New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-01

OF tho very highest social position no sman pors,V.n
Of the public believes tho Turf rotten from end 70
end: that there arc honorable men who race honor
ably but that tho system Is utterly corrupt Tney
Jockeys arc believed to arrange among themselves what
horse shall win Thcy are forbidden to pot eu5 mpU
Club stop their betting All this and much else must
como out 4 tho present scandal Is not h,shed up Ger;
high viii be compromised. Nor is it easy for out
sders to understand tho difference between morally
and immortality as defined and practised on the
English Turf"
It Is true in America DIS in England that no
small portion Of the public believes that the Turf
is rotten from end to end; that there are honor
able men who race honorably: but that the system
Is utterly corrupt. And those people have a good
deal Of justification for this belief. Again and
again, on the foremost racecourses Of America,
last year. was fraud so openly and defantly prac-
tsed that only men who deliberately shut their
eyes to the truth could fail to detect it, Again
and again did prominent jockeys handle their
horses that the veriest tyro in racing could not
avoid seeing that they had no intention OF winning
Again and again did judges, who ought to show
resolution and determination to protect the pub
lie act like cowardly snealks In the presence OF
little upstarts whose success in the saddle within
few years Of their rise from the gutter had pulled
them up with an arrogance and Importance to
which old turfmcr ;,1t obliged to bow. Over and
over again on the racecourses around New-fork-
Of them can be excepted from this con-
demnation-was seen the spectacle OF horse win
ming with the greatest ease on one racing day. ana
being disgracefuy defeated by exactly the same
lot of horses in precisely similar conditions on
another day of the same week. Every man that
knows anything about the Turf has heard about
variations of form; but there are such things as
common sense and common honesty, and there
are q great many variations Of racing form which
cannot be explained In accordance with either or
these Some blind and stupid writer's, who seem
to think that every abuse and evil on the Iuri
should be defended and sustained, are always de-
nouncing those who try to purify and elevate the
sport. They always insisting that faro-bank
gamblers, professional swindlers, graduates OF
States Prisons, confidence operators, and other
men Of similar records and regulations become
honest upright, and high principled when they
run stable of thoroughbreds. They are continu-
ally arguing that street-boy born and brought
up among thieves, surrounded with pickpockets
and with every class Of criminals from his CRADLE
hearing nothing Of honor and honesty, only taught
to get living by any means, however vile, be-
comes when he has attained the skill to handle
q race horse, stainless little saint, whose honesty
in riding must never be questioned
AS Mr.. Smalley says, it is indeed not easy for
outsiders to understand the difference between
morality and immortality as defined and practiscd
on the Turf. 1t is bewldcrng and confounding
to observe men Of principle and conscience IN
every other relation of life stand on the Judges
platform at a race-course and see the great mass
of the race going public pundered by combinations
Of swinders and thieves without uttering word
OF protest, without exercising the power which
they have in their hands to stop such abuses and
frauds, and without doing anything TO prevent
the recurrence Of such infamies
1HE TRIBUNE has done more than any other
paper in America to expose the INSCRIPTIONS COM
binatons which certain owners, trainers and jock
eys have entered into 1t is almost the only
paper whose course has been sufficiently bold
and fearless to be honored wish the hatred and
the fear Of the thieves OF the turf In fact, 1t
has been successful in preventing a great many
frauds, because the swindlers were afraid OF ex-
posture in its columns. But it can accomplish
little in the long run to make the Ilrf cleaner
and keep it cleaner unless it is thoroughly sup
ported by the Jockey Clubs; and racing in Amer
lea or anywhere else deserves to be sup
pressed absolutely with the stern hand unless the
racing associations will unite to make the sport
honest and keep it so.