14 THE RACING WORLD 



We have seen that " the Army, the Navy, the 

 Church, and the Bar," contribute inhabitants to 

 the racing world ; and indeed it is hard to find 

 any section of the community from which they do 

 not spring. The most unlikely people go racing, 

 or ** follow " it, which means, I suppose, take an 

 interest in it without being able to go. By how 

 many thousands of people has the name of Sceptre 

 been mentioned during the past three years, for 

 example ? The racing world is a vastly bigger 

 place than it is supposed to be by most of those 

 who live outside it, and notably by such persons as 

 the well-meaning little group who have drafted a 

 Bill to institute all sorts of reforms. They wish to 

 put down betting, an aspiration equally desirable 

 and impossible, and are anxious to start their crusade 

 by making penal the publication of the odds in 

 daily newspapers, and preventing the passage of 

 letters and telegrams on the subject of racing. This 

 matter has been much discussed, and I will here 

 only touch upon it briefly, to say that the would-be 

 reformers are attempting what cannot be done, and 

 what, if it could be, would result in infinitely more 

 harm than good. The state of the odds, as I have 

 before remarked, and apologise for repetition only 

 the observation fits into the present place, is a 

 matter of great interest to large numbers of people 



