Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-17

fornia are going to organize Z
AA state association and establish
a state racing circuit on plans slightly
less pretentious than the grand cir
cult They also propose to so to th'
next Legislature and ask for some new
laws to help along the cause Of tn
| standard bred horse. Among these new
! laws to be asked for will be al
act permitting pari-mutuel speculation
| and auction pools. In order to gel
this last named act they will have
to cooperate with the running turf
of the state, in all probability, anc
| then it is an open question as &c
whether the act will find favor with
| the solons. About eighteen months
ago, when the signs of the times def
nitely indicated that the day of the
! bookmaker was passing at a fast rate
not only in California, but all over
! America, I pointed out repeatedly that
/ the only salvation of the running turi
was to be found in the voluntary apoi-
! ishment of the iniquitous and unfair
| boolxmaking system and the sub
stitution of the pari-mutuel system.
Had this been done it is doubtful II
| the Walker-Otis bill ever would have
nassed the house or senate. Now that
| the harness and running horsemen are
| forced to accept some substitute Tor
matchmaking. they are turning to the
mutuel system as last resort anu
find that success will be mal2rlaiiy
more difficult to attain than would
have been the case had they used or
dinarv foresight and forestalled the
present necessity by accepting the IL
evtable.
Whether the people of California
will be content to accept a compro-
mise now when they have won the
battle against racetrack gambling IS
seriously to be doubted. There are
arguments in favor of the mutuel
system. however that might have been
effective as a compromise wnen the
anti-bookmaking bills were up for
passage. The chief and most effective
argument in favor of the mutuel sys-
TEN, if turf speculation is to be per-
mitted, is the absolute fairness by
which the system works. The mutuel
system returns 50 per cent of all money
bet with the machines, retaining only
) per cent as commission for holding
stakes. There is no chance to lay up
a horse in the machines, as is done
every day on tracks where bookinakers
operate. A horseman has no induce
ment to qualify" or pull a horse in
order to get a price, as his chief asset
will be his own private information
regarding the fitness of his horse and
its ability to beat the field opposed to
it. The machines are locked at post
time. and there is no chance to cheat
where this rule is followed. The
mutuel system is the fairest and most
satisfactory system ever used in bet
ting upon races, and the turf began to
lose caste the moment i, was dis
carded in favor of bookmaking. Oral
betting never will quite fill the bill
so far as the public is concerned, but
if the mutuel system is adopted at
tandance records will quickly get back
to old-time marks and racing again
will become profitable to the pro-
moters and thoroughbred horseflesh
again will touch the topnotch prices
| of two years ago. when fortunes were
| tied up in a single horse.
All sports must be kept clean and
| free of taint in every particular.
otherwise, it becomes a game instead.
Bookmaking as d system of betting
on race results is all wrong, and al
ways was so. 1t never can be right,
because the bookmaker has too great
g. percentage in his favor and against
the public that supports him. AS long
as bookmaking is endured racing can
not be kept clean, nor can it rightly
be termed a sport. Under the mutual
system even bush meetings would be
run upon clean and honest lines in
be termed a sport. Under the mutuel
mutuel system racing again would be-
come a sport and high-class pastime
that all classes of people would enjoy
and patronize because it would not be
the gambling device that bookmaking
has made it in this day.
Harness racing is bound to become
as popular in the west as it always has
i,, iG a l1iph ola &C
sport and standard bred horses from
the west are winning laurels and
money at every grand circuit meet
ing There is no valid reason to Of
fer why an equally grand circuit
could not be formed in the west that
would be a serious rival of the east. A
circuit that would include Los Angeles,