Pen Picture Of Desolate Newmarket.: Clergyman Gives Graphic Description of Suffering from Stoppage of Racing There., Daily Racing Form, 1917-06-23

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PEN PICTURE OF DESOLATE NEWMARKET. Clergyman Gives Graphic Description of Suffering from Stoppage of Racing There. Can you picture a miniiij; center with its mines shut down, a shipping port with its barber silted up, a town in the Orient under the despotism of the Turks, where property, and even life, is in -secure? It will give some idea of the metropolis of the bloodstock industry, with its industry brought suddenly to a standstill, writes the Rev. Henry R. Young, rector of Newmarket, in the Evening Standard. The people cannot realize what is happening to them. The rate collector comes around for the heavy winter half years rate. Again anil again he is told "I hoped to have earned a bit in the race weeks. I am all bdiind. It is so hard to live now." Summons after summons has had to be liaaaed. There are some seventy-five people to be put in court this mouth. I am told, and the majority of the poorest do not pay their rates direct, but thwagk their landlords. Stablemen who have grown old in the service sit at their cottage doors in the evening. As I pass by and give tlieni "Cood evening." they ask me: "You dont think, sir. that racing really will be ■topped, do you? The Rritish government KfOVM never bo so unfair. What is to become of the like of us if it is?" Listen to this one. aged about fifty: "Work oa a farm, sir? I couldnt do it. I tried last year. It was so hard to get a job: but I was no good at it. 1 aint so young as I was." Or this: "I was in the stables in Rerlin when the war bnaa They interned us all. After a year and a half we got to Eagtaad aae and the wife. We had just the clothes we wore; everything else gone, our little home and all wed saved up and bought. We went to work in a niinition factory. They kept me four days and then they give me .the sack. The wife, she stayed M longer, but her health gave way at last. Now Ive got a Job here, but it looks aa if the government meant to turn us out." Racing in Ireland Causes Resentment. What is bringing the government into such bitter hatred and too tempi is the permission for racing in Irelaad; Inland which- thov reason has done little to help the Kmpire at its Bead, Which has been in open rebellion, while Newmarket. Which at tiie first call gave the best of its m.-n. which has given more to war charilies than many far richer towns. Newmarket may go to rot. The resentment is strong and deep. Lot no politician new in power count from henceforward on the vote of Newmarket. Here is another side where the pinch is already felt. An oldish man who had been i:i service all his life had saved one or two hundred pounds. I He got rather past his work. He had a small pension, and he looked out for some easier way [ to spend the evening of his days. He took a house aad invested all his savings in fitting it up, j so that he caaM let to visitors for the races. Why not? It looked safe enough. For two hundred and fifty years racing has gone 0:1 unin-terraptrdly. He knew plenty of people who would take his rooms. Then suddenly the war cabinet waves its pen. and there is an end of him. This case is only a type. This afternoon I went round a racing stable — not a thing 1 oftea do, but I wanted a talk with the traiaer. There was a noticeable change ia the wonted appearance of the horses. The food ration* have been in force for over a fortnight. ratio-is totally inadequate to keep hem la good rendition after the way in which they, and the ■torh they coxae from, have been accustomed to feed. t "i:ibs are beginning to show a bit, remarked one of the party. The traiu.-r aaeeated rather gloomily. Horses WU1 Bo VataBH 0:1 Present Ration?. "If the government insists on the Batatal rations, and let us race agaia in six ac ill* thae, the hoeeei will be aaeleaa.** "Is there reallv each a scarcity of oats?" I aaked. "No." he answered emphatically. "There is no scarcity of oats at all. Oats are lotting in barn;. i Rats are ..ting them. Rut we have to keep to the rations." Here in one box was a gelding. ■ horse which has won several good rues. I have seen smart. 1-lookiag animals in Italian cabs, and that is a g ! deal to say. "He has been out to grass." said the trainer. "Therel ao corn for him at all." "What woaU he have been worth at the old 1 pries before the war?" I asked. "I weal Int have taken 3.000 pound; .-terling for him." was the prompt reply. The poor duiib bcaet baked round wistfully at us as though he was ashamed of his condition, and was pwadiag for his accustomed food. "National interest" is a funny thine. Perhapo it will win the war. One does net qalte see how. but there it is. The stoppage of racing and the impending ruin of the btaodatock industry, so says Mr. Lloyd George, i-; in the national iatereat. Nevertheless our minds down here would be not a little relieved if we were sure that this "aatioaal interest." which - to he our downfall, did not really nica!i .1 base truckling to the cant of ] hypocrites who pretend to be aaxioas about other peoples virtue and yet have so little Christian charity themselves that Us y care not a jot bow their victims maker or starve -London Sporting Life.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1917062301/drf1917062301_8_1
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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800