The San Francisco call., 1898-03-21
PooLRooMs AND OPIUM JOINTS.

H URING the past week The Call exposed the l } extent to which opium joints and poolrooms 1 are being conducted in this city. The exposure showed that the two evils carried on with de- gree of defiant publicity which constitutes not only
 scandal to our laws, but serious menace to all men and women who by reason of any mental or moral weakness are liable to be enticed to ruin either by the gambling mania desire for opium
 On our statute books there are laws against each of these evils, but the laws are not enforced The police know of the existence of the poorooms and opium dens. They know where these places are they know the persons who maintain them and they know also considerable number of those who attend them Knowing all these things they make no arrests be- cause, as they caim long experience has shown that 1t is impossible to obtain convictions. In other words according to the police the laws inefficient or the courts inefficient to deal with either the dope hends or the poolroom fends.
 So far as the opium dens concerned 1t seems clear that the defect is in the law which requires for conviction degree and kind of proof that cannot be obtained So long all persons arrested for main taining an opium joint resorng to one for opium smoking have to be tried under the State law there can be hardly any convictions. The only chance for suppressing this evil before the assembling of the Legislature gives chance for an amendment to the law lies in the suggestion made by Attorney Drury, that if test case were car red to the Supreme Court that tribunal would hold that such offenders could be tried for violating the city ordinance This course should be followed The test should be raised and the issue deter mined.
 As for the poolroom keepers, their immunity to be dependent upon the juries that try them The law on the subject is sound enough and the police have in the past made many arrests, but convictions about for this oense for that of running opium joint This view of the subject carries the of the evil step further back and raises the question of reform in the police court jury system.
 Assistant District Attorney Black who agrees with the police that the failure to suppress poorooms in the city due to the ures before whom the arrested booksellers tried, said in an interview published in The Call Saturday: "If the Police Courts acted as they do in the Superior Courts in regard to the impaneling of jures better results in bringing law breakers to justice would prevail Where officer bring any anybody for juror it is hard to expect that verdict will be given in accordance with the evidence, friend of the man on trial can easily get in the way and be placed on the jury"
 In that drection then, the enforcement of the law seems to be blocked. Mr. Black says, however, it would still be worth while for the police to make ar rests and keep trying to procure convictions Police Commissioner Gunst seems equally convinced that the evil be suppressed the fight is kept up This policy should be vigorously pursued Poorooms in the city forbidden by law md the police should arrest all who violate the law even if the courts fail to convict them