Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-21
Monday Morning, March 21, 1881.
POLICY PLAYING.


 On Friday the lower branch of the State legislature passed an act providing that the Common Council of any city, the burgesses and freemen of any borough, or the inhab- itants of any town, in town meeting, may make bylaws to suppress and punish all kinds of gambling and gaming, pool selling, policy playing, lottery dealing, bucket shop business, and the stalking or deposit of money, or collaterals for the same, on mar gins or otherwise against a rise or fall in the markets of the price of stocks, bonds, or merchandise, and to prevent Idlers and per- sons without apparent employment from en- ticing persons into places where gambling of any kind is carried on.
 This bill, it is understood, is aimed es- pecially against the great and growing evil of policy playing. How great an evil this method of gambling has become in this State, and in this city, few realize. It is peculiarly attractive to persons of small means, for pol icy playing can be pursued with as small 8 capital as one cent And it also accommo- dates gamblers of all degrees of pecuniary re- sources, from one cent upward. This con- venient game is extensively patronized by the poor, and by those who are not far from pow erty. Many who cannot spare money for the comfort of their families can find ten, fifteen, twenty-five or even fifty cents to spare on the chance that certain number will come out of the policy drawing in certain posi- tion. And many who can afford to risk small or large sums play for the excitement of the thing and the few Units" they make. Not few women (some of them in very respecta- ble positions in ife) play. In short, policy is attractive and convenient for all who like gambling, and numbers among it's votaries, right here in New Haven, hundreds of people of both sexes and all classes.
 One very objectionable feature of this kind of gambling is the superstition connect ed with it. It is carried on largely by the aid of dreams and omens. The prac- his grandmother. He consults his ''dream- book, :" finds the number his grandmother and proceeds to bet that that num- Der will appear when and where he wants it in the list of numbers drawn. If he sees two dogs together, with four legs each. he will construct ''sure thing" out of them. Or he will unblushingly play the number on the shield of a passing policeman. And he actually believes that by such performances he stands much better chance of winning han by selecting number from an arith- netical table
 We need not point out the evil effects of all this. Few policy players make any money. Many lose all they can get hold of, and be- coming fascinated with the game, cannot cave it. As a consequence they suffer, and their families also, where they have families. Moreover, it does not improve the minds or morals of those who engage in it.
 In New Haven alone, we are informed by good authority, there are probably twenty policy shops" to tempt the people to throw away their money. How many there are in other cities in the State we do not know, but there are altogether too many. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the movement against them will amonnt to something.