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WHEN CHICAGO HAD RACING Days of American Derby, Greatest of All Races. Conditions Were Designed for the rieasurc of Self-Governed Adults, Not Weak Wits A Sport for Intelligent People. "In the days when there was life, activity, ambition and when conditions were designed for the well-being and pleasure cf self-governed adults, and not for weak wits, Chicago had racing. It had the greatest of all races, the American Derby. It was a city and not a town given over to quietism and ruled by negation," says the Chicago Tribune, speaking editorially under the caption Horse PacingYes? No? Daily Racing Form takes the liberty to reproduce this editorial, which strikingly illustrates the tendency of the present day, when intelligent people are deprived of certain pleasures because we make laws sacrificing the strong to protect the weak from themselves. Here it is : HORSE RACING YES? NO? Marshall Field III. and E. R. Bradley say they will give their names to the sponsorship of racing in Chicago. Bradley is a Lexington, Ky turfman. Racing, probably more than any other sport, needs honest sponsorship and conspicuous effort to keep it from going crooked. This great sport is a razor. It is dangerous to persons who will not use it right or do not know how to. It can be a cause of injury to the weak and inept. Its opponents say that clerks and other men whose salaries are needed at home gamble and frequently ruin themselves. They do sometimes. They lose their heads in a gambling craze and sometimes commit crimes. A racing season is a high point in life. It has excitement, color and a congregation of animated thousands, silks, flowers, exhilaration and drama. There is nothing else so spectacular, with the possible exception of football. It is the cause of injury to seme, but it is a great enjoyment to every one else sensible and self-disciplined enough to take what it offers and not spill the family happiness in doing so. It is with this as it is with another social custom which well not mention because it is too controversial. Intelligent people find the zest and flavor of life enhanced, and they are deprived of the pleasure because we make laws sacrificing the intelligent to protect the weak from themselves. The wisdom of maintaining conditions of society solely for the unfit is at least questionable. Wo enthrone the weak willed as the rulers of America. They say that conditions of life shall be so and so, regardless of the punishment inflicted on others, because they are unfit to live if character and wisdom are required in living. Continued on tvrelfth page. WHEN CHICAGO HAD RACING Continued from first page. Old time Chicago was not ruled by them or for them. It was ruled by wise men of great energy with vision. They wanted action and color, and they had dreams. They wanted to work and build. They wanted to play and enjoy themselves. The strong ruled, not the weak. They were proud of their city and they did things for it. They created that marvel of beauty, the. Worlds Columbian Exposition. The present generation has difficulty in getting up enough energy and ambition to keep the chief jewel of the exposition from falling in ruins. In the days when there was life, activity, ambition, and when conditions were designed for the well-being and pleasure of self-governed adults, andotfor weak wits, the city had racing. It hihe greatest of all races, the American Der-tfyT It was a city, and not a town given over to quietism and ruled by negation. We well remember . that day thirty years ago come the fourth Saturday of next June when the Worlds" Fair Derby was won by Boundless. A great horse and we had a ticket on him at eight to one. Chicago Tribune.
