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ONTARIO JOCKEY CLUB ROW President Hendrie Takes Exception to Official Statements and Presents Clubs Version. I TOBONTO, Out.. July 20. President William Hendrie of tin? Ontario Jockey Club has forwarded to the press a letter, which he addressed to Premier Drnry in reply to criticisms of the club and racing in Canada gem-rally. In forwarding the letter for publication President Hendrie says: "Before the returns dealing with the recent spring meeting of the Ontario Jockey Club were forwarded to the provincial treasurer. I wrote a letter to the Hon. E. C. Drury. premier "f tho Province of Ontario, and requested, if the returns were to he; given to the press, that a copy of my letter should also be given to the press. The premier replied that he would see that my letter was published. "As the returns appeared iu the press of Friday last, and no mention was made of my letter, I now beg to enclose you a copy of tin? same, with . the request that you will be pleased to publish it , in your columns." , Tin; letter to Premier Drury under date of June 24 reads as follows: "In the course of a few days your government will be handed, in accordance with the law of our province, the statement covering the late spring meeting of this club, of which I have the honor to lie president., "At this juncture it is within my right and . privilege; to point out to you and your cabinet that this statement as are all business statements of corporations furnished to the government according to law is entitled to be considered as of a private nature, as between the corporation inter-, ested and the government, unless, of course, such statement or information is asked for on the floor of the house of the government of the province. "Promulgating broadcast information concerning the Ontario Jockey Club has been grossly abused in the past by a certain member of your government aud. iu addition, has been the means of distorted, unjust and malicious attacks on my board, the share holders interested in the club, the members of the club and myself, by the attorney-general of our province, who is supposed to administer the department ot Justice. , - -i - : "You are the responsible head of our province. You directly represent a farmer government, sus-ained iu power by other representatives of another group of our people. You may or may not, personally, consider the encouragement Tjf racing a legitimate amusement, or the breeding of the thoroughbred horse a national economic necessity and and coming within the proper sphere of your government. AN OFFICIAL UTTERANCE. "If your famous utterance: " Knee track betting has for its center the thoroughbred, tlie type of beast, which under the conditions of this country, has about as much use as the game cock among fowls. The horse breeding industry of this country would be no worse off if the running horses were entirely eliminated, lias undergone no change with the above statement. There are a host of sound thinking men. horsemen, breeders of live stock and business men in this Province of Ontario, in our other provinces of Canada, in the old country of our people, who totally disagree with your views that the thoroughbred horse and his perpetuation is not a national necessity. "As to the future in store for tlie Ontario Jockey Club, the oldest jockey club in the North American continent, which lias continued in existence for close on to forty years and over whose track has been contested an historical horse race for an equal number of years, tlie outlook is certainly not encouraging and it is well our Ontario people should be informed thereof. "For the year 1920 your government received from this club 39,407.75. In addition, we, like other corporations, have to pay a very large sum to the federal government. In addition, we have always kept iu view most liberal purses for our Canadian breeders and owners of horses, who have both the inclination and desire to own and race a good race horse, and for this year 1921 we gave at our spring meeting for this purpose 0,500. and. in addition. ,00O for other races, or a total of .SI 10.000. "In addition, my board is constantly meeting the desire of the public for increased accommodations and improved facilities for their comfort, and. whether it be an admission fee that is reasonable or a percentage that was below that of any other club in Ontario, the Ontario Jockey Club has never CNploitod the people or abused the confidence which tiie club has so long enjoyed. "A return of five per cent, or 0,000, for 1020 to die owners of the property, which is rated at 15, 000, represented by land, buildings and all fixtures valuation which I am informed is not excessive, is sure reasonable when your government took a rake-off of 39,407.75. 1 "My personal holding is thirty shares. Sir John Hondries holding is six shares. The estate of the late William Hendrie holding is 150 shares. "Neither Sir John Hendrie nor myself are interested in any other race course in Canada. CLUBS RETURNS NOT EXCESSIVE. 1 "Mr. Baney stresses the point that the Ontario Jockey Club has profited to the extent of 10,000 I from the result of betting operations. I quote his statement which was widely published: " "Dr. Butherfords report shows that on an in vest -i nient of 0,000 the members of the Ontario Jockey Club drew cash and stock dividends from their betting course business of 10,000 and tho stock . dividends were and are worth more than cash. This was an average of more than 00,000 a year and more than 1.000 per cent per annum on their investment. "Permit me to state the facts, so that you may . judge for yourself as to ho- far this statement is true and as to whether Mr. Baney was intentionally trying to mislead tlieapubllc. because the is as fully aware of all the circumstances as I am. ; "Many years ago tlie Ontario Jockey Club pur-: chased the Woodbiuc race course, when it was on : the outskirts of the city, for 50,000. Since that time the city has extended miles beyond Woodbine and, with the growth of the city, tlie value of the 1 property has increased, so that today the Woodbine r property is assessed by the City of Toronto at 15,- 010 and the 1921 municipal laxc; payable by the i liib amount to ..n.2..o00. As the value or the prop-. erty Increased the shareholders of the Jockey Continued on eighth pug. ONTARIO JOCKEY CLUB ROW Continued from first page. Club considered they were justified in increasing the capital stock to correspond more nearly with the value of the land, and stock dividends -were declared, which never equaled the value of the land alone. The Ontario Jockey Club has never paid a cash dividend in excess of five per cent per annum on the paid-up capital except during four years, when au additional five per cent was paid, under the following curcuinstances: "The Ontario Jockey Club, under its former board of directors, all now deceased, purchased, many years uco. a farm in Scarboro for iJlo.OOJ. which was afterward sold for 25,000 and a part of this profit was distributed among the shareholders in the form of a five per cent dividend extending over four years. "Mr. Itaney is just as familiar with the above facts as I am, yet in his statement he deliberately concealed the important point that the increased capital of the club was justified by the increased value of the land and, on the contrary, says, to quote his own words: The members of the Ontario Jockey Club drew stock and cash dividends from the betting-house business of 10,000. and tin; stock dividends were aud are worth more than cash. "I leave you. sir, to judge as to what dependence can be placed upon the statements of a man who would be guilty of such misrepresentation, of concealment of facts, as the above discloses. GLIMPSE OF CANADIAN POLITICS. "The Hon. Mr. Rauey has gone out of the paths of truthfulness in his wide condemnation of what the Ontario Joekey Club has not done to stimulate horse breeding. May I point out to yourself, your cabinet and your government that the very breed oC horse which you have so scathingly condemned provided your government for the year lUUO close to ,x.K amusement tax Included given by this people of this province, and yet your government has. up to this date, not seen fit to donate one dollar from this huge amount of money to assist a most important subsidiary line to the agricultural needs of the province, i. e., horse breeding, whether it be heavy draught, the commercial horse or the pleasure horse. The condemnation of Mr. Itaney niteht. be applied in another direction. "The vindictive censure of the Hon. Mr. Raney, attorney-izeneral of this proviueo. in assailing the race tracks for the abnormal gross returns received for 1120 can be traced to the conference between himself, some other members of your cabinet and race course representatives, at which the suggestion was thrown cut .to increase the percentage from five per cent the maximum my club had hitherto retained to ten per cent, but this suggestion did not emanate from the race course representatives; the public can judge for themselves the source. "When the affairs of the Ontario Jockey Club an; being maliciously exploited by the attorney-general of your government, to the press and to other bodies. I respectfully request that this letter be published in fairness to niy board, to the owners of the property, to the members. constituting the club and those people who are still of the opinion that the thoroughbred horse, racing him aud, if they so desire, to back their opinion on him, is not a crime. "A very noted Englishman Rt. lion. James W. Lowther, in au address to the Empire Club. Toronto, on the Rritish House of Commons, said it represents strong love of justice, fair play to minorities, however small, a keen sense of honor and. above all. an overwhelming desire and determination for clean and pure administration. Signed "WILLIAM HEXD1UE. "President Ontario Joekey Club."
