Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-08-13
THAT GAMBLING ORDINANCES.

Accept the Report Of the Committee |
ON Ordinances-Counci Cleave-
lands Eloquent Appeal-The End of
tho Matter Is Not Yet-Other Rout-
inc Business Transacted.
The meeting of the board of councilmen
last evening was unusually lively and In
teresting, the principal cause of which was
the proposed ordinance de pool-selling and
gambling. For some time 1t looked as
though no meeting of the board would be
held owing to inability to secure quorum,
but after delay of perhaps half an hour
the necessary number struggled in and the
business of the evening commenced. The
principal business of the evening, which
naturally attracted the most interest, was
the disposition of the ordinance de pool
selling and gambling, which came up be-
fore the board from the board of aldermen,
where the measure had been practically
killed. So much interested were the pool
sellers themselves in the fate of this meas
ure that the pavement in front of the city
hall was filed before the meeting with the
booksellers and their friends.
The proposed ordinance, which it will be
| remembered makes it crime and INSIDE
| meanor punishable by fine and imprison-
ment for any person to maintain q gam
| bling or pool-selling place in the city of
New Haven, came up before the board of
aldermen at it's last meeting, where the con-
| sideration of the ordinance was indefinite
| ly- postponed.
The matter then came up in the lower
| house last evening for concurrent or non
concurrent action. Immediately after the
| report of the action of the board of alder
men had been read by Assistant City Clerk
Martin, Councilman Parsons was on his
feet and moved that the board of council
men take disagreeing action by accepting
the report of the committee on ordinances,
which the board of aldermen had rejected,
and adopting the ordinance. This motion
| was ct once seconded by Councilman
cleveland, who, during the course of an
able and eloquent argument in favor of
doing away with all forms of gambling,
said:
Mr.. President-Before taking action on
this ordinance, which has been drafted
| and recommended by the ordinance COM
mittee. of which am a member, certain
observations should be made.
| In the February number of the Century
| Magazine Mr.. Buel, in his article upon
"The Degradation of the State" promi-
nently mentions New Haven among a
group of nine American cities said to be
hot beds of the gambling virus. I take it
that in this enlightened body no argu-
ment is necessary to prove that gambling
Is an evil: Even in New Orleans, where
the lottery has for years de-
bauched public conscience, a
popular uprising against it has
at last taken place and this years decision
Of the supreme court of the United States,
establishing the constitutionality of the
act of congress of 1890 prohibiting the use
of the mails in the interest of the lottery,
has sounded the doom of Louisiana's
curse. Certainly New Haven, where
gambling has only existed in defiance of
public sentiment, cannot now afford to be
advertised in the current literature as a
paradise for gamblers.
| had the fortune to be present last
Monday evening when this ordinance was
under consideration by the board of alder
men, and If, as we will assume, those who
| opposed it were not at heart acting in the
interest of the pool rooms of the city, but
were honest in the reasons advanced by
them for opposing this ordinance, it would
be doing them an injustice not to take for
granted that they will grandly reconsider
their former action and vote for the ordi-
nance when it is shown them, as can easily
|
misrepresentation of the exact situation
Apparently the ordinance was defeated
there simply because it was claimed by it's
opponents and incorrectly admitted by its
supporters that the ground sought to be
covered by it was already covered by state
ststutes. AS matter of fact, the exact
reverse is true. The ground is not ade-
quately covered either by state statutes or
by city bylaws, and this is why our city
attorney has not attempted to break up
two hourishing pool rooms which are in
full blast in the very heart of this city.
State statutes on the subject of gam
bling exist,it is true, but the pool rooms in
New Haven, gambling houses though they
| are In fact, are conducted with the express
design of escaping all liability under those
laws, and venture to say that their pro-
prietors will tell you with an air of entire
innocence that they are not violating any
laws against gambling, that they are simply
transacting business by telegraph, from
the pool rooms in New Haven, at the race
tracks in other states, for people in this
city. for whom they act simply as common
carriers. Few of US are unsophisticated
enough to believe that they do in fact tele-
graph allitheir orders to the race tracks.
yet loosely constructed as our present
statutes are such claims are much easier
made than disapproved. Moreover, this
is but one of many respects in
which our present statutes are defective
inese pool sellers are too shrewd to trans
act their business here in New Haven in
the open handed way they do if they an
ticipated that they could be successfully
prosecuted under existing laws, and our
city attorney in an interview has recently
stated that it is because the statutes do
not cover the pool rooms that no actions
have been brought against them and that
| an ordinance to reach them must affect
the acts of the common carriers locally
and describe particular offense.
Our legislature has acknowledged that
the existing state laws are unsatisfactory,
for in 1891 it passed an act which is now
section 1878 of the Revised Statutes au-
| thorizing the court of common council of
| any city to make ordinances to suppress
and punish pool selling and all other Kinds
| of gambling. Pool selling has within a
very short time grown to alarming proper
| tons in New Haven and the need of such
an ordinance for its suppression is gener-
ally demanded, not merely by teachers of
morals, but by our merchants some of
whose customers have been "playing the
races" instead of paying their bills; by our
institutions OF learning, whose students are
among the victims, and by others who can
name many in New Haven who have be-
come fascinated and are being ruined by it.
A few months ago an ordinance similar to
the Meriden ordinance on the general sub
ject of gambling was introduced in the
board of aldermen and referred to the or
dlnance committee. That ordinance was
man1festly inadequate and if adopted here
would prove no more effective than exist
ing state statutes, but the matter having
thus been brought to the attention of the
ordinance committee the committee be
heved 1t to be its duty to report to this
court an ordinance which would be effect
I've. Aided by the advice of one of the
ablest attorneys at the New Haven bar,
gentleman who has served as house chair
man of the judiciary committee of the Con-
necticut legislature, we have framed and |
reported to you this ordinance, which ia
substantially similar to existing statutes in |
Massachusetts and Ohio and which ia 40 |
worded as to cover the acts of the pool SELL |
ers in New Haven and to make unlawful |
the pool rooms which now disgrace our |
city.
Whatever we do let us clearly under-
stand that vote for this ordinance is a
vote for the suppression of the pool room.
and it Is 80 understood by the booksellers.
and that vote against this ordinance is a
vote for it's perpetuation. By an emphatic
vote in favor of this ordinance let us show
that the board of councilmen of 1892 can
always be trusted to do its duty, that we
seek the highest welfare of the civ and |
have been wisely entrusted with the gov
eminent of it's affairs.
Councilman Green of the Twelfth ward
opposed the passage of the motion, claim