The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-07-28

st. Louis police are having a merry
time at the Delmar track, making a raid
almost every day. The running turf
seems to be at a loWI ebb in the esti-
nation Of the decent.minded people.sof
In the early days of running races
the sport was on high plane, contests
between gentlemen, as to the speed Of
their horses. The gambler element grew
more greedy year by year, and the horses
are now merely a vehicle for the placing
honesty is not much greater than that
OF a set of porch climbers and whose
moral character is nil. So notorious has
this condition become that it is no
longer possible to give a running. meet
ing without the bookmakers. The gam
blers pay high prices to " cut in'' at the
track, and this money, in addition to
the entrance fees-a small amount
goes to the purses. It will be seen that
the running Of the horses is likely to
be influenced by the laying of the odds.
The running track has become nothing
more or less than a gambling hell run
under a thin guise of responsibility. +
The governor of Missouri is the man
| who tried to put WEd' Butler, the
political boss Of ST.. Louis, behind the
bars and thereby furnished the Steffens
cult the food upon which they waxed
great-in'm magazine space Butler is an
from start to finish, and the men who
run it. He was in Kansas City Wednes-
day, and when asked for an opinion on
! the racetrack war at Delmar handed out
the following:
I found out years ago that there was
| only one way to beat the races, and that
| was to stay away from the race track.
Years ago legitimate trotting races were
well supported in this country. Then the
| sport drifted into running races and to-
day horseracing is nothing more than a
disreputable gambling game. The peo-
pie WHO are running the races are dis
reputable and the ordinary man has lit
i tie chance. The Missouri legislature has
/ passed a law forbidding betting at the
! races and Governor Folk is right in de-
rnanding Its enforcement. I predict that
within three or four years there will be
no professional horseracing in the
United States. It is a Skin game and
the people aareabosinddi to sauelch it.
| Fame is transitory. Bobby Walthour
4 the cyclist, won a fast race at Antwerp
Tuesday, and the eablegram called him
I a "famous American Jockey
! Duluth Automobiles, who are plan.
ming a run to the twin cities, had best
make it Minneapolis. IF st. Paul has
anything to do with it, there will be
enough rain to interfere with the har.
vesting OF the wheat in the Red river
valley for the next ninety days.
q Michigan has at last come around and
admitted that Minnesota is on an equal
footing with the wolverines at football
. If Truth lies at the bottom of a well
as she is rumored to do, it took the
Michigan folks long time to get busy
with their grabhooks.
! MPat" Powers and those associated
q visibility of breaking away from the
national agreement. This sort of talk
is not strange. The National and
American leagues appear to be big in
name only. They take the lead and
dictate to the so-called minor leagues
when they have little right to do SO
on big days, the Eastern league and
American association draw almost as
many fans as do the National and Amer.
) lean. The Eastern and American are
strong enough to refuse to be dictated
to by the other big leagues, and to the
man up tree it appears that about all
that is necessary to gain an equal foot
ing is for the two leagues mentioned tc
show up a bit of fight The smaller
leagues have to develop the players, and
after one good year the American anc
8 National gobble them up to nse then
until they begin to go back. Then they
kindly sell them to the other leagues
The two big leagues are not such 8
success but that there is always talk OF
: a twelve-club circuit, and one instead
of two leagues. each having eight clubs
!. They are not in shape for a fight witt
d the other organizations. It looks as tho
the associatio on Of minor ieagues had the