The Growth of Discipline: Shows 287 



secretary was George H. Smith of Providence. 

 The association was without funds, and the 

 president was expected to keep the wheels oiled. 

 Those who had opposed the movement tried to 

 show that its birth was spontaneous, and in an 

 editorial in the Turf, Field, and Farm, February 

 18, 1870, I said: "Does any one believe that a 

 call for a Turf Congress, issued by any associa- 

 tion two years ago, would have met with any 

 response .f* The people were not ripe for a 

 movement then ; men had to be impressed with 

 the importance of the measure, had to be taught 

 to look at it as representing something broader 

 than sectional pride. For two years the Turf, 

 Field, and Farm hammered at the idea, and after 

 two years of agitation the Narragansett Park 

 Association took the initiative in calling the 

 association together." The organization born 

 at the Everett House, New York, developed into 

 one of the most powerful track-governing bodies 

 in the world, and it stimulated breeding to an 

 unexpected degree. The best people of the 

 country turned their attention to the trotting 

 horse, and race-tracks rapidly multiplied and had 

 the support of the leading citizens of the com- 

 munities in which they were located. Trickery 



