Daily Kennebec journal., 1883-08-24
HisfeIlarrtnus.


finds its qualification in patronage and en-
couragement of sports calculated to try
and test physical capacity for skill. en-
durance or speed. Engrafted in the human
nature is an innate love of prowess in other
than intellectual walks of life. The erudite
archeologist whose profound research. Q
unravel ancient history from the hieroglv-
phics of the pyramids is a pigmy in popu-
larity to him whose bending oar has made
him ruler over International waters.
Humboldt, who revealed the science of the
creation, is nonentity in fame compared
to Sullivan. the unwhipped votary of the
Marquis of Queensbury. As securely as
the sporting world is ensnared by the fas-
cinations of an extraordinary performance
it is patent to most of us that the events
Of this order, which are decided on their
merits, are few and unfrequent. Indeed
1t can be said with unreservedness that
chicanery and fraud are the controlling
influences in reaching these competitive
judgments. The Unsuitable instinct which
is abroad for turning one dollar into two
on the cast of die has corrupted tile prac-
tice Of every form OF manly or skillful ex-
ercise More than one OF the pastimes
from which the public would be weaned
with most difficulty are in their very ma
ture delusiOn and snare. Probably no
sport out of door commands SO hearty or
so large a constituency as horse racing.
The development of fast gait in the no.
blest of animals has long been a problem
in which vast capital and profound study
have been engaged. But there is not
horseman in the Grand Circuit who will
brook the suggestion that the pool seller
be driven off the track, without predicting
that coincident with this procedure would
be the utter decline of the turf. They put
the matter in arithmetical form. By
addition, division and substractiOn they
clearly demonstrate that without resort
to the pool-box it would be next to imposi-
BILE to maintain the stables. whose we'll
bred nags make up the show at the trotting
parks No association. however fortunate
in its conditions, could afford hang up
purses large enough to defray the cost of
entrance The fortunes which are running
on four legs. too. must be put to use
designed to yield fair revenue on the in
vestment Upon the pool box, therefore,
the owners rely for the deficit. That be-
ing the case the state of affairs existing
to- day is not at all strange. When it is
so simple a matter to win or lose. the bet
ting must invariably govern the result
What is more, it is to the advantage of
the owner to keep his horse as far above
his best gait as possible, inasmuch as the
moment he touches bottom and gets re-
cord for the feat, his value of a racer is
plainly below par. This consideration.
also, initiates against the sincerity of all
performances of this character. Nobody
will pretend to controvert these statements
whose investigation has been anything
more than skin-deep. A legion of happy
illustrations suggest themselves. One
need not turn back the leaves of history
later than the current week. Flagrant
fraud has been practiced on the Buffalo
track by Jockey in the service of no less
noted horseman than Mr.. j. l. Case. of
Racine, Wisconsin, the owner of several
of the fastest horses in the world Blith-
ers is the culprit's name. The deliberate
double dealings of this contumacious
scamp, if it has not been countenanced,
has been winked at by the Judges. who
permitted him to drive on two successive
days after he had juggled with his horse
in the interest of the wager makers, un-
der their very noses. And though. his
cupidity was stripped naked he will mount
his sulkey at Rochester and at Hartford
and at Boston and at Poughskeepsie, and
wherever else there is penny to be
turned.
The incubus of practices equally repre-
hensible also rests over the courses at
Long Branch. Brighton. Saratoga and
other places where the blOoded stock of
Kentucky make the races. Until recent
lv the running meetings have been near
ly exempt from undisguised fraud, be-
cause the conditions under which the tho
roughbred runs are not so antagonistic to
honesty in themselves. As general
thing the crack stables, to are the play
things of opulent followers of the turf, like
the Lorilards. the Gebharts and the San
fords, whose motives wear a charmed ex-
istence. No one impugned the character
drumming meetings until a number of
gamblers began to figure as owners.
During the past fortnight the charge has
been levelled at the head of several lead
ing stables that the horses were not spur
red to win
The utter unreliability of the contests in
which the professional oarsmen of this
and other nations take part in an instance
of the regretable degeneracy of the man.
ly sports. When the accredited worlds
champion of the single sculls consents to
60 swinging around circle of mill-ponds
giving races like poppy-shows tor so much
a performance, the standard of competi.
ton must be considerably lowered. When
too, his friends cannot coniure up bet
ter defense against charge that he had
bartered tor a race at Chautauqua lake
than that the overture was made with the
prearranged design of violating the bar
gain if made. confidence must indeed
breath hard. The only redeeming fea-
lures of boat racing seem to be the regat-
tas annually rowed between representa-
tive collegiate crews. And the
remembrance that the infamous Shinkle
sold his birthright in Cornell University for
mess of pottage in Vienna creates dis
trust even in these events. 1t might be
imagined that competition like the Inter-
national rifle match would be removed
from the breath of scandal, but the rejec-
tion of Farrow as a member of the Team,
which America dispatched to Wimbledon,
is an inkling that the domain OF the butts
is to be invaded by the grinning skeleton
of knavery and deceit.
OF all the predominant pastimes of the
day none appears to be farther off from
calumnition than the game of base ball
Fortunately the tempt alton To make II n