Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-21
COLLAPSE OF THE PUNCTURED
RACING GAME IN NEW YORK
ATTENDANCE NOW VERY SMALL

gouging basis. For example the fellow
who runs the catering end OF the New
York tracks has been charging year
after year. 30 cents fo- the kind
OF ham sandwich tina. you'd kick about
getting at tank station IN Idaho. The
track visitor who desired 20 stake his
thirst with u little maltous fluid had TO
dig 80 cents for nickel bottle OF beer.
And the whole scale OF prices for every
thing in the line ot refreshments was on
the same scale OF extortion.
No attention whatever was paid 10 the
comfort or the people who dug up their
ltt!e three-SHots at the gate. The pub
lie complained for years about the huge
builleS OF bo0kmakerS runners who cata-
puited themselves through the betting
rings Knocking visitors right aud left and
often seriously inluring track visitors but
the people in charge OF the game never
paid the slightest attention 10 these COM
plants. Indeed. II casual track visitor
thus rough-housed by these runners made
any sort of audible complaint about that
sort OF treatment he was additionally
pulled by some rufiian in the employ o:
the track and thrown out OF the grounds
as often as not
At not one race track around New York
has there ever been a chance on earth
Tor man who d .dn't care To drink rum
10 get a glass OF water for himself The
purveyors Of rum saw to that. and the
race track exploiters permitted them 10
ger away with II. If there had been
water. You see. why. plenty OF men would
have drunk the water and enjoyed il
and slaked their thirst that way. and
that: you understand. would have cut
into the proceeds from the sale OF rum.
so men who were anxious to keep away
from the rum bus ness were forced TO
the bars against their Will. and women
IN the grandstand who craved a drink
of water had to go without that's all,
or patronize the impudent bar walters
who hustled their trays through the
grandstands
The train service TO the tracks around
New York has always been of the vilest
ana The mere exertion of getting TO and
from the track not counting the terrific
EFFORT required TO struggle through bet
ting rings. utterly at the mercy OF book
makers hirelings, was enough 10 put
some casual racegoers on the fiat OF their
backs for days after making a holiday
track visit. In brief, the supporters OF
the game never were considered II was
taken for dead sure thing that they
nad the horse bug so bad that they just
had to visit the tracks. whether any
provisions were made for their comfort
and safety or not. The racing exploiters
seemed TO regard the folks who gave I'D
their good money at the gate mucn as the
proprietor Of the hop joint regards bis
patrons. They were victims OF the raging
game, and they'd visit the tracks any
now. and SO what would be the use OF
oolng anything whatever 10 make things
peasant for them? All that the racing
bosses wanted OF the public when the
game was good was their con Now
that the game has gone bad they are
whining for the publics sympathy and
support. But. after all is said and done.
the public has sort OF a memory OF its
own. and all the sympathy that the turf
bosses are getting at this stage OF the
proceedings could be put into the corner
OF bees eye.
The so-called English. or credit, system
OF betting is joke. 1t has been slyly
worked during the past week. but il will
die a very early natural death The
money that is bet on credit is the edu-
Gated money, the money of the shrewd
turf gamblers. who. like the bookies,
have their own little aces in the hole,
and the books don't profit from betting
transactions of this sort. Notwithstand-
ing the cheap scorn with which book
makers have been i'm the habit OF advert
ing TO dollar pikers." il has been a well
known fact for any number of years past
that the pikers really have been the back
bone of the turf. The fellows who got
the horse bug and swung along by the
| thousands every day with their little
| dollar or two dollars or five dollars to
| bet On a race were the boys who brought
the real good coin to the game. the kind
Oh com tnat STUCK TO the fingers of the
layers and lined their satchels. The
pikers were the poor devils who were al
ways shooting at the moon. and when
they missed their shots one day they
went out and dug. apd returned the next
day with another little roll And thus
they kept the good old game going for
the chalkers. Well, the credit system OF
betting can't be carried on with these
pikers who bring the nice. new. fresh
money into the game. because bookmakers
can't, you know, remember some hun
dreds OF bets every day, and so that lets
the nice, fresh money out of the game
| altogether. The piker has been run out
of the equation. and now the bookmakers
are Srieving their hearts out because they
haven't any more of those same pikers to
gouge that they used TO refer to so CON-
temptuously.
The present writer in this green
sheet correspondence with regard to
the racing situation was on record
last year to the effect that the racing
situation in New York was in a par
lous wabbly state. Permit him to GO
on record once again. to this essence:
Notwithstanding all Of the cuegerm1gger-
ing and planning of the bookmakers and
the race track proprietors. and the
schemes for test cases" to test the con-
stitutionality of the law. and all that,
| racing in New York is as dead as Au-
gustus Caesar. and II is only a question
OF a little more time when the tracks
around here will be closed altogether