We publish elsewhere letters of protest against the holding of
fashionable race meetings during the continuance of the war, and have added a note expressing our agreement. We should like to say here also that, though we are in no way opposed to racing, and recognize that racing, like hunting, has been of great service in keeping up a supply of the finest horses in the world, war time is not the moment for those luxurious picnics, called "races," in which the horses have become of a good deal lees importance than the luncheon- baskets, the champagne, and the smart dresses, let alone the bookmakers and the rest of the parasitic crew that attends these gatherings. One does not need to be a sour-faced Puritan to feel that racing, or rather race-watching, is out of place just now. If we give the jockeys, the bookmakers, and the banjo men a rest for a few months we shall not in any way have destroyed racing. We can revive it the moment we wish to do so, and very possibly revive it with some well. marked improvements.
Previous page
