Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-09
RACING BILLS DOWN
Question Whether They Will
Take the Count.
HUGHES Is TANNING THEM
May Come Up for Another Round in
Extra Session.
STORY OF THE HOT CONTEST
Governor Sends Special Message to
the Legislature Outlining
His Plans.
Special Dispatch tn The ,Stsr.

Special Dispatch tn The Star.
ALBANY, y. Y. April Gov. Hughes
indicated in his talk with the newspaper
men at noon today that he would call
an extraordinary session of the legisla-
ture to convene May II, and also that
he would call a special election in the
Niagara senatorial district to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Senator
Franchot.
Gov Hughes made known to the legis-
1ature what he wants that body to do
before it adjourns. April 23. The failure
of the senate yesterday to pass the Az
new-Hart bills preventing race track
gambling was seized upon by the gov
ernor for the subject of special message
to the legislature. and he shows in the
message his keen disappointment over the
defeat of yesterday. He calls upon the
legislature to enact every recommends
ton he made in his annual message to
the legislature last January which it so
far has refused to act upon favorably.
Hughes Means War.
The message coming soon after his
last defeat shows that the governor is
declaring war upon his opponents in the
legislature. and is putting it up to that
body to act on his recommendations by
appeals to the people.
Just what effect the governors mes
sage will have on future events in the
legislature is a subject of much COM
ment. The bills of Assemblyman Hart
dealing with the race track betting prop
osition are in a position where they can
be called up again in the senate. but
another vote has to be secured before
they can be passed, and this. the oppo-
nents of the bills say, cannot be secured.
Indeed the latter say that they can Sc
cure the twenty-sixth vote to defeat the
bills effectually. In the course of fine
message the governor says:
His Message Plea.
You are not asked to accomplish the
impossible or to write upon the statute
books a visionary scheme of moral re-
form. You are asked to rid our law of a
vicious discrimination whereby offenses
equally condemned by the constitution are
punished as crimes If committed in one
place. and are encouraged by the absence
of suitable penalty If committed in an
other
1T is not a question for the legislature
whether this vice should be permitted or
regulated. Under the constitution the leg
islature has no right to permit it or to
regulate it. You are asked to make
existing prohibitions effective. Instead
of virtually protecting pool selling and
bookmaking upon the race tracks. instead
of favoring them and subjecting them
to an inadequate penalty. the law can
and should effectively prohibit them
by imposing penalties similar to those
which are visited upon identical offenses
elsewhere.
Yesterdays Vote.
The vote of Senator Owen Cassidy of
Schuyler. republican. late yesterday
caused a tie vote of % to %, and de-
feated for the time at least the two Ag-
new-Hart bills. embodying the recommen-
dation of Gov. Hughes that the legal
protection be abolished which since 1885
has protected public gambling at race
tracks, whereas it is felony elsewhere
in the state.
Lieut.. Gov. CHAMBER in the chair, by
casting his vote to break the tie upon a
parliamentary motion, which. but for him.
would have resulted i'm killing the bills for
the rest Of the session. saved them for
another vote. at the discretion of their
intrOducer, Senator Agnew. at any time
when the order of business permits him
to call up the matter. The importance of
this bit of subsidiary procedure may
prove to be very great. and If by any
means the friends of the bills can gain
vote from the opposition. and at the same
time hold the twenty-five they had today.
t.iey might yet pass the bills and send
them to the governor.
Gov. Hughes made no secret Of his dis
appointment over the result of the days
struggle. He would not intimate what
measures he would adopt in the premises
but that he regards the matter as far
from settled he made clear by the follow
ing statement issued from the executive
chamber last night:
1T is impossible to believe that the
people will permit the plain mandate of
the constitution to be ignored. The con-
test has not ended. 1t has only begun. It
will continue until the will of the people
has been obeyed.'
Senator Was Kidnapped.
The vote came at the end of a day so
dramatic and intense that people who
have been about the capitol for a gen.
Grafton say they remember nothing like
it. Until the vote of Senator Wilcox,
last on the list. was cast against the
bills. the result was apparently in
doubt, although for three days the OPP
position has expressed confidence that
he would vote as he actually did
The most remarkable feature of the
day involved the mysterious absence of
Senator Fancher of Cattaraugus He
was known to intend to support the
bills and his vote was Indispensable to
their passage. Messengers searched for
him all the morning without result and
the charge was freely made by the sup
porters of the bills that his absence was
involuntary and would prove to be. the
result of a conspiracy. When A recess
was taken at o'clock he was still
missing.
He appeared at last when the recess
was about half gone with nothing to
say for publication. but story about
his absence told privately was accepted
by the supporters of the bill as confirm
ing their suspicious, and in it's details
convulsed everybody who heard 1T. The
gist of it was that he had Dutwitted
those who would have detained him.
and, as he put it: Here I am i'm time to
vote for the bills. as 1 have all along
intended to do"
Senator Cassidy whom the supporters
of the bills hold responsible for their
defeat. voted on two previous occasions
in their favor. although the friends of
tile measure admit that he has never
promised to support them on final pas
sage.
BELMoNT'S VIEWS.
Iockev Cluh Chairman Saws Plt6lic