The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-24
MAY REVIVE RACING
 IN CALIFORNIA
Considering State Racing
 COmmissOn Plan
COLUMBIA PLEASED
Chamber of Commerce Holds Meeting of Protest and Demands That Turfmen Be Welcomed to City.
 Horse Market Is Good
Bx JAMES DoCKERALL


 New York, December 23.=(Special)- The reports which reach here from San Francisco that there is a good chance for the revival of racing in California have caused much pleasure in racing circles.
 It is felt if California should re- move the embargo on racing that other states may follow and there will be a revival of the game.
 Under the new California plan I un- derstand it is proposed to have the legislature legalize a state racing commission that will supervise the sport under pari-mutel betting. This commission will be patterned after the j. one in Kentucky. That racing commits sion has successfully handled the sport in the Blue Grass state. It is thought, with a few minor changes to better the conditions in California, that such a commission will do much to rehabil- fate the sport on the Pacific coast. The commission will, it is planned, be com posed of three men appointed by the governor, who will have absolute au- thority in regulating the number of meetings, dictating where they shall be held and how long they shall con- tinue, besides controlling the betting.
 A mutual betting system similar to the one which has proved so success ful in Argentina and in Europe will be asked. This will be controlled by the racing commission and will con sist of win and show pools, with tick cts ranging from S2 to S20. A commis- sion of or 10 per cent, as found nec- essary, could be taken from all pools xO a Ia nO m cials, and the commissioners could stip- ulate the amount of the purses to be raced for
 Primarily the move was started for the purpose of obtaining a 30 or 40 day meeting in San Francisco, during the Panama-Paeific International expo sition, although the real object is to restore the once popular sport to its own in California. Providing that the plans meet with favor at the hands of the lawmakers, the fosterers of the scheme will ask that the game be given thorough trial before the pro- posed fair meeting in 1915.
 If California succeeds in carrying through this plan, it is practically cer- tain that strong effort will be made to follow the lead in New York.
 Another gratifying piece of news comes from Columbia, s. c. Quick to realize the advantages that this city has de- rived by the presence of the racing folk, many members of the Chamber of Com merce met to protest against any inter- ference with the racing at the fair grounds. They made it known that they were glad of the opportunity to enter tain the racing people, and also showed the many benefits that the hotels, mer- chants, restaurants and boarding houses were reaping as a result of the presence nP 41,A
 haved racing men and their families.
 Even those who were hostile to racing had to admit that the turfmen as a whole who are in evidence here are de- cidedly of an opposite class to what was expected, and they have gained friends readily Pons, general manager of the Charleston track, announced positively that the development in Columbia would have absolutely no bearing on Charleston and that progress toward the completion of the track. to have 1t in readiness for the opening January 10, would not be halted. MT. Pons anticipates no inter- ference at Charleston and will continue with plans for that meeting as if noth- Ing had cropped out here to mar the serenity of the sport.
 It may be that the day of the rare horse is past, but the returns from the Old Glory sale in New York do not show it.. The total receipts and average pet animal sold in 1911 is greater than in the three preceding years and well above the average for the past 14 years
 The correct figures from the old glory sale of trotting horses indicate that the market of the American standard bred light harness horse is right now in much better condition in several respects than at any other time during the past four teen years, or since the old glory sale was established and held in this city, and of which we have the correct figures both for the total number sold and the amount received.
 What this one important sale of the year has meant to the trotting horse breeding industry of America and the market value of the strictly trotting bred horse can be better understood when it is stated that during the fourteen years or from 1898 to the close of 1911, total of 11,929- horses have passed through this one sale, and for which the buyers have paid the big sum of s5.09O,321.
 The figures show that an average ot &363 600 has been distributed annually among the owners and breeders, while every horse has averaged $40 apiece fol fourteen years
 During the, same period the manage ment of the old glory has held the samt number of sales at the garden under the name of midwinter sales, eighteen in Bos ton and Cleveland and one again at th, garden in March, and, while the tota amounts received and numbers sold II these sales are not at hand, yet there i not the least doubt but they have dou