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ARGUES AGAINST SIMSSTERLING BILL Able Presentation of Kentuckys Case in Opposition to Its Enactment into Xaw LDXINGTON Ky May 31 When he appcareu before the house committee on interstate and for ¬ eign commerce last week in Washington speaking on behalf of the Kentucky breeders of thorough ¬ bred horses and of the Kentucky Jockey Club Hon A J Carroll of Louisville stated it to be an interesting historical fact probably not gen ¬ erally known that when Daniel Iloono established the first blockhouse in Kentucky the company of which he was the head formed an organization for the purpose of formulating some rules and regula ¬ tions for the government of the people and for the development of tins territory into which they had come The first resolution inissed by that committee was designated to improve the breed of horses and from that day in Kentucky horse breed ¬ ing has been one of the foremost things thingsMr Mr Carroll brought it to the attention of the committee that the thoroughbred horse is not only important to Kentucky but is of tremendous pub ¬ lic importance to America and he expressed as ¬ surance that officers connected with the remount service would testify in the strongest terms that the breeding of thoroughbred horses is of vital importance to the army and of vital importance to tlici public welfare welfarelie lie explained that without racing you cannot have the thoroughbred horse developed as he has leeii developed and you cannot have the thorough ¬ bred horse continued so as to be of great benefit to the country and to the people since it is only by means of racing and by means of tests of speed endurance and stamina between horses that the qualities in them are developed and ascertained by a process of weeding out picking out those for stallion services that have demonstrated not only their spLed not Only their courage not only tlcir endurance but their capacity to do all of the work in the highest form that a horse could be called upon to do and by that process of elimina ¬ tion the stallions in the various studs iu tills country are selected and their progeny as any horseman will tell you any one connected with the remount service of the army of the United States will tell you is iu a class by itself fpr that character of service surprassiug to a great degree every other type of horse Without racing as I say you cannot have the development of the thor oughbred horse as you have it today and you can ¬ not hope to continue it itMr Mr Carroll declared the SinisStrrling bill to be ilie entering wedge designed to destroy the sport of racing and to destroy the great industry of which that sport is a necessary incident He in ¬ sisted that the bill goes much farther than by its terms it purports to go For example it says in its title that it is an act designed to aid states in the enforcement of their laws against gambling Instead of being an act for that purpose and in ¬ stead of being an act that would have that effect it would be o far as my state is concerned an net to prevent the state of Kentucky from carry ing out its own laws iu its own way wayOVERRIDES OVERRIDES KENTUCKY LAWS LAWSHe He explained the Kentucky laws for the regula ¬ tion of racing and betting and declared that this bill purporting to be legislation for the purpose of aiding the states to enforce their laws would prohibit any man in the state of Kentucky send ¬ ing out of the state of Kentucky anything in con ¬ nection with betting upon a horse race in the state of Kentucky which is legalized in that state and it would likewise prevent any person outside of the state of Kentucky transmitting into the state any matter relating to a thing of that sort sortMr Mr Carroll told the committee that under the provisions of this bill it would be an offense pun ¬ ishable by fine and imprisonment for a turf writer after a race was run after it had been decided when it could have no possible effect upon aiy betting so far as that race is concerned to com ¬ ment upon it It is made a penal offense to trans in it through the nails or to send by telegraph or telephone to any newspaper any news of that sort iu connectitii with i race Likewise in advance of a race it is made an offense for any news ¬ paper to publish or to deposit In the mails foi the purpose of being carried or to send by tele ¬ graph or telephone any information or thing as the bill says that is designed to aid or assist in betting upon race horses or boxing exhibitions baseball games or things of that sort AVho gen ¬ tlemen is to judge as to the intent with which that thing is dqimi the speaker asked askedHe He insisted that betting is a mere incident to the sport that the raisins of thoroughbred horses is a legitimate industry of great importance to tlie country and that the running of races is not in itself a thing that any reasonably balanced person could say is an immoral or a wrong thing but because there is betting upon Rices as a mere incident to the sport this outcry is raised raisedlie lie urged that there is no general public sen ¬ timent calling for or iu favor of any legislation of this sort and declared it to be but another one of those classes of things that arc presented and promoted by those who represent an organ ¬ ised force with certain views IIIKJII certain quesr tioiis who desire to enforce through legislation their views upon the rest of the people whether they want them or not notMr Mr Carroll expressed the belief that where there is 100 bet uptn a horse race there is 100 COO wagered on the New York Stock Exchange and where there is 100 bet upon a horse race iu the tuited States tinre is 50000 bet upon the Chicago Hoard of Trade and he declared with stress that everybody will concede that the stock exchange is a legitimate institution and that the buying and selling of shares of stock is a legitimate busi iess and of importance to this country just as is the selling of pork cattle cotton wheat corn nd oats He thought this Congress and this committee would hesitate a long time before they would recommend any legislation which would abol ¬ ish the stock exchange or abolish the Chicago Hoard of Trade because as an incident to the legitimate business they carry ou people gamble upon the transactions transactionsWOULD WOULD DOOM ALL RACING RACINGHe He insisted that the enactment of the Sims Sterling bill into law would sound the doom of racing in America because it is the entering wedge which would be followed by legislation t prohibit the transportation in interstate com ¬ merce of a race horse from one state to another if the purpose is to have the horse engage in racing Jii competition for purses or prizes upon which money might be bet betIt It is mainly because of this fact that we op ¬ pose this bill he continued but I say to you that I as a citizen oppose it upon a more funda ¬ mental and a more farreaching ground and that opposition is founded upon tli fact that this bill establishes a rigid censorship of the press of this country in the matter of the printing and circula ¬ tion of that which is legitimate news a censor ¬ ship never before thought of iu connection with legitimate business lie further declared it to b an attempted in ¬ vasion of the clear rights if the states and continued There iias been a clamor all over this country from both political parties from thought ¬ ful men of all classes for this country to get back to fundamental principles and to get back to the situation which existed prior to the war to piogress away from the centralizing of everything within the federal power The clamor is and Justly so to repeal or change many of the things that were enacted as war measures and to which the people did more than submit which they stm ported earnestly conscientiously and in every wit iu their power knowing that those laws and the centralization of power were vital to the govern ¬ ment iu the winning of the war beside which all else was as nothing nothingMr Mr Carroll informed the committee that in March the Kentucky senate had defeated the effort of this same group of reformers to abolish tlie pari mutucl system of betting which is legal in Ken ¬ tucky and lie described the happiness and joy of the people who to the number of possibly 00000 attended tlie running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs ou May 8 asking if the commit ¬ tee felt that a sport of that kind should bo put under the ban because a group of persons who do not enjoy it do lint want it itIu Iu conclusion he expressed opposition to any set of men who have a certain code of morals and a certain theory of life seeking through the federal Congress to impose upon other people who do not agree with them their nuculiac views
