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MANY DEFAULTERS THIS YEAR. Layers at Saratoga Complain of Men Who Fail to Meet Their Obligations. By J. R. Jeffery. Saratoga, X. Y., August 17. If the men who lay the odds for the oral bettors are to be relied upon they are accumulating more than the usual amount of bad betting . debts this year. The complaint to this effect is general. Several of the better known of the men who make a practice of taking the laying end of the game are quoted as saying that they have had more defaulters to deal with tins year than at any time since the introduction of the oral system of betting, and that some of their trouble has come from sources that would be least expected to develop defaulters. The class that is most complained of is made up of seemingly reputable business men who appear to regard their betting transactions as subject to a different code than the everyday affairs of business life. This class visits the race track only occasionally and obtains betting credit through the introduction of a mutual -friend who, of course, acts in the best of faith. If the visitor is successful in his speculations, he promptly returns for a settlement, but if he loses it may be a long time before the layer to whom he is indebted lays eyes upoii him again or hears from him in any way. It should not be inferred that this practice is general, for it were the whole fabric of oral betting would speedily be demolished. But there are sufficient instances of it to give the men who lay the odds much concern and in some instances to cripple them seriously. As a general rule, the regular patrons of racing are scrupulous about such things and make it a cardinal principle to keep their betting credit unimpaired at all times. To be sure, there are exceptions to this rule, as to all others, but it is not tliis class of bettors that gives the layers their troubles. Nor are they especially embittered by such a case as that of one individual who is reported to owe various layers something like 25,000 ns a result of recent transactions, for they figure that when this man is financially able to do so, he will meet his obligations. Besides, they say, the arising of such a contingency was in all probability takeu into consideration when the transactions took place. But what does hurt arc the deficits growing out of transactions which they have every reason to believe are dependable. So long as betting conditions follow the line now prevailing, there seems no remedy and perhaps, after all, the percentage of "welshing" is no higher than that of the bad debts contracted in any line of business in which credit is a factor
