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Copyright. 1913, by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved. The Gay Duke of Westminster and Our Harry Payne Whitney Touch the Limit of Extravagance by Spending $1,250,000 in 100 Minutes for 1 Silver Cup! / The American Team That Raised More Than Half a Million Dollars to Keep the Polo Cup in America. A $12.000 A MINUTE GAME°fP0L0! Cost as Estimated by Officers of the Polo Association iou rumcs Stable expenses.. Testing 10,000 horses Trainers Preparing Mead ow Brook Practice games... Running expenses. Travelling ex penses, English team Scouting service. Entertai nment Fund Interest on money $1 100,000 100,000 40,000 100,000 100,000 200,000 50,000 80,000 75,000 55,000 ,400,000 Mrs. Cary Rumsey Playing Back on the Woman’s Team, the Meadowbrook Larks. Mrs. Rumsey Would Like to Challenge the ‘‘Ladies’ Team of England” to Decide the International Championship— A Game That Would Cost Near- ly $20,000 a Minute. What the Stars Pre dict for* Next Month The Pony Often Moves and Thinks Quicker Than His Rider. The Result of the Game Frequently Depends Upon the Mount. challengers. A fund of seventy-five thousand dollars has been set aside to fete the strang ers whether they win or lose. The last time, when they were losers, the American team gave them a dinner that cost six hundred dollars a plate, a total of thirty-six thousand dollars. The forty-two English ponies have been bonded for $50,000, a small part of their pres ent value. If one of them is sold, the bond will be forfeited to the XJ. S. Government. T he j u n lunation, ruled by Venus, suggests v a unifying of dif- ^ ferences in in i’ ternal as well as international k problems. While Mars in the western angle threat ens a diplomatic complication, with belligerent impulses, Venus in the same quarter gives assurance of a temporary adjustment of pending difficulties. No fear as to questions of this nature need be felt in this period, though subsequent influ ences are nearly due which seriously imperil our relations with a foreign Government. A premonitory symp tom of this will manifest in the sec ond or third week of the month, but will be diplomatically hindered for the time being. Japan precipitated her differences with Russia the moment Saturn en tered Aquarius,, her ruling sign. This planet has now entered Gem ini, our zodiacal sponsor, a fact of which the wily Oriental, familiar with this doctrine, is fully aware. Our naval front and our financial independence, however, are propo sitions too serious for contending forces to view with equanimity. But some parlous times are ahead, just the same. Special happenings are indicated around the following dates: June 2—An active day in legis lative matters; ,the army benefits by appropriations. June 3—The death of a diplomat or a legislator. A railroad calamity in the Eastern States. June 4—Saturn culminates at 120 degrees w. long., hence demise of a prominent official near that parallel near the 4th and 17th, with political and industrial disturb ances, conditions that extend into Alaska. Foreign intrigue again threatens the Western coast. The ruling powers should consider the safety of our possessions further north as well as the more immedi ate domestic interests. June 7—A maritime mishap, but financial circles receive benefit, as likewise legislation favorable to the carrying industries. June 9—An official peculation brought to the surface; a goodly grist in the divorce mills; a calam ity affecting docks and wharfage. June 12-13—A social scandal. Crimes against women. Stock mar kets much unsettled, erratic de velopments on ’Change. Shocks of earthquake reported at this time. Foreign matters give the Govern ment much concern. June 16—A prominent wedding announced or takes place; unusual activity in social circles. e June 18—Harsh criticism of a public official; an eastern executive under suspicion. But national in terests furthered between this and the 23rd. June 20—Opprobium attaches to a social incident; gambling in higher circles revealed. Crimes against children may be expected near this date. A military bill re ceives favorable consideration. June 25—Disquiet in various ave nues reigns between this and the close of the month; accidents on land and sea, many notable deaths and building disasters. June 26—Calamity to a school building or place of amusement. Storm signals should be displayed along the coast, as the elements are much disturbeS at this time. June presents a more confident sentiment for Wall Street than the preceding month, and some very definite recoveries will be in evi dence. The first ten days are es sentially bullish, with the 2nd, 4th and 7th pronounced in this respect. Saturn sits darkly during June over the destiny of those born be tween February 27th and March 2nd, May 30-June 3, September 1-4, and about December 25 of any year, and more especially if born in the latter half of ’54, in ’61, early ’77, latter half of ’83, first half of ’84, latter half of ’90, in '98, or 1906. June 4, 10, 17 and 24 are particu larly evil days for these natives. The Pope has been and is ap proaching a similar transit of Sat urn in his horoscope, which tran spires in the first half of July. These individuals will be subject to dreary, disappointing days, in which health and spirits will be depressed, and will need use caution in business and personal affairs. Jupiter will benefit those born between the 4th and 9th of January March, May, September, or Novem her of any year, health will be ex cellent, the business interests forti fied, and new and influential friend ships will come into the life. Then best days in the 2nd, 5th, 10th, 11th 15th, 19th, 24th and 29th. Very restless and erratic for those in business and the eligible of the opposite sex, if born near the 28th of January, in April, or near the close of July or October. Chaotic and unreliable influences surround them; April natives had best be careful of cuts, bruises, and of over haste and precipitancy of business judgment during June. The first ten days are good birth day anniversaries, as also between the 14th and 17th, and between the 20th and 24th. Domestic difficulties are ahead for those born on the I2th-13th, while the 25th to close of month are ominous in all respects, and some very radical and unfavor able changes will come into the lives begun then. T WELVE thousand dollars a minute spent to win what? A silver cup standing some thirty inches high and worth perhaps five hundred dollars, and to y get it or to keep it over one million dollars is being lavished by a comparatively small body of Americans and Englishmen. Criminal extravagance? Let us see. It is not the cup itself but what it stands for that calls for this tremendous expenditure. Englishmen of wealth have gladly put up mire than half a million to finance this sec ond attempt to win back the cup taken from ') them in 1909 by four American players, Harry Payne Whitney, Larry Waterbury and his younger brother, Monty, and Devereaux Mil- burn. That contest cost sixty thousand dollars, the contest of 1911, when the Englishmen came to this country and failed, cost some thing over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, this contest a scant two years later will exceed one million. (Verily the cost of living is going up.) While the officers of the American Polo Association decry this tremendous cost they can not and do not deny it. It has, they say, several perfectly logical causes, the greatest undoubtedly bbing in the increase in the cost of the ponies. While there are one or two ponies in use to day that were used in the last tournament, the rest of the hun dred have been purchased during the last fifteen months, and purchased only with -this tournament in mind. Therefore, the price of these diminu tive horses was boosted at once by dealers and owners, and boosted very high. Ponies that could have been bought for five hundred dollars three years ago have cost -this year five and six thousand dollars. Early in June eight of the greatest polo players In the world, with a string of ponies back of them num bering one hundred and thirty, and valued at half a million dollars, will r compete for the silver cup and the championship title. When the dust is cleared from that battleground there twill be very little to show for the money spent. A few battered balls, some broken bones and mallets and winded horses. Some of the most costly horses will be useless as future polo mounts, and those left in good condition will depreciate in value the instant the tournament is over. They , will nave fulfilled their purpose, and ponies which cost five and six thousand dollars may be bought for less than that many hundreds. But the ponies are, after all, but one item of expense incurred by the men behind the players. These ponies do not d^op from heaven like the manna of old, they do not trot up to the polo grounds and beg to be bought. They have to be hunted down, and dining the past two years men have scoured the countries of the world for them, India, France, Egypt, Ireland and even the Argen tine Republic have been combed to find mounts that will fight to the last ditch. Speed is, of course, the greatest requisite. It is estimated by officers of the Pplo Asso ciation in this country that the horse hunting of the last two years has cut into seventy-five five thousand dollars for both teams. The men behind the last tournament rea lized long , ago that no one man nor club could stand the expense of this coming con test. Mr. Whitney offered to be responsible for half a million for the Americans, and the Duke of Westminster stepped into the breach for the English. The Duke, however, only put up three hundred thousand of his own money; another three hundred thousand was raised through popular subscriptions opened by the newspapers and through the individual efforts of the polo players of the United Kingdom, a total of $600,000. It is even whispered among those who ought to know that King George himself has subscribed ten thousand pounds to the cause. In this country the Polo Association has n spent over two hundred thousand dollars. In This Exciting Dash Down the Field to Save in Exactly the Same Stiff-Legged Position. One year than any college professor who trains the young American or young Englishman how to think. It is estimated that during the past two years more than $40,000 has been paid to the ten experts who have had the handling of the new ponies. These men are not included among the three hundred stablemen and grooms, they are in a class by themselves, and correspond to the train ers of a racing stable. Aside from the $40,- 000. paid to the trainers, the stable expenses for both teams will total $100,000. One hundred and twenty minutes of play ing, and whiff, the more than a million dol lars is gone. ‘‘But think of the fun we have had,” the players may say, and the man who will cavil at the money spent by others than himself is perhaps but a poor sport. When Captain Whitney tosses the first ball on the green turf he can truthfully say, “That ball represents a million odd dollars!” No one not on the inside has any concep tion of what it means to prepare for and carry through such a tournament as this international contest will be. Eight men in the most perfect condition, who have trained for months, eighty ponies on the active list in the most perfect condition, trained and cared for for months, fifty ponies in as per fect condition on the reserve list, ready to fight for a cup, a sentiment, and to fight in a business-like way. When the first four glossy coated mounts enter the Meadow Brook field next month and the second four follow in quick succession, only those‘on the inside will know that ten thousand ponies Were put through their paces a Goal, These Two $6,000 Ponies Were Snap; of the Most Remarkable Pictures Ever Take in this country and* England before this eight and the rest of the one hundred and thirty were selected! During the last year and a half these ten thousand ponies were ridden and examined by experts and this item alone added one hundred thousand dollars to the expense account. Sixty-four ponies must be In readiness for each game, one for each period. There are eight periods in a game, and in a tournament game no pony can be used more than seven and a half minutes at a time. But we have so far only accounted for a meagre $800,000. There are many other things that cost. The games will be held at the Meadow Brook Club, one of the exclusive clubs of Long Island. To care for the fifty thousand people who will see these games boxes and grand stands, at a cost of $80,000, have been built and these improvements have run the bill of costs up to $100,000. Since February the two opposing teams have been hard at work practising, and these practise games, held in this country at Aiken, Lakewood and Meadow Brook, and in Eng land at Ranlagh and Hurlingham and the estate of the Duke of Westminster, have cost another hundred thousand. Perhaps the English team, being challen gers, have the greater expense in a way, for they have to pay their expenses to this coun try and those of their mounts, trainers and stablemen; but on the other hand, the wages on the other side are much less than over here, and other things are also cheaper. The expense of getting here is offset by the entertainments that the Americans give the Mr. Whitney has subscribed another two hundred thousand and the individual amounts put into the sport mount up to nearly three hundred thousand dollars, a total of seven hundred thousand American dollars to be lavished on a rather inoffensive cup! The expense account for labor and service has been appalling, but what matters this? It is a good thing to put so much money in circulation, think of the mouths that this money has fed. Think of the work that has been supplied men who might otherwise have had none. At least three hundred men have been employed in this country and England caring for the ponies, training them, watching their every motion, their every breath, for after all, on the mount depends the outcome of the game and not on the man on his back (read Kipling’s “Maltese Cat”). Only the most expert trainers are put in charge of the stables, and these men who train the young pony how to play the game are expensive. They make more money in a