188 THE HORSE OF AMEEICA. 



cated, but I can see no anatomical reason for this, as the two legs 

 in both gaits act as one leg. The only difference I can see in 

 practice is that the trotter has more up-and-down motion than 

 the pacer; that is, he bounds in every revolution, describing a 

 series of depressed curves with his back as he moves, while the 

 pacer rises less from the ground with his hind feet and seems to 

 glide instead of bound; in other words, there is less action thrown 

 away by the pacer than the trotter, and this may arise from 

 the more complex action in the diagonal than in the lateral 

 motion. 



The pacer has reached a higher acclivity than the trotter, but 

 he is not so well assured in his footing. His present popularity 

 and his upward flight are phenomenal, but the causes that have 

 sent him there are abnormal and not lasting. In his best in- 

 dividualities he is simply a gambling machine when in the hands 

 of unscrupulous men, to be manipulated in whatever direction 

 lie will make the most money. Eacing, at whatever gait, is not 

 necessarily demoralizing nor disreputable, but when it falls into 

 the control of the "professionals" it becomes both. So long as 

 it remains under the control of the breeders it is not only honor- 

 able and legitimate for them to develop and race their stock, 

 but it is a necessary adjunct to their business, for they must thus 

 bring their products before the public, if they expect to 

 make their business pay. Breeders should not own race tracks, 

 or if they do, they should have no part nor lot in the percentage 

 uniformly paid fdr the gambling privilege. 



The history of racing in this country teaches over and over 

 again that whenever the breeding and racing interest falls into 

 the control of gamblers, down goes the whole interest and honest 

 men suffer with the rogues. The grasping track managers are 

 to-day complaining loudly that they cannot afford to give trot- 

 ting meetings unless they are allowed to bring in the pool-sellers 

 and make them divide the "swag" with the track. Every at- 

 tempt by legislatures to make gambling on races a felony outside 

 the race track and a virtue inside is a most arrant humbug and 

 most destructive in its results. It makes the race track a cess- 

 pool of every vice, and a stench in the nostrils of every honest 

 man and decent woman. The moral sense of the people all over 

 this country is being aroused, and if public gambling cannot be 

 suppressed on horse races, then history will repeat itself and 

 horse racing will be wiped out. The gamblers and their friends 



