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! i . t i i | t , ; ; i SOME DISAGREEMENT AT HOT SPRINGS I Citizens Do Not Take Kindly to the Enforced No Racing at Oaklawn. i There will be no spring race meeling at Hot Springs mis year. This j- because Circuit Court Judge Wood his said there- will be no milling at Oaklawn and hi- dictum settles the matter. Put the. situation i not in the least enjoyed by many id the denizens of the Vapor City, and there have been some acrimonious exchanges of divergent riews. Tin- following editorial from the Hot [ sp-ings Sentinel-Record is Interesting in that roa-n. Under the caption ••The Truth ill the Case." it says: •■The reproach thai Judge Scott W 1 administers to the- committee of fifty citizens who grouped themselves for an audience with him on the issue of racing ami which audience they have not had. bin which purpose he answers in his own meaner, is not te-nabl-. ••Judge Wood incarn now with the authority of the Circuit judgeship. That authority came lo aim i from tie people by a majority of about fifty votes, in a i. litic.-l race in which his stanchest friends reiterated to the voters that there had been racing under his administration for some years, and taking that precedent as assurance of the future. "Judge Wood challenges the sentiment ,,f the people on the issue of racing as an essential to the prosperity of Hot Spring-. Why was he unwilling lo declare that issue squarely before election and l.t the sentiment have test upon its me: it. The rotes cif the people usually determine the sentiment of the people, when fairly presented ••The judge- is aggrieved, evidently, because the Business Mens League, in response to one- of his lengthy tirades against racing, and which the lengue recognined as an ultimatum from Ilis court against future t ndorseme-n of racing, said: •• The Business Mm- League could never have attempted to hold a race- meeting at Oaklawn without your knowledge and indulgence. In fact. We have always realized that it would be im- po-sil.le. "Judge Wood now- s.iys that Statement, relative to hi- iinlulg -iin-,. i- not true. flu; record in the-case is something in proof. If Judge- Wood has the authority new to stop racing, had he not that authority he fore 1 What new powers have been placed about the office he holds. Certainly he had the knowledge. The indulgence may not have been willingly given, but there was racing in the early part of bis administration as Circuit judge., and now. within the same Jurisdiction, there i- no racing to 1 be hi Id. Jiuig • W i says no. No is the- Ultimatum. "Much is said in his communication about the crowd that racing brings, and the condition left behind. Is New Orleans, the Crest ant City of the South, so evil? is Saratoga Springs scorned. Is ; not Kentucky one of the fairest flowers in sister statehood. Maryland is one of the- most solid slates in the- Union. ••Another thing. Judge Wood assumes that aside from those directly interested in tin- running of the truck, tin- other Mpportera an- of e-vil tendency. That is not correctly stated. The stanch sentiment that exists in Hot Hpi Inga for racing exbtta because of the indirect but entirely honest patronage that comes to all classes. The hotels. the boarding houses, the merchants of Central avenue, the busini— s lines generally, the widow with 1 her boarding house- or rooms for rent, the property owner who garners his profits, the bootblack and 1 the banker. All seem to profit save those who-. Income.! an- fixe-d b.v statute. "Hot Springs can not override the power of the Circuit judge when that power is buckled down to a purpose. The- people will have to submit, because they have placed their authority, the author-Ity of the peoples courts, in his hands. Put in the final of everything, this is a democarcy, a rule of the people, and when petitions fail, and pleading ; for on operation is in vain, there is at last something hfi for the- people though perhaps long de- lerreel."
