Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-12-05
HORSE RAISING ALWAYS SURVIVES
sport Has Been the Object Many It Always
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DBy j. T. BAILEYD
| While racing has been the object OF
attack of many a. legislature i'm the
/ past ten years, all the trouble that has
| come to the sport has not been con-
fined to this generation. Time and
again there have been vicious attacks
and, unfortunately many of them
/ have for a time prevailed, but always
/ the sport has come back to its own.
| If the advantage to bc derived from
| the thoroughbred horse depended ON
no more than his applicability to the
/ turf and his fitness for racing pur-
( poses, We would not be writing this
article, In fact, the race course was
not i'm the beginning SO much thOug.
of as the scene for the display of MS
( high qualities, much less was racing
considered as an end for which the
eastern horse was imported into
Europe by Englishmen
| 1t was for the Improvement of the
native stock Of horses i'm England and
other European countries, by giving
to them speed and endurance, in
which no other breed can compare
with them, that the Asiatic and North
/ African horse was SO eagerly sought
during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.
Means Became the End.
At first the race course was resortod
to solely as "a method of testing the
prevalence of superiority i'm certain
animals or breeds of animals, of those
, qualities of speed and endurance
which can by no other method be so
completely, so accurately and so fairly
brought to the test. Soon after the
introduction of the thoroughbred this
process of testing his qualities grew
into a favOritc sport with all classes
of persons in England and racing be-
came an established national iustitu-
| ton. Thcnceforth, in some degree,
the objects of the owners and breeders
of race horses underwent change,
and what had been the means became
more or less the end Horses i'm q
high form, Of the purcst and mos.
faNOrite strains Of blood, were eagerly
sought, and commanded large prices,
for the purpose of sport and honor
able competition, as was the case in
ancient Greece during the period Of
the Olympic games.
At yet a later date second change
of the object has taken place, and,
with but few exceptions, the thorough
bred is now kept both I'm this country
and Europe for the paramount pur-
pose Of mOneymaking, either by the
actual winning of his prizes or by his
services In the stud, after his racing
career is ended for either or both of
which objects the highest development
Of the two qualities, speed end en-
durauCe-whiCh can only exist i'm con-
junction with thorough blood
coupled with form and size, are abso-
. lutely required.
Improves the Breed.
Still the first end of improving the
breed has never been lost sight Of.
and racing has been always so con.
stantly regarded as the only method
of inducing the maintenance of studs
| of thDrOughbreds and the continuance
Of a supply of pure blood. Racing
and race courses. therefore, are still
as they were intended to be from the
first the best and only mode Of really
improving the general stock Of any
country although the animals en-
plOyed may be kept merely, or gem
, orally, for the qualification of cupidity
and the excitement of the contest
the race course patronizCd by the
seekers Of an amusement, in which
none but fools and fanatics can find
anything intrinsically blamable or de-
moralizing.
II it be admitted that the race
courses are subject to occasional
abuses, that IS only to admit them not
to be exempt from a necessary condi-
ton Of everything human, not eXClud-
ing religion itself That they are
peculiarly, or more than any other in
stitutions, involving large congrega-
tions Of men and women, subject to
such abuses, is in no respect demon
strable or true.
Two charges, especially of gam
bling and cruelty. have been brought
against racing and race courses, both
charges irratiOnally and uniustly, al
though most Of the legislatures in the
! United States-which seem to have
| an especial mission for legislaying
| about everything which ought to be
let alone, and for letting alone every
thing that ought to be subject Of leg,
islatlon-have assumed the right OF
passing judgment on both these
charges and prohibiting, or to the ut
most discouraging, a noble sport, dl-
rectly tending to the Improvement OF
the first and most valuable domestic
animal and the development Of the
wealth, the resources and tue power
of nation and the manhood Of its
urban and rural population.
The first charge is false. as belong
Ing particularly to racing, or being
especially stimulated by t. Men. It
is known. who wish to gamble, Will
gamble on anything or nothing. They
may certainly bet on horses running
on the track, and do so-but they bet
also on every athletic game; on many
scientific games, In which chance has
not perceptible Influence on their
own powers; on elections; on casual
events; on drawing long straws; on
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window pane.