j United States owing to the war. On the one hand the Ottawa government is criticized and abused for not buying or rather for not countenancing or ai lively aiding and abetting, the wholesale purchase of horses in Canada, and on the other is found fault with for doing so. Mr. Fitzgerald declares that there is talk of starting a movement to confine the buying of cavalry remounts and •"gun" horses to geldings only. lie himself suggested that the purchasing ol mares under seven years of age should be prohibited. There is more logic in his position than in that of those who would limit the army to annexed animals. If that were done, not only would much time be wasted, but prices would soar beyond reason and many a mare that had already proved sterile would miss a pursuit that meant service to ber country. — II. P. Goad in Montreal Mail.
