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Here and There on the Turf Truth and Racing That Miami Campaign Milams False Reference Retraction Is Asked Since the recent answer to Marcus A Milams speech seeking to keep racing out of Florida a copy of the speech he recently delivered has been received that calls for a more specific answer The reason is that he undertakes to quote the American Racing Manual in a con ¬ tention that racing does not require bet ¬ ting or gambling as he calls it for success The American Racing Manual is a publication of Daily Racing Form Publishing Company CompanyThere There is nothing and there never has been anything in the American Racing Manual at any time that even remotely suggested the possibility of racing being conducted successfully without betting There is nothing to intimate that betting is not essential to the carrying on of any thoroughbred racing event except at a financial loss lossThis This is the portion of Mr Milams speech in which he makes this gross misstatement of fact and offers Ameri ¬ can Racing Manual to back up his ex ¬ travagant falsity falsityThey They tell you the track cannot run without gambling They either dont know what they are talking about or they are trying to fool you again againThe The Horse Review the outstand ¬ ing horse paper in the country and the American Racing Manual the official publication covering thor ¬ oughbred racing in the United States deny this and make the report that there are about 1800 tracks that were in operation in this country and Canada last season And on less than 100 of these is any kind of betting permitted or only 15 per cent of the tracks So you see the sport of kings is conducted on 85 per cent of the tracks of this country where the American people see it carried on as a sport All of this as far as American Racing Manual is concerned is manufactured out of whole cloth and Mr Milam cannot find anything in the publication to back up his ridiculous statement which un ¬ fortunately some might believe when he had the effrontery to quote American Racing Manual as his authority authorityIf If Mr Milam wilfully was guilty of such a false statement to carry his point he has resorted to despicable methods in the fight but it will be charged up to ignorance Someone has told him some ¬ thing and he took it for granted Pos ¬ sibly he has never seen a copy of Ameri ¬ can Racing Manual If he has soen a copy he certainly has not made any study of the publication and he has no right to make such a reference that is absolutely untrue untrueDaily Daily Racing Form holds no brief for the Miami Jockey Club or any other rac ¬ ing association but it will always use its every endeavor to advance the turf the greatest of all sports It will never have to resort to trickery or falsehood in its defense of racing for there is nothing in racing that requires apology In every other country where horses are raced it is a mark of distinction to be associated with the turf and fortunately it is in this country where the racing is such as receives the support of the best men and women of the land as it received in Miami MiamiIt It is more and more evident that Mr Milam has assumed a knowledge of the sport when he is absolutely ignorant He spoke with an assumption of author ¬ ity but what he said is so far from the truth that no sane man who has the slightest knowledge of the sport could find other than a hearty laugh at what he said Horse Review the other publication from which Mr Milam quotes is as he has designated one of the foremost horse I publications in the country But Horse Review confines its publication almost entirely to harness racing and it has never attempted to become an authority on thoroughbred racing the sport cov ¬ ered by American Racing Manual and Daily Racing Form And also the sport for which the sportsmen and merchants of Florida are fighting to preserve at this time timeAssuming Assuming that only ignorance prompted Mr Milam to be so utterly foolish he probably found his figures from some report of county fairs where trotting and pacing races are offered as a part of the entertainment These same fairs or at least most of them have no end of catchpenny devices in the way of paddles wheel of fortune ringing the canes and the many other side ¬ shows and thus the fairs pay their way The races are just a part of the fair and while the betting or gambling as he will call it may be prohibited there never is a race that does not attract wagers wagersThat That is probably what Mr Milam meant He knows nothing of thorough ¬ bred racing That is evident but it is manifestly wrong that such a loose tongue should possibly find some who do not know any more than he does of the great sport sportThe The fight carried on to stamp out the Florida racing is a campaign of ignor ¬ ance and falsehood and it cannot sway any thinking man who is fair enough to find out for himself himselfMr Mr Milam if he wants to be fair will retract his reference to American Racing Manual in backing up his utterly false contention that it is possible to conduct thoroughbred racing anywhere with financial success unless betting of some kind is permitted Incidentally this same Milam is a partner in the Drake Lumber Co and in the hardware company that was patronized by the Miami Jockey Club to the tune of 10987203 in the building of its beautiful course at Hialeah HialeahMr Mr Milams interests were at least well served when racing was brought to Miami He profited personally and evidently his company was thankful for the business brought to them When these contracts were made of course Mr Milams company knew just what use was to be made of the material materialMr Mr Milam is in the position of having his company obtain 10987203 from an organization that he is now using every endeavor to put out of business He evidently did not appreciate the evils of racing when the contracts were filled or his business sense caused him to shut his eyes to that evil evilThe The Miami Jockey Club is through building Mr Milam is through selling them and he is now endeavoring to chase the sport that was so good to him from Miami MiamiBut But the object of all this is to require that Mr Milam retract this reference to American Racing Manual He will surely make the retraction if he is a fair honest man for his references are absolutely false and the charitable construction is put upon it when it is attributed to his crass ignorance of thoroughbred sport
