New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-04-03
THE EARO DENS

We present this morning a startling exposi-
ton of the gilded vice that defes the law in
every quarter of the city. The clamor of pub
lie opinion as guided and expressed by The
TRIBUNE was enough to wake into a sort of
spasmodic activity our indolent police author
tiles, and the expedition against the keno
houses was the consequence. Although the
results of the effort were not all they should
have been, we felt inclined to consider the
good intentions of the Superintendent, and not
to withhold from him the commentator due
for even so feeble and hating a step in the
right direction. But this is a warfare in which
there can be no truces or delays. 1t is not by
| these momentary spurts of activity that a
chronic and coIroding evil like this is to be
eradicated. 1t will require the utmost dill
gence, energy, and nerve of the guardians OF
law and order to effect any serious dlslodg-
ment of these noXious criminals.
1t does not lie in the discretion of Mr.. SUI
perintendent Kelso to undertake or to decline
this work. The provisions of law are ample.
He has full authority to attack and to break
I'D these thick-strewn gambling-hells which
carry on their shameless traffic in every thor
oughfare of the metropolis. He is bound by
his oath of Office to do this. He is recreaDt
and false to his duty if he permits any con-
siderations of politics or of private friendships
to interfere with the strict performance of his
duties. 1t is asserted, and generally believed,
that many of the leading proprietOrs of these
infamous establishments are prominent and
trusted members of that party which
lies supinely under the domination of that
great center of fraud and villainy-Tammany
Hall. We can give to Mr.. Kelso a word of
loval counsel-fOr this is a matter in which
the public good should outweigh all party
copsderations-we can assure him that more
capital can be made by the destruction of
these dens than by assessing them for party
purposes. The independent and spirited IAN
guage OF Justice bowling, who declared on
Saturday that no member of Congress had
influence enough with the Judiciary to prevent
the trial and conviction of this class of Grim
inals, was so well received that it must have
convinced him and others that the true road
to popularity to-day lies in fearless execu-
ton of the law against the wrong doors who
have so long treated it with contempt.
The movement of Saturday against the So
called ebay Games in Chambers, Ann, and
Yesey-sts., was an eminently proper and timely
among I'll younger men of business, who would
often snatch dull half hour from their work
to stir their blood for moment with the wild
excitement of gambling. There was crying
need to pay early attention to this spreading
and growing disease in the lower regions of
the city. But the work must not stop there.
The luxurious and magnificent hOt-beds Of vice
that faunt their brown stone facades on our
most respectable streets and avenues must not
claim immunity simply because they are richer
and more destructive than their humber imta
tors. 1t is there that the demon of play finds
his favorite prey. From the orgies
of these disreputable palaces spring
up a plentiful crop of bankrupts, defaulters,
forgers, and fugitives. Even the red hand of
murder and the desperate madness of suicide
often find their moving cause in the excite
ments of these sumptuous bells. Every hour
that they remain, defiant and unmolested,
Turing their victims with the promise of i'm
punity and throwing in bribery to the officers
of the law trifiing pittance of their booty,
the very name of justice and good gov
eminent is furnished and stained. If there
be those who say that these social vices are
indestructble, it may be answered that
while law exists the magistrates are bound
to attempt its execution, and if it be impos-
sible entirely to extirpate these deep-rooted
vices, it will at least be easy to make them
infamous and unsafe-to hunt them from lair
to lair-and to convince criminals and victims
alike that they ere under the ban of society.
The authorities know their duty. They cannot
pretend to be ignorant of the facts which The
TRIBUNE has ascertained and published to the
world.