The Washington herald., 1908-03-29

We have tried to make it clear in spite
of the fact that some people viii persis,
in claiming that The Washington Herald
is opposed to horse racing, that it is only
10 the gambling feature Of racing that we
are opposed. But gambling is so idenu-
fed with running horse racing that when
writer in the current Everybodys. Mr..
Clarence l. Cullen. wants to discuss gam
bling at the tracks he calls his article
The Racing Game"
Agitation against race-track gambling
has come 10 head in New York, Illinois.
Missouri. and Kansas; and the reason for
the crusade is that people are coming TO
recognize the essential evil of it. What
helps the public TO see this so-called
game" in its real light are illuminating
articles such as this of Mr.. CuIen's. He
shows. fer instance, how the regulars"
are constantly recruited from a class
made up Of the small bettor, the office
boy, the clerk, the piker." The whole
complex racing world of owners. book
les touts. and tpsters is shown in its
war Of determination against the out
slider. the man who only thinks he knows.
Mr.. Cullen shows how this sport reaches
out its dope sheet tentacles from broker
to Office boy. until ruin, and often
physical breakdown due TO the nervous
strain, are the commonest portion of the
gambler"
Mr.. Cullen shows that racing depends
for IFS existence on its gambling features.
He says:
Horse racing undeniably is mainly q gambling
sport The Tawest turf recruit knows that il could
not exist were it shorn Of its gambling features
That experiment has been made and the point has
been proved. Yes racing is gambling game. Dur
ing the regular eight months season S4O.0OOOo in
round terms is wagered upon the chances Of the
horses at the New YORK tracks alone. When that
Is over the professional followers Of re game :esA
who survive the bufetings Of the regular season.
move on TO the winter tracks and continue the age
old Job Of wooing and wheediing the Lady Fortune.
Mr.. Cullen then goes on TO discuss
the various types OF race followers, the
''pikers,' and the other pony players"
recruited from every walk OF life There
are rising young attorneys" among
them and promising doctors. mer-
chants and brokers. and clerks and act
resses. Mostly. the bait has been thrown
TO them at some chance visit to the
track. They have made small bets and
won. and the fascination and the excite
ment prove irresistible
The hope OF the outsider is thus ex-
pressed by this man who knows:
IF the regular with his e1pertiSn and HIS almos,
uncanny knowledge Of the ms and outs Of the
mynadfaoed racing game docs not and knows IN
his soul that he cannot IN the long nln beat EN-
what possible OF impossible chance does the piker
cling to- what license does he hold 10 beat 'emr
For the most Part. the pkers clerks mere ofroe
boys. boOkkeeperS. sAlesmen. mechanics even dray-
men. walters, and the like, all OF them men who
have TO work hard and who even without gambling
are never more than four jumps in front of the wolf
Ct need. The disaster the ruin without remedy the
Uiminality into which 50 many hundreds. one might
almost say Thousands Of these little horse bettors
bring upon themselves through their passion for the
racing doTe' is, ! take H. more pitiable and more
hopeless than any other feature connected With the
sonorously termed sport Of kings. The piking game
hoids them does hasheesh its votaries. and they
scheme. conrive. and in the end not few OF them
steal in order 20 get the money wherewith 10 20
on playing EN- This Is the drab side Of the game
that even thc regular busy the tracks does not
see, Bu; every o5serYant who lives in an Amer.
icau city knows this drab side Of racing and Tie
squalOT ard misery OF IT,
This Is. merely additional testimony in
the case Of honesty and cecency against
the professional gamblers. in which the
gamblers have no defense 10 offer
Decent citizenship throughout the coun-
try is aroused. and is taking steps 20
guard itself against the race-horse gam
bier as it guards itself against any other
class Of criminals; and. fortunately for
the nation at large. the perniciOus ex-
ample Of public race-track gambling in
the Capital OF the Nation is going 10 be
stamped out