A NATIONAL DISGRACE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 191, 2 May 1918, Page 6

A NATIONAL DISGRACE

"HOUSE RACING AND OTHER THINGS."

Sir,—Your correspondent Silas Stark t« a niiignificent "trumpeter" for tho irannwatu Racing Club, and tho fanfare ho has sounded in your colmnns is a high-sounding brass of the most brazen type. This club of its " charity" has devoted ~£40,000 of fools and gamblers' money to the war funds. Silas Stark calls it "profits." "Well! you can call anything "profits" nowadays; even extortion itself, in its most glaring aspect, has'been made "respectable" by christening it profit.

Yc-s! the racing men are "sports"— sports of the easiest typo, "sports" with fools' money—money got without labour, industry, or work, which, if so obtained in any other capacity or walk of life, would be designated by an unpleasant name Yet Silas Stark thinks such' sharp prnctice "an example worthy of emulation by those engaged in win-the-war movements." Ye gods! "Worthy of emulation." Have we as a nation and a peoplo descended to such a code nf morality as this? If so, then God help us and our children. Tho burglar, the highwayman, and the pickpocket do emulate these things, for they give of their "profits" to charity. They, too, have thei? "sport," and they "pay for it," but in a different currency to racecourse gamblers and sharp: ers. The "tote" protects racing clubs, the policeman protects society, and the American system of "t'oilars and dimes, and get the cash, no matter how, steal by night, steal by day, liat do it in a legal way," clothes the "sport" in a halo of glorified popularity, to whom state.s- - politicians, editors, and fools bow the knee in servile adoration. No wonder Silas Stark sees a striking contrast between these "heroes" ofsoci. ety and such commonplace, everyday institutions as the Protestai.t Political Association and the Catholic organisations. In his appalling ignorance of jjuman depravity, his want of balance and sense of proportion, he fails to see iu "spoi«t" that tlio "cle.w outside" of the platter is only n cloak for tho debauching within, and makes easy the way of crime, and generally loosens ihe strings of honoui and morality.

The rekindling of the bonfires of sectional hatred and reviving of religions prejudices slid antipathies is deplorable enough, if such is the object of these lDligious institutions, and I confess it looks suspiciously like it—but to prate about the "sports'" propaganda giving up seven-sixteenths of its trade and more than halt' of its profits "to help win the war" as a thing to be commended or worthy at emulation, or even of comparison, is the choicest hypocrisy ever uttered by a rational being, since neitner the "trade" .vur its "profits" are legitimate or honest institutions, and should be banished from our midst as a menace to mankind, a danger to the rising generation, tho.State, and the welfare of the nation. The twaddle your correspondent writes about tho Mamwalu flacing Clubs •mxietv "to win the war," and making "sacrifices" is 100 childish to need refutation Tf he had stated their wi lingne<s to offer a big bribe for Hie continuance of the 'nefarious business during the war ho would for once be making a true statement of facts, and putting the only interpretation it is possible to put upon their so-called "patriotism or "sport." It is a pity our brave lads at the front should be humiliated »y the application of. this bribe to the needs of the campaign. ' . In conclusion, Sir, I .think he. editorial comments in your issue ot the 2-lth need no further refutation -from- me than the letter of "Justice." There you have a -hiring illustration of the preference civwi to "sporf'-a soldiers wife and child "turned out" to make room for a ,«seles trainer, and a teacher likewise turned adrift. Isn't tins an instance, of "the interest m sport' being stronger thau patrioHsm? I leave tho "interest" to the Cabinet Ministers and MP's to be judged by their action? and legislation towards this iniquity, and, as to the Press giving its prefer!oe your issue of the 22ud furnishes k'one of thousands I could illustrate In that i«ue you report the big and enthusiastic meeting of ( pro est iig«in,. the Government's illegality, held 1 the KiV's Theatrc-a matter of national and "vital importance-in half a column of condensed matter, iiniule.hgible > anyone because of its curtailment and „„« 3 of the same paper you derate a whole column to "sport, ana in that column you publish, a club'* lament "that owing to the scarcity of lighti weight bovs it will be necessary to omloy gii'ls." Is it possible to sink lower ' lan this-I'lace young girls in s able d among the foul-mouthed votaries ot ort alwiiys to bo found therc-the vL, living the turf and the clubs a gratuitous advertisement to that end? 1 need stress this Press preference i«o further, 'or in every issue ot I HB Dominmos one takes up you iind the "u,,c waste of snaee, the sickening pubiicitv and prominence devoted to 'spun, lotto exclusion of healthy and.useiul Uteraturc, ami the inevitable ruination I oi! theilivs »w\ moral* of the readers w „o peruse it.-I am, g^^,.