, 1880-08-22
GAMBLING III CHICAGO.

The City OF Chicago was never so OFerTuH
with gamblers and thieves as it is at present.
The Mayor processes to have list Of all the
gambling-houses. great and small, and Of
their owners, managers, and runners II
this be true, and We have no doubt 1t is, be-
cause the police can furnish such list at
any time, the question naturally arises why
the Mayor does not take any steps to break
upthese establishments. It is notorious that
games of faro, keno, and every other kind Of
gambling are in full blast every day and
night, and this with seeming confidence Of
exemption from police interference. So
notorious are these gambling establishment
thnt any policeman can point to stranger
twenty places on Clark street, and can tell
the kind Of game played and the names Of
the owners in d4ch. It would be unjust to
the Mayor to assume that be does not know
as much Us one OF his patrolmen, or that such
a condition of things could exist In the city
without his knowledge. Being possessed Of
n knowledge of all the places where crime
IS continuously enacted, failure on his
part to intcrpose his authority Of necessity
raises the presumption that all this crime is
perpetrated under his toleratlon and his
protection.
No person who knows Mr. O'Donne1l, the
Superintendent of Police, will attribute any
exemption from arrest shown to the gamblers
to unwiilingness on his part to perform
his duty; but the Superintendent IS subor-
dinatc to the Mayor, and the Superintendent
cannot be expected to arrest any Of those
who were the Mayors colleagues at the last
State~and National Democratic Conventions,
without direct authority from his superior
officer.
It is given out by those who profess to be
in the Mayors confidence that his Honor IS
trying new scheme, and that, instead of ar
resting the keepers OF common gambling
houses, as the law directs, he has taken the
gambling fraternity into his confidence, and
proposes to "reguiate," but not suppress,
gambling in Chicago. We are not informed |
as to the character Of these regulations We |
suppose the keepers Of these establishments,
in consideration of immunity from police in |
reference, are to be limited in their win |
nings; that they are not to take more than 50
per cent Of their gains, returning the other |
20 per cent to the victims; that they are to |
deal with reasonable fairness, being GER |
tain Of tue final OUTCOME; that they |
are to let the loser win occasionally,
SO that he may have at least some "sport''
for his money; that they are not to play with |
a man when he is too drunk to Know one |
card from another; that they are to permit |
no robbery Of the person, no violence, no
and that when they win from
q public officer, Or person having other peo-
pies money, they are to give the man enough |
to enable him to get to Canada before his |
arrest
The imagination can readily fill out the
whole code Of regulations II under which
gambling aud gamblers may be tolerated in
this city.
The long-contlnued immunity shown to
the profession has brought hither im-
menso droves Of gamblers. They have
come to this city to enjoy that liberty which
can only be found under the merciful
reign of the 'only best" Mayor that ever
was elected. They have become so thick
that they crowd one another In the streets
and in the saloons: and have begun shooting
at each other in public places, In the Southern
style.
We suppose there can be nothing expected
of the Mayor In the way of suppressing
gambling or the gamblers until after the
local Democratic Conventions have been
held. There can be no conventions without
delegates, and nny serious suppression of the
fraternity might prove inconyenient, II not
fatal, to Democratic nominations this fall.
until these Conventions shall have been held
We suppose gambling must be undisturbed,
except so far as 1t is subjected to the Mayors
regulations.