The sun., 1919-08-31

t1E 90 say lIldI IN lile WiilteI'
when the natives cover theiI
exposed cellar walls with
boarded blanket of dead leaves and
withdraw indoors to mediate and en-
Joy the fruit of thrift, a cannon ball
could be fired down the main street of
Saratoga without endangering human
life.
The massacre that would be effected
by such a deplorable missile in the
summer, particularly in the charming
August just ending, one hesitates to
estimate Some cannon owning con-
troversialist might set out to dis
prove the figures by actual test at
an inappropriate time in the future.
1t ought to be enough, then, to say
that viewed in any aspect this has
been the liveliest month in Saratogas
history and to add that 1t also has
been by far the most auriferous
Turn the leaves to any chapter you
please and you cannot find its equal
for numbers of visitors and especially
for the concentration and circulation
of money, a satisfactory fraction of
which has, in one way or another
filtered into the pockets of these re-
ceptive Saratogians, so quiet and yet
so blissfully alert in their all the year
occupancy of this delectable valley.
The Old Saratoga.
The old Saratoga's obituary was
written when the law stopped race
track betting. 1t still had its springs
and fine air, and would continue to be
sought for health's sake long after the
breed of horses was improved to the
point of perfection. But, deserted first
by fashion" and then by the horse
men, ii withered and was once more
country town slumbering by the
foothills. Then the restoration of rae
ing and the great revival.
Mortuary notices were found to have
been written in haste and were can
celled. BY the summer of 1916 Sara
toga was pulsating hopefully with
out the use OF oxygen. Racing had
been resumed and development by the
State of mineral springs and baths
restored to the place some of Its an
cient prestige as a health resort and
inspired the vision of the rise OF a
real American Carlsbad. Once more
the hospitable Saratogians felt moved
to vacate their chaste dwellings and
rent them to strangers at a rate
which, in certain instances, yielded
the owner in a single season as much
as the house was worth.
h. nnariCa
Saratoga, while doing fairly well, had
its individual or community reasons
for desiring peace and the unham-
pered flow of their fellow countrymen
and their dollars. Freed from the de-
preston Of war, the city looked Tor
ward to the month of August, 1919. as
did the children of Israel to year OF
corn after seven OF famine. And what
they desired has indeed come to pass
The greatest race meeting In point
Of attendance and the transfer OF
money from man to man inevitably
has affected favorably the finances OF
q great many chronic residents, who
strive to please and are rewarded COM
mensurately. SO Saratoga just now Is
bursting its buttons and it is doubt
full If the old suit will ever fit again
barring the advent OF harder times
than are now apparent, or another
and improbable attempt to separate
those fond companions, horse racing
and betting.
Unprecedented Gambling.
We do not wish to view in any Gym
zeal way the conduct OF the good peo'
pie Of Saratoga In fact, now that the
hig month is over and the racetracl
horde is departing and the harvest II
in the barn, 1t may be expected tina
the stern morality which ever governs
this churchgoing community will as
sert itself quite stoutly and that Of
fetal notice will be given to the fac
that gambling has been INDUCED il
10 en- extent hitherto, in the SPartacaI
phrase, unknown even in this lux
urious city. We do not refer TO bet
ting at the track, which is permitted
IN its present form under the law, bu
10 the prevalence of games of chanc'
managed by we'll known professionals
Four gambling houses in the out
skirts OF Saratoga and six within tn
town have been running full tilt dur
ing the month. Saratoga has been de
scribed as wide open" 1t is not ex
actly that if opehness means tina
any one can get a chauffeur to TAX
him TO a gambling house where all tn
visitor has to do is to walk in and la.
down hts money. The chauffeur vii
take him all right but getting in
another matter. Sponsorage and iden
tification are necessary at all thes
places, except one or two near tn
centre OF the town, where crap shooter
admit almost any one to their democ
racy. 1t is testified that even these
like the more pretentious places, re
fuse admission TO natives of the re
gion.
Saratoga has also been called, be
cause Of recent goings on, an Ameri