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IN DEFENSE OF HORSE RACING U S Army Officers Appear Before BeforeMaryland Maryland Senate Committee t Declare That Enactment of Any AnyLaw Law Against Continuance of ofSport Sport Would Be Calamity Annapolis Md February 13 Probably as fine a defense of horse racing as has ever been made in this country was made here Wednesday afternoon when some of the most distinguished officers in the United States army appeared before the judicial proceedings committee of the state senate in oppo ¬ sition to the antibetting bill now pending in the legislature and declared that the enactment of any law which would result in the abandonment of the sport calamityThe in Maryland would be a calamity The officers who attended the hearing were Gen Andrew Hero of the 154th artillery brigade his adjutant Maj G A Taylor Col Kaymond AV Briggs of the 311th field artillery his aide Lieut AAilliam Cochran and Maj C 15 AVing and Capt A A Peters both of the engineer corps General corpsGeneral Hero attended as the personal representa ¬ tive of BrigadierGeneral Nicholson commander of Camp Meade and one of the most famous horse ¬ men in the army armyGeneral General Hero made one of the principal addresses before the committee Others who spoke were Colo ¬ nel Itriggs Major AVing J II Anderson ONeill Sevier II G Bedwcll who trains the horses of Commander J K L Ross of the British army and Dr Henry J McCarthy a noted veterinarian Sev ¬ eral of the moralists who are advocating the anti betting bill were on hand and endeavored to heckle the speakers but without success successItwjjjthe Itwjjjthe unanimous opinion of the army offi ¬ cers and other who spoke in favor of racing that nothing should be done at this time that might in any way result in discouraging the breeding of thoroughbreds when the army needs every horse it can get especially as thoroughbreds and thorough ¬ bred crosses have shown themselves to be the most satisfactory horses known for military purposes Arguing purposesArguing that only through racing can the fitness of horses for breeding purposes be determined one of the speakers declared that any person who at this time undertakes to put an end to racing in Maryland unpatrioticGeneral conies close to being unpatriotic General Hero after stating that he had come to Annapolis at the request of General Nicholson de ¬ clared that he could not say a better word for the thoroughbred than to quote the man he represented representedSAME SAME EFFECT AS KILLING WHEAT CROP CROPGeneral General Nicholson said to me a few days ago said General Hero that the effect on the horse world of the abolition of racing would be about the same as would be the effect on the wheat crop of killing off all the people in the United States StatesGeneral General Hero then went on to say that the abo ¬ lition of racing would certainly dim the military efficiency of the country Thereafter he told what Germany France and other foreign countries have done in the way of encouraging the racing of thoroughbred horses for no other purpose than to make sure of having sufficient remounts for their armies armiesColonel Colonel Hriggs began his address by saying that he was just back from France where he had been the chief of the remount service He had been sta ¬ tioned he said at the remount depot of the French army jnst outside of Paris where lie had been more impressed than ever with the real meaning and value of the thoroughbred to the English and French armies as developed by racing in England and France FranceMr Mr Anderson as did all of the other speakers also made a splendid defense of racing rehearsing much of tilt history of the sport in this state Mr Sevier seemed to impress the committeeinen pro ¬ foundly when he said that whereas from 8 to oi per cent of the coldblooded horses shipped to Ku rope for military purposes had died en route a shipment of thoroughbred crosses was made from Montana to France without the loss of a single horse horseThe The impression here is that the legislature is going to find it difficult to get around the arguments ad ¬ vanced by the army officers in support of racing The moralists have argued the abolition of racing because the country is at war and they thought they had struck the real chord The officers who testified before the committee knocked one of their pet arguments entirely from under them
