New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-09
TO CLOSE THE CITY POOLROOMS.

Senator Saxton in the Senate at Albany and
Mr.. Prescott in the House have. introduced
An amendment to the Ives Pool act intended
TO overcome the prepostcrors subtsrfuge under
which. ND to this time. the booksellers in this
civ have ESCAPED punishment for their nOtori-
ous violations of the law. The amendment
undertakes to do what everybody supposed
was already accomplished by the Penal Code
and the Ives Pool act combined. until District
Attorney Nicoll, the Police Department ana
some of the lower courts proceeded to show
how the law could be evaded. Among the in
sttutions of vice in this city few are more
thoroughly etficacious than the poolroOms. The
crowds that frequent them are composed most
~ of young clerks, statesmen and worklngmen'
to whom the almost invaIable losses they en-
counter are serious affair and peculiar in
drcement to crime Whatever may be thought
of the policy of permitting bookmnkng on the
,ac,tracks OF duly organized racing associations
during racing days. there can be no DOUBT 1ha'
these DoolIooms ought to he broken up. it IS
not an extravaeant estimate to say that at
least $500. 900 a week, drawn mostly from
the rockets of men who do not earn more than
500 a week. change hands in these pcOlrooms
Ii is form of gambling particularly vicious,
ard harmful TO the life of Newly ork to an
cyfent that cannot be calculated. While we
have never believed that Mr.. NicolIs claim
,bat he needed more legislation in order 70
convict tho booksellers was we'll founded 1t Is
highly desirable to leave not the reinotcst pos
sibility of q defect in the law. The amend
ment, therefore. should pass.
Elsewhere in to.days issue OF TIE TRIBUNE
is printed a description Of the proceedings OF
the poolrooms and of the crowds to be found
in them. Something is said, too, that throws
light on the fact that they continue to exist
in spite of our gambling laws. There is not
the smallest doubt that they are protected by
Tafhmany Hall in conducting their unlawful
business, and that the excuses OF officials Tor
not executing the law arc due TO the inter
ference of athe high authorities in Tammany.
The pretence that pools are not actually sold
by the booksellers but that they merely DO a
commission business as the representatives
of bookmaI<ers on the tracks IL so shallow
pretcncc and so easily exploded. that we should
be amazed al the audac:y OF those Offering
il if audacitcs Of this kind were not so com
mon. In all these places bets are received up
+, the vey second when the horses are at
the post. so that it is physically impossible to
transmit them to the tracks. Nothing Is easier
Than 10 Obtain the evidence that they are not
so transmitted. The betting that Is done in
the poorooms is just as much betting as that
which is done on the track, and il gambling
can be done or proved in any event it is done
in these poolrooms and can be proved against
them.
Another purpose served by the amendment
offered at Albany yesterday Is to make the
acts it condemns felonics, triablc in the higher
courts and MT by Police Justices and at
Special Sessions One OF the most serious diff
o,lties attending proceeding against the pool
sellers arises from the fact that they must be
taken before Tammany Hall Police Judges. who
for the most part let them go, and never punish
them except by the imposition of a small fine
This, Of course, has no deterrent effect, and
unless the Legislature wishes to abolish all pro-
visions OF law against gambling and to pro-
nounce it innocent it is an obvious duty to
render the law so stringent and complete rs to
prevent politicians and gamblers from tliiing
with it. 1t was the purpose OF the Ives Pool
act to confine all poolseing and betting to
the legitimate l'acetracks during certain speci-
fed period and under certain peculiar cOndi-
tions, and this amendment. reinforcing that
purpose, will be effectnal in preventing its
evasion. II it passes, the pooshops must be
closed or public officials must confess them
selves guilty Of deliberate conspiracy to break
the laws and to allow them to be broken and
in the wreck of tho poolrooms the frauds and
denominations practised at Guttenburg and
Gloucester will inevitably disappear.