Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-07-02
ABOLITION OF HOUSEKEEPING
By Frederic J. Haskin

The opening of the Canadian racing
| season at Toronto yesterday and OF the
Manitoba season at Brandon tomorrow
brings to American lovers of the sport of
, kings sorrowful thoughts of the fall OF
their favorite pastime. When one
reads in the sporting journals that the
! Buffalo handicap failed to fill, that the
stakes at Rome, New York, had 10 Dc
reopened because there were not enough
entries, that the Terre Haute handicap
was called off, and that even the great
Columbus handicap did not I'LL, he begins
to realize how thoroughfully the racing
interests have declined. The bookmaker
has been driven from pillar to post until
there are only two places in the united
States where he can ply his trade In the
open-Pimlico, near Baltimore, and La
tonia, near Cincinnati.
Only two years ago there were sixty
thousand people at the races at Belmont
park on decoration day. All lovers OF
! speedy horsefesh in New York seemed &c
be there. The bookmaker flourished in
all his glory, and 1t is said a million dol
Iers changed hands in the betting. Last
year the crowd had dwindled to twenty
thousand, and this year there were less
than FIVE thousand people within the
gates 1t is the same everywhere. Almost
in a night the American people nave
changed from the worlds greatest lovers
of horseracing to determined opponents OF
the game.
1t was thought that the outlawing OF
the race track in the United States would
result in the transplantng Of the Yankee
racing stables to Canada, but Canadian
sportsmen have declared that they want
no "carpetbag" racing there, and that
they will not permit the long seasons
that have been the custom on American
! tracks. However, the Canadians have not
yet reached the frame of mind where
the bookmaker is looked upon as an out
law. The Cubans do not have the same
| scruples against 'carpetbag" racing as the
Canadians, and the sportsmen OF Havana
are hoping to induce the American horse
men to come there for a winter racing
| season.
| 1t has long been claimed that morse
| racing cannot flourish without the book
| maker. and this finds no better proof than
| in the case of the Saratoga track which,
| M to the time of the opening of Belmont
| park. was the finest race course In the
| world Who does not recall Saratoga
| richest summer resort in America; place
where money flowed freer than the wat
ers of it's many springs; summer head
| quarters of both great political parties In
New York; and meeting place of states
men from every part of the country? Yet
the grandeur that was Greece and the
/ glory that was Rome are no more depart
| ed than the splendor of Saratoga. King
/ thoroughbred refgns there no more, and
a bill is pending in the New York legis-
! lature for the sale of the Saratoga prop
| erty to the state.
| Never in the history of the country did
| racing give more promise or permanency
! than in 1907. An army of men greater in
numbers than that with which the Unit
J ed States won the Mexican war, found it
their means of livelihood Enough mil
lions were invested in the sport to equip
a second-rate navy, and enough millions
| more were annually spent in its upkeep
| to maintain that navy. Never had such
| tremendous crowds gathered at the
| tracks; never had there been better
| horses, better Jockeys, better trainers, or
| better tracks. But what seemed to be
the signs of even greater future proved
the beginning of the end The very pros
perity of the sport contributed to it's I'M
| doing, and today horses that We're cheer
| ed by tens of thousands as they led their
! field under the wire, are selling for less
| than 10 per cent of the their one-time
| value.
It was the bookmaker who ruined the
| game He played both ends against the
middle with too great success. Statistic
| ians have figured out the percentages of
! the bookmaker, and these figures show
| that his chances were 60 to 40. In other
words, for every dollar that was posted
in bets he made 60 cents and the bettOr
40 cents. Ne might lose today and also
/ tomorrow, but the end of the season
! would show him well ahead of the game
/ The man who could least afford it was
| the frequent loser. He was the "piker,"
| the fellow who put up his money on a
''hunch," or laid 1t because he had heard
a rumor from the inside that this or that
horse was going to win a certain race
| The poor fellow did not know that the
boolmakers start most of these rumors
/ themselves, that the bookmakers laid
| their odds after someone held a stop
watch on the entries at their sunrise try
outs. The public simply constituted it.
self the guardian of the "piker" when it
| banished the boolImaker.
|
Never in legislative history has any
sport died so hard as when racing met
it's death in the New York Legislature.
1t is reported that more than 500, 900 was
spent in trying to stay the resistless tide
of public sentiment. But it was without
avail. The Agnew-Hart law was enact
| ed, and the bookmaker in New York be-
came a man without job. Then Califor-
MIA became the Mecca of the sporting ele-
| ment. who fiociked there like the gold
| seekers in 1S49. But that state prompt
| ly administered a black eye to book
making, and some five million dollars
worth of racing plants were rendered
Z useless. Then Louisiana followed the
! example of New York, and betting was
stopped at New Orleans. Colorado also
turned a cold shoulder to the sport. and
|