view raw text
MORE OF THE TEAPOT TEMPEST Secretary Cromwells Unnecessary Defense of the Thoroughbred Horse Association AssociationLexington Lexington Ky July 17 1919 Kditor Daily Racing Form In reply to your somewhat sarcastic comment of this date permit me to reiterate that regard ¬ less of what its president its vicepresident its secretary or any group Of its members may have said in New York or elsewhere relative to the Ha ¬ vana situation the Thoroughbred Horse Association has not threatened to combine with Cuban and other promoters and build another track near Ori ¬ ental Park or to boycott Browns track and raise a fund to keep horses from Oriental Park and sus ¬ tain those horses and horsemen which would be kept idle by its embargo during the winter winterThe The Thoroughbred Horse Association is incor ¬ porated under the laws of Kentucky Its affairs are conducted by a board of directors numbering twelve men menThe The action and utterances of the board of direc ¬ tors and of the members in regular meeting consti ¬ tute the action and utterances of the Thoroughbred Horse Association The Thoroughbred Horse Asso ¬ ciation has turned down a proposal that it en ¬ courage a second track at Havana and it has not received any proposals that its members not par ¬ ticipate in the racing at Oriental Park next winter winterFinally Finally permit me to bring to your attention the fact that discussion and action have two entirely different meanings that conversation is one thing and performance another and may we not conclude that the news was largely conver sation THdS B CROMWELL CROMWELLSecretary Secretary Thoroughbred Horse Association Mr Cromwells official attitude and statement is technically correct of course His idea of news however is somewhat cloudy He is a newspaper man and daily sends political news which is solely gossip conversation and discussion as sharp news so considered by the Cincinnati Enquirer and him ¬ self His definitions therefore have a peculiar humor of their own He surely cannot have decided that the newsmen of America have the wrong idea of the tools of their trade Daily Racing Form reported what was going on in New York and what was said and considered there about what was go Ing on That was news sharp news Any sar ¬ casm of comment on Mr Cromwells it is not true declaration was rather natural considering the abrupt and illmannered wordiness of that dec ¬ laration It is opined that after a consultation with with his principals Mr Cromwell may know that while the Thoroughbred Horse Association as an organization took no action in New York its committee earnestly discussed with horse ¬ men arid H D Brown the cures for some ¬ what exaggerated statements about the racing conditions at Havana as well as the boycott sustenance fund in connection with a boycott and support to an opposition track The gist of the offered cures was reported as fairly as the writer at least as experienced as Mr Cromwell in reporting could report them The report was news of a sharper character even than Mr Cromwells political news or reports from Ken ¬ tucky in the Cincinnati Enquirer Officialism evi ¬ dently clouds some reportorial eyes The New York conversation or discussion bore sharply on and was direct and influential enough to show the way toward the solution tof a matter in which Uaily Racing Forms readers were keenly inter ¬ ested Therefore despite Mr Cromwells strained definitions it is considered that the waving of thu official flag is a mere trivial throwing of dust by a fidgety official far behind the news of this partic ¬ ular case It Is certainly a tempest in a teapot regarded from any angle because nothing was re ¬ ported or printed to call out any defense of the Thoroughbred Horse Association Mr Cromwells attitude that such a defense was necessary is u mistaken one arising from the idea perhaps that dormant officialism is less than efficient
