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RACING BILL REFERENDUM Leaving Betting Question Up to People Only Chance for Measure i to Pass Senate. i i r c It was made clear Tuesday at Springfield that the Illinois state senate will pass no i racing bill that does not carry a referendum t clause, leaving the question of pari-mutuel I betting up to the people. This conclusion was arrived at after a hearing by the senate agriculture committee t of the racing bill, sponsored by the Chicago i Washington Park Club. The proposition to attach a referendum clause was suggested by Senator Dailey 1 Hep., Peoria, after directors of the Chicago Washington Park Club presented ar- t guments for the bill. Garrard Winston, af- : ter a brief consultation with the other direc- i tors, accepted the proposition. The hearing 1 had delayed Tuesday nights meeting of the senate an hour, and the committee was 5 ready to break up when the referendum t suggestion was made. I It was decided to withhold further con- 1 sideration on the entire matter until next week, when the committee will meet at the I call of chairman Lantz Rep., Woodford. Eugene Punk of Bloomington, nationally ] known as one the countrys leading agriculturists, spoke for the bill. *"I am not a race horse man." he declared. "I own no race horses, never did own one. and never expect to, but I have looked over the personnel of the organization behind the bill and know them all as responsible and dependable persons. The public not only de-mands amusement, but needs it. It wants horse racing." Senator Essington Rep., La Salle said he ] feared a return of abuses which killed racing in Illinois almost two decades ago, but that he would support any measure that assured clean racing. , •"To have good racing we must have good , horses and you cant have good horses at tracks that do not permit legalized betting," said Mr. Winston. Senator Kessinger Pep., Kane raised the question of the constitutionality of the bill , because of the pari-mutuel feature. *
