The evening world., 1911-02-20
!. .R:Slz~~-
g:
Racing Game Needs LegiSIa-
ton, but Not Abolition. and
the Pari- MutueI Betting Sys-
tenn Used in France. Which
Makes Plunging Impossible,
Would Be the Means of Saw.
ing II in This Country.

Copyright. 1911. by The Pres. ruhll,hlne Co.
lThc New York World.
TT looks hard for the ancient and hon
orable game OF horse racing when
even California closes It's tracks.
when New York hardly knows whether
or not 1t Will ever have n chance to sec
the ponies run again. and when our
most famous breeders and trainers OF
racehorses talk OF going to England or
France TO live and taking all OF their
horses will them.
There was a time when horseracing
held a place among the most honorei
Of sports. II seems that legislators. In
stead OF smashing and destroying horse
racing. might devote their energies TO
making laws that will put the sport on
it, old footing. There Is one thing that
can do that-tho adoption OF the Parl-
mutuel betting system that has been so
successful in France.
OF course the professional "rcformers"
would yelp. but they form only a very
small percentage Of the population.
Their yelp 10 much louder than their
vote. They are Q peculiar people,
whose idea Of the individual liberty
guaranteed to all Americans 10 that
every one should be perfectly free to
do anything the "reformers' approve OF.
They work together well. IL there are
a hundred OF the came cut in tho State
OF New York that hundred calls on tho
Governor and the Legislature very i'm
pressiveiy. For each one OF the hun
dred there may be ten thousand citizens
who are OF the opposite belief, bu, the
ten thousand stay at home.
ITO go back 20 the racing game,
needs legislation. but not aboll-
9 ton. The bookmakers should be
legislated out Of existence. and with
them would 10 whatever crookedness
{ has crept into the game. with the Part
mutuel system. as II hold In France, the
Government controls betting and takes a
percentage. Under our system book
makers take not only a percentage. but
whatever they can grab by being in
on crooked races. They trim the
suckers"
The Par!-mutuel system makes plunS-
'ns impossible by the automatic action
OF the betting. II Is a simple system
suppose there are ten horses IN a race.
There may be, we'll say, SEQ bet on
cach horse. Tn hackers OF the winning
morse get 50 to 81 for their money, less
the Government percentage. Suppose
there is n fixed race. and the insiders
want TO plunge. ON the other nine
horses there is1Ss0o bet. A share OF the
WV Is all the %plungers can win. Sup
pose they bet $4,000 on their horse,
they are betting more than II to 1 on a
single horse against the field. Rather
ridiculous proposition. isn't It?
The Pari-mutusls In France killed
plungtng. Crooked racing naturally dis.
appeared At the same time. also many
other evils that were connected with the
get-rich-Quick game run by bookmakers.
But horse racing itself was never 50
prosperous as II has been since the
Government stepped in with proper reg
ulations.
Cut out the bookmakers and YOU NAV
md burglary and bunco steering mora
common. for Intelligence trained along
certain lines must find e-mnlovmo7t.
But horse racing will live ana hundreds
or thousands OF people viii find the
enjoyment they need Whatever betting
tAere Is Will be only such rational use
o. MS own money as any man has Il
light 10 make. The thousands OF peo-
Pile depending upon horse raising an I
training and racing for a livelihood wan
NOT nave their profession wiped out.
@NE OF the most !nterestins athletl,
events ! ever saw was the one.
mile walk at the N. Y. 4. g
games saturday might, A young man
named W, Goulding came down from
Canada 20 show our loca! sharpg aow
TO walk, and he SIrr..I.I H.. t,f...r