Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-09
HUGHES FIGHT ON
THE RACE TRACKS
Opening of a Campaign in New
York State That Promises
to Be a Lively One.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

NEW YORK, February Z. 1908.
The anti-racing campaign is beginning
to make humming noise like a full-sized
gyroscope. Gov. Hughes how is making it
personally conducted crusade. This is
unlike his usual method. He has a way.
ordinarily. Of recommending the appoint
ment OF commissions for the investiga-
ton of institutions that are reputed to
exercise malevOlent or oppressive in
fiuence. But it is obvious that he wants
no commission for the handling of this
anti-racing business He's running that
job himself. in person.
There's reason" The reason is that
when it was first announced that Gov.
Hughes had in mind the investigation Of
the betting end of racing In this state. the
Jockey Club people permitted their sneers
to be too audible. They laughed right out
loud at the suggestion that the Governor
Of the Empire State could hurt the rae
Ing game any more than Il fly could hurt
rhinoceros. They intimated that plenty
Of sQuarer jawed Empire state governors
than Mr. Hughes had tackled the problem
of making the New York race tracks
conform to the law, and that they'd all
been glad to quit it when they found
their fingers burnt and their whiskers
singed. They really were altogether too
ey Club folks. Now. Gov. Hughes has a
sense of humor. all right. but it is a
grim Welsh sort of a humorous sense.
And he couldn't see the joke in the talk
OF the Jockey Club crowd. That unques-
Misunderstanding out his sincere convic
ton that he is working for the public
good-eXplains why Gov. Hughes is tack
ling this racing proposition in person, and
with more determine ton, not to say re-
lentlessness. than he has tackled any
nrOnOSifiOn
life. He didn't perceive any particular
reason why he should be asked to stand
for the feering ridicule of an intrencned
crowd who were violating the statute law
of the state Of New York. Signs are not
few. right now, that the turf authOri
ties are wishing that they'd been less
gay, so to speak, in their adversions to
Gov. Hughes anti-racing ideas when
those ideas first were announced.
Anti-Racing Mass Meeting.
Sunday night last there was an i'm
mense anti-racing meeting at the Ma
jestic Theater, and Gov. Hughes drop
ped down from Albany mainly to pre-
side at this meeting. The platform was
sprinkled with representative men
men of the stamp of Joseph Choate,
William WINS and DR.. Adler. The gov
ernor made talk about racing that
showed how profoundly he had gone
into the subject. Even the patter of the
tracks seemed to be at his tongues
end. He drew a picture of the evils Of
the gambling feature of racing that
showed careful investigations HIS teeth
came together with a click when, in his
perOration, he said that it didn't make
any difference what any one man or
body of men thought about it. the con-
stitutiOn of the state of New York pro-
he would feel at the end Of his term as
If he had been untrue to his trust il by
then he had not succeeded in stamping
out race-track gambling. He ventured
to predict. in this connection. that his
conscience wouldn't be hurting him un-
duly at the end of his term.
Clearly. Gov. Hughes is out TO win
this fight, and il may have been noted
by the gentle readers hereof tina, this
governor always has been a fiTst-rate
l to 10 shot in any old kind of fight
in which he enters; he has the winning
habit
Money for the County Fairs.
Yesterday. through the Instrumental
ity of Gov. Hughes a legislative bill
annual appropriation Of $3.50 900 for the
county fairs and agricultural societies.
This bill. which will go through, is to
compensate these upstate folk tor the
loss OF the revenue which they have
been deriving from their percentage of
the gate receipts of the race tracks.
Gov Hughes undertakes to assure the
agricuturists that this appropriation
will become a regular thing. Thus the
final prop seems to be knocked from
under the Jockey Club people. who have
been panderipg to what they imagine to
cultural society crowd for the rake-on
money. lifted from the race track gate
receipts, which has been their portion
since the Percy-Gray law came into ex-
istence. The upstate people are practi-
cal folk. They need mat money. But
IL they can get it without tacitly entering
into a partnership with a game that
thrives solely because OF it's gambling
feature. why. they'll quickly align them
selves for civic virtue and no gambling.
To be entirely fair, 1t should be said that
even before this proposition of making an
annual appropriation was made quite a
number Of the agricultural societies had
passed resolutions to the general essence
that they didn't want this race track
blood money SO badly that they were
willing to continue being partners in a
gambling scheme to get it. and that they
were entirely willing to do without the
money If they could have the assurance
that the racing game would have the
dOwn-and-out skids put under 1t.
Panic Of the Turf officials.
1t is more or less ludicrous to observe
the utter panic into which the turf
authorities have fallen under this sue
cession OF wallops. Their sardonic grins
have all been erased. Now they're
clawing the air and demanding square
deal"
The Jockey Club is inundating the agri-
cultural regions Of the state with pro-
racing "literatoor' The gist OF these
pamphlets is the ancient sophistry that
horse racing is maintained ION It's high
plane solely 'for the improvement in
the breed of horses. One wonders
whether the turf people are so indurated
in their Justification OF the brain pan that
they can possibly expect upstate citizens
to believe palpable a witticism as that
The Jockey Club pamphlets go on to ex-
patiate upon what a huge Industry rae
ing has become. The Jockey Club pats
itself on the back over its ingenious
scheme, started a couple Of years ago of
loaning a bunch OF no-good stations to
the various agricultural counties for the
Improvement In the breed of horses"
Then II maunders along with the old, old
claim that gambling is just plain human
nature, so 1t Is; that men Ways have
can't gamble on the ponies. why they'll
gamble on how many hairs they've got
on their wrists. odd or even. or on how
many house flies will light within a GER
tain area within a specified time. 1t
Intimates that the race track scheme pro-
vides the nachul-bawn gamblers with
nice, spacy, breezy places wherein they
can inhale the nice. cute. health-giving
ozone Cat s. per afternoons inhalins)
while they're sloughing Off their hard
wrung coin into the bOOkmakers' satchels