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PARI-MUTUELS FOR NEW YORK. State Racing Commission Recommends to Legislature Adoption of Kentucky System. Albany. N. Y., January SB.— To bring the horse back to his old-time glory the state racing commission recommended to the legislature in its annual report ye-tenlay the adoption in this -tale of the pari-iuutuel system of betting. The inlro dnrtion of bills to carry oat this roeommenda tion. it is expected, will be made ill due time. The drain on the horse stock in this country by the Kurop-an war and the realization of the ralae of horses, for armies, brought ahead by the preparedness campaigns enter largely into the reaa on for the eoinmissions recommendation. The report says that in the last two and a half years more than 763,888 horses have been exported from this country for th- fighting nations in Barope, and that littl • or nothing is being done to fill the gap. The report states that racing has improved during ilu last four joars. but that horse breeding is still insignificant as compared with the days prior to 1910, when the anti-racing laws went into effect. The report declares that improvement in horse breeding followed immediately after tiie introduction of the system in Kentucky and Maryland, and that New York, which had always been paramount in racing the thoroughbred, is being farced into a second position. BepnhUeaa leaders of tie- legislature may have another race-track battle on their hands. Since the submission of the report yesterday by the New York state racing commission urging an amendment to the Agaew Hart law. to permit the pari-mutuel sy-ti in of betting to operate on race tracks of this state, the sabjeet has been discussed iii important circles. It is known that Governor Whitman baa often been urged to favor such an amendment. Ke-anests in that direction have cease from men concerned chiefly in the breeding of thoroughbred horses and not alone for promoting race track betting. The governor has advised these men that the question of interfering, in any way with the present race track laws might arouse a campaign similar to that waged in support of the Agmw Hart bills, but the governor is waiting to see what ai atlmi III, if any. is created by men of the calibre of Janes W. Wadsworth. chairman of the commission, which is interested in preserving New York states blooded horses. If it is proved to the satisfaction of the legislative leader- that the pari-mutinl system is the only safeguard for the future of the -tates thoroughbreds, a chance of letting down the bars so rigidly upheld during the Hughes regime at Albany is in sight. Speaker Thadih us C. Sweet, of the assembly, said today, that he had not read carefully the racing commissions report. "I am ready to say. however." said the speaker, "that an attempt to amend tin- racing laws is siir-- to meet with so much opposition that we mast proceed carefully. What will be done with the suggestion to adopt the pari-mutuel system is still a matter of spe. illation." Other legislators, whfle conceding merit in the commissions recommendations, predicted that the legislature would not attempt to put the amendment suggested through this year.
