The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-02-07

others. Let US fl up these blanks'
Who bids for murder? How much
for arson? How much for any erime'
Let not the reporters notes here
show that the proposition has come
from Montxna's Legislature and
Montana's Statesmen to license
crime. 1 say that 1t is a disgrace to
any Territory and to any State. 1t
is q disgrace to Montana tol have
upon her statute books a law which
says it is lawful to gamble-to accept
q bribe an l say, For this you may
carry on a crime, simply that we may
I'LL our Golfers !! The idea of saying
that the people shall be drained In
this way, and that the laboring
classes must contribute their money
through the gambling ooms of the
Territory to support the Territory!
say that it is a disgrace to the
Territory CT Montana for any citizel
of it to stand up and say,"We need
to prostitute ourselves in order that
we may live upon our shame"
But where does all this revenue
come from? Does the gentleman
say for a moment that the gamblers
produce it? They might live for
centuries, and yet never would pre-
duce one dollar. They would not be
worth q cent to all the world in all
the ages that might come. They do
not produce. They simply drain
from the poorer classe, of the Terri
tory their h~ard-earned money and
then turn over a part to the Terri
tory, and this il what the gentleman
says we must recognize and encour-
age in order that Montana may ad-
minister her government!
There is another objection, and
that is that it cannot be enforced. [
desire to say in the name of Montana
that it Is not true. She can enforce
any law that any people on the face
of the globe can enforce. The Terri
tory of Montana is as far advanced
as any people on the face of the earth.
and the people of this Territory con
and will enforce this law to its letter,
ana they will compel these parties
to desist from this business which
has almost ruined the reputation of
Montana.
The gentleman is willing and anx-
ious to zee citizens flock here Of a
good moral character, and yet he
would have the people Of other states
b. lieve that we cannot enforce a law
that lis m~anifestly just. The people
of Montana can enforce it. The
moral sentiment is with it, as is
shown by the numerous petitions
that have come up here from all over
the Territory.
I received a letter this morning
from q man in Butte that I believe
nearly every one in sound Of my
voice Is acquainted with. It is from
a man who, himself, has felt the deg
relation of the very vice this bill
seeks to prohibit. He makes 2 sug
gestion. which I will rerd. breads
extract from letter. II e q men,
Der objects that it will take away a
great revenue from the Territory.
Tell him I can suggest q way to save
that revenue to the Territory. The
miners who gamble-all the revenu J
to gamblers come from laboring men
lose the money they should spend
for the comfort of their families and
homes. I know of women and chill
dren In Butte who have suffered
from sickness and cold because they
have not sufficient underclothing,
the husband and father losing bis
money every month trying to-. get
even. Now tell him to introduce a
bill to tax the undershirts and petit
coats that are worn by all females
over five years OF age, and he may
derive the same revenue and from
exactly the sane source and at the
same time cause the tax for that rev.
enue to be more equally distributed
There is some truth when we come
to think about 1t in the suggestion.
don't care how much men gam.
BILE who are welltby, but what. I dc
object to Is that these gambling dens,
such as exist in Helena and particu.
larly in Butte. rob not only the men
who go there, but their families also
1 know that it will close these dens
and allow the laboring classes to pay
their debts and suportz their families,
and when it has done that 1t has
done an incalcuIable coed.
Governor Potts in reply said: The
gentleman from Silver Bow is very
sensitive upon the question, unduIy
so, I think. When a pertinent in
quiry was made for u reason for the
change in the law. it certainly would
have been courteous for him to have
replied to it without assuming what
a member was going to do on this
floor.
The fact that the Territory has de
rived between sixty and seventy
thousand dollars per annum as a tai
from this practice, certainly made i
proper that this House should know
the reason If the change.
'rhe gentleman in discussing hi
bill, 1t appears to me, has given away
the whole question. He denounce'
the practice of gambling as a GRIM
against everything, yet he says b.
does not care how much the wealth!
gamble.