The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-04-14

why mol clOse up the cribs. dance
halts. keep women out 0f barrDOms.
elOsf uD the Gide entrances b saioonh
for families and womcn--fnaRe good
clean town 81 Il. while you are about
II. I am taxpayer. why should not
my wife be able 90 walk down Astor
street as wf-l aa Exchange? Az o. Tho
moral side ~ the matter. this h a
seaport. Hnd | believe there are ire
presdblc evils whfch have 10 b. regu-
lated. but don't single out one for
Hplte work and let far worse ones
exist ~ II worse for young man
or hoy 10 Aes a gambling house on
the street than Il Is 20 be invited into
II dat By a whltc-facsd, paint-be-
daubed c3urtesan every tim. he walks
through a c'rtaln d.stro.? Clean up
this Whole buslD.as now"
II voted for uhe ordinance on moral
grounds alone. and still believe that
there win be- iesss gambling houses and
less gambling under license than no
license system. You hcsnse saloons:
why not gambling hOuaH, the lesser
evil of the two?"
Il dm't believe the mayors reasOns
for his veto are good He IN all right
on the money question; We surely Will
not g5y as much revenue under
gambling license as the present me.h-
od. but on mOrai grounds the license
system h byater The sign Gambling
House" would be like a danger signal
- railroad engineer rushing to de-
r;rucuou.'"
Now for an all-around clean town
force khe last resolution Of the c1uh-
ell TO clean up everything and give
the police something to do"
Il hops the police commissioners
win continue their mprd work and
make a general ci-an-up."
The mayor made a mistake. Gam
bling would BE- r-duced under license.
and To fence OF vice IN a corner by
iiHFtl HiNhyn - b1Nh1i AiAe@i W Haft ~
carried on secretly In the most re-
aped.abie sections Of the city Europe
and our own large cities have tried
81. by license or a well-rcgulatei un-
licensed system"
Close up the back doors and side
entrances nov. clean out the dance
halls and bawdy houses, and make a
real clean seaport"
The mayor In his reasons for veto
tlg The ordinance lays stress on the
assumed fac. that Il would be a le-
gallzation' Of gambling. He is away
OF on this proposition. The levy OF
license IN connection with the enforce
mcht 81 police regulations Is merely
incidental. The government or munl-
cipality cannJt regulate any trad.
traffic or other transactions among Its
aubjects without the levy of stipend,
or tax. as an Incident 20 its elforce
ment. Merchants pay municipal L.
ccnses everywhere Often the sums
10 collected are merely nominal, but
they serve their purpose as the ground
work upon which the system Of regu-
latiun depends for It's uniformity and
expense. No one VIII contend that the
payment. or non-payment, OF tax on
merchandise has anything to do with
the legitimacy or ilegiumacy Of the
business The amount OF the tax eN-
acted from the business OF liquor-sell-
ing may admit OF question from a
moral standpoint, as is witnessed by
the difference of opinion in favor Of
high or low liotCrse where the moral
regulation, known as local option is
IN force. 1t Is a fact. however, that In
the advanced and progressive sections
Of the east where this method Of deal
ing with the liquor traffic Is in vogue
the consensus of opinion, after years
OF experience, Is In favor of an extra
ordinarily high license instead of a
low one The high license conducting
TO more effective regulation by limit
ing the number of sellers and curtail-
ing the evil extent OF the traffic. The
levy Of a license ON evil off-colore1 oc-
cupations doesn't legalize them-it
merely recognizes their existence,
which must be endured, but the evil
effects of which can be best minimized
by regulation and the collection Of
more or less heavy penalties for their
prosecution"