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MARYLAND RACING MOVES t Present Situation Complicated and Turf Bodies Not in Accord. Reformers Active and United Bookmaking Interests Furtively Behind Mutuels in State. i AXXAPOLIS, Md.. December 17. Coming to the end of tilt most successful racing season in the history of t lie state, the friends of racing in Maryland arc; facing with considerable anxiety the prospect of a hitter fight in the legislature during the coming winter. With the liii;nr question out of the way the up-lifters. professional and amateur, are now at liberty to concentrate on the race tracks and raee track gambling, as they term it, and they promise to make tilings hot for racing folks. The Anti-Race Track Gambling Association, which will lead the fight, lias already begun operations. It is holding meetings in the churches at various t points in tin? state, with the evident purpose of influencing the votes of the rural legislators. The president of the association is a retired business man with a fondness for publicity, but witli a most lamentable ignorance of racing and the racing situation. His interviews in the local papers have been funnily silly and showing a childish misconception of the subject. He claims to be in favor of the Hughes bill and says he is not opposed to the system of oral betting as it is now carried on in Xew York. The Hughes bill will be the measure favored by the antis this winter, and thereby hangs a tale, the full exploitation of which would prove rather startling. A certain and powerful element has been at work in the last two sessions of the legislature hand-in-glove with 4he -uplifters. but witii an object in view that would carry dismay to the hearts of the antis if they realized how they were being used. A coterie of Xew York bookmakers, to whom Maryland was formerly a fruitful stamping ground, but whom the pari-mutuel system has driven out. have been bitter against the system that retired them and have been working hard and deviously to get back. They retained a shrewd and able Baltimore lawyer to take care of their interests in the legislature and. he. Joining forces with the uplifters. but without their knowledge of the source of his inspiration, has persuaded them that he is a bitter opponent of betting and that the way to get rid of it is to pass the Hughes bill. Observe: not to pass a bill that would ston racing and betting in toto. but just the Hughes bill, which would allow racing and betting under the oral system and restore the bookmaker once more to the pleasant pastures of Maryland. A clever scheme, indeed, and one that worked admirably at the last two sessions of the legislature, but it may not be so successful at the coming session. THE ANTIS REAL FIGHTING HEAD. The real fighting head of the Anil-Race Track Gambling Association, the president being a mere stalking horse, is I.ev. W. V. Davis, the salaried agent of the lords Day Alliance, who is equally at home in fighting liquor. Sunday basaball. race track betting, in short, any old thing whereby he mav earn his salary -a professional and paid agitator. Associated with" the reverend doctor are a few old-time uplifters who have made their appearance at every session of the legislature for the past twenty-five years and who are generally looked upon iis a bunch of harmless killjoys." The make-up of the coming legislature has of course been carefully gone over, both by the friends and enemies of racing, and it is the general impression that racing will get a fair deal. The ney.iy elected governor is a young man of much ability, with broad and liberal views on all public questions. He has many close personal friends in the racing set, and it is felt that the siort of kings, with its splendid traditions in Maryland, will receive intelligent treatment at his hands. The senate and till house is, to say the least, as well disposed to racing as has been the case heretofore?. The death of Iiiehard A. Johnson, former president of the nurcl Racing Association, and floor leader of the last senate, however, removes one. of the stauchest champions of racing. Mr. Johnson was a man of rare personal charm and wielded a great influence with his fellow legislators. It will be hard to find a man to lead the fight as he did. As yet the four big racing associations of the state have not united on any plan of action, and there is not entire harmony between them. Havre lie Grace and Howie are ready to co-operate, but liinlico is somewhat aloof. PIMXICO STANDS ON ITS CHARACTER. The liinlico management, relying on the strength of its traditions and the hold it has on the hearts of Marylanders, has been inclined to play a lone hand and lias never gone out of its way to conciliate anybody. The consequence is that it has raised up a host of opponents, usually o:i small and unimportant matters, but the sum total of which may In found- troublesome. liinlico is racing under peculiar conditions. The act of the last legislature annexing a portion of Baltimore County to Baltimore City has brought liinlico within the city limits. At the time this act was passed another went through providing tiiat liinlico should still remain subject to the jurisdiction of the l.altimore County Kacing Commission and should pay over to the county 83,000 per day after the first five days of each meeting. Now the people of the city are inquiring why slioubl liinlico enjoy the protection and benefits of the city for nothing and pay ,000 a day to the county ! A member of the legislature and a man of considerable strength, who holds a grudge against the Iimlieo management, promises to introduce a bill this winter which may cause the Mary-laud Jockey Club to move iis track into the county. Laurel will line up with liinlico. After the death of Mr. Johnson the owners of Laurel elected .Spalding Lowe Jenkins, one of the Pimlieo sot. president, and last fall liinlico methods ruled at Laurel. The diplomacy and tact, that characterized the regime of Mr. Johnson and Col. Matt Winn were lacking, and many enemies, some in influential quarter, were made. Many of the friends of racing favor a state-wide commission on the Hues now in operation in Kentucky, nnd a bill to thai effect will probably be Introduced in the legislature this winter. Havre ild Grace mid Kowic favor it, but liinlico and Laurel as yet are unfriendly. Iimlieo is satisfied with its present condition, subject to the Iialtimore County Racing Commission, and professes to believe thaL a racing commission would eventually get under the control of the politicians. Laurel races under a special charter and is satisfied to let well, enough a.one. Altogether the situation looks somewhat mixed, and the only people getting much satisfaction out of it are the hungry members of the third house.
