33

Hundreds of Protests Against the Race.

President Shortall consented last night to add other information to the remarks contained in his letter.

"The letter which I sent to Nebraska last week," he said, "was the outcome of hundreds of communications which I have received since the race was first announced from every part of the union. Everybody interested in preventing this unjust contest from being run has written to the Illinois Humane society to stop it. Chadron is a small frontier town on the very border of Nebraska. Its position on the river bank, right opposite Iowa, has practically removed the race from the jurisdiction of the Nebraska Humane Society. The only ones that are left to cope with the proposed contest are the Iowa societies and our own. One of my first steps
was to place myself in communication with the humane society of Des Moines. I
have written several times to President Thomas F. Gatchell of that organization,
and am assured of its hearty co-operation in case the race is started. The other humane societies of Iowa are also actively engaged in preparing for the race. The Illinois society will have agents stationed all across the states of Iowa and Illinois, from Chadron to Chicago. If the warning which I tried to couch in mild terms in my letter to Secretary Weir is not obeyed, then we shall assuredly make good the alternative offered, and call in the strong arm of the law to see that the statutes are not ruthlessly violated. We can and shall have the riders arrested every hour or oftener. As often as bailed they will be rearrested.

Thinks the Race Will Not Be Started.

"But all these measures are not simply precautionary. I really have no expectation that the race will be started. Besides showing the intended riders that they won't be allowed to finish the race, even if they have the hardihood to start upon such an infamous course, our society has been hard at work upon the organizers and all connected with the scheme. We have shown them that such a race would redound a thousand times more to their harm than to their credit. And they well know that every one of them who is in even the slightest way responsible for that cruel race of 700 miles will be followed and prosecuted by our society unremittingly and unsparingly to the furthermost limits of the law.

"The cowboys, we firmly believe, will also be willing to resign from the race. The date of the race has been postponed three times. It was originally set for June 13, then for June 18 and the present date is June 23. We expect the ignominious contest will be declared off. The cowboys are fast being made to realize that the winner will gain no glory, while his $1,500 would be eaten up ten times over in court fines. Why, in the Berlin-Vienna race residents along the route closed their doors and pulled down the shades as the shameful spectacle dragged past. Cowboys want applause, not hisses. No, the race will never be run. If the cowboys will run from Chastron to Chicago on their own legs, instead of the poor horses, I should be much better pleased."

Hundreds of Protests Against the Race.

President Shortall consented last night to add other information to the remarks contained in his letter.

"The letter which I sent to Nebraska last week," he said, "was the outcome of hundreds of communications which I have received since the race was first announced from every part of the union. Everybody interested in preventing this unjust contest from being run has written to the Illinois Humane society to stop it. Chadron is a small frontier town on the very border of Nebraska. Its position on the river bank, right opposite Iowa, has practically removed the race from the jurisdiction of the Nebraska Humane Society. The only ones that are left to cope with the proposed contest are the Iowa societies and our own. One of my first steps
was to place myself in communication with the humane society of Des Moines. I
have written several times to President Thomas F. Gatchell of that organization,
and am assured of its hearty co-operation in case the race is started. The other humane societies of Iowa are also actively engaged in preparing for the race. The Illinois society will have agents stationed all across the states of Iowa and Illinois, from Chadron to Chicago. If the warning which I tried to couch in mild terms in my letter to Secretary Weir is not obeyed, then we shall assuredly make good the alternative offered, and call in the strong arm of the law to see that the statutes are not ruthlessly violated. We can and shall have the riders arrested every hour or oftener. As often as bailed they will be rearrested.

Thinks the Race Will Not Be Started.

"But all these measures are not simply precautionary. I really have no expectation that the race will be started. Besides showing the intended riders that they won't be allowed to finish the race, even if they have the hardihood to start upon such an infamous course, our society has been hard at work upon the organizers and all connected with the scheme. We have shown them that such a race would redound a thousand times more to their harm than to their credit. And they well know that every one of them who is in even the slightest way responsible for that cruel race of 700 miles will be followed and prosecuted by our society unremittingly and unsparingly to the furthermost limits of the law.

"The cowboys, we firmly believe, will also be willing to resign from the race. The date of the race has been postponed three times. It was originally set for June 13, then for June 18 and the present date is June 23. We expect the ignominious contest will be declared off. The cowboys are fast being made to realize that the winner will gain no glory, while his $1,500 would be eaten up ten times over in court fines. Why, in the Berlin-Vienna race residents along the route closed their doors and pulled down the shades as the shameful spectacle dragged past. Cowboys want applause, not hisses. No, the race will never be run. If the cowboys will run from Chastron to Chicago on their own legs, instead of the poor horses, I should be much better pleased."