The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-10
NO CHANGE IN
 GAMING LAW Campaign of Alderman ROemer is Defeated. IA WARM DISCUSSION Council Votes Confidence in
 Jackson Amendment. Aldermen Declare That Ordinance Is Stringent Enough if Police De- partment Will Do Its Whole Duty.
WARM DISCUSSION

The Jackson amendment to the or dinance regulating gambling in Mont gomery, which prohibits the police from raiding a game in a private house Is still in force.
 For nearly two hours last night. repeated counter attacks were made
 bl gallant Roemer on his 203 Metre Hill of the City Council battle ground.
 But Jackson had captured the position
 on May 16. 1904, and the attacks of
 Roemer were repulsed and his forces
 were crushed
 In vain did the crafty Holloway throw lyddite shells in the shape of legal
 opinions at the position. In vain did
 Roemer appeal that the Chief of Po- lice was powerless to suppress gamb- ling in Montgomery under the present l
 law.
 These attacks were met by Jackson, Sullivan, Gunter,. Forbes and Strauss and though the battle was warm for time the position was never in dan ger.
 Alderman Kohn tried with all his craft, with all the statemanship of a M. Delcasse, Q Balfour, or a John Hay to arbitrate the differences, but Roe mer and Jackson were both out for blood and tho compromise measure ot Kohn fell by the wayside. Roemer and Jackson were not looking for oil on the troubled waters.
 All warred on Chief. During all the attacks both sides paid their respects to the Chief of Police of Montgomery, who had been termed the Czar of City politics. He was criticized shaply by both sides nor did other members of his department escape from blame.
 It will be remembered that last spring, a squad of police entered the residence of J. c. Haas and there ar rested party of young men among
 whom was the son of MT. Haas who were engaged in a social game of
 cards. A howl was raised in the council. The police department was severely criticized but the arresting
 party was upheld by the law. Alder
 man J. Kirk Jackson then introduced an amendment which prohibited the police from entering a private house.
 The amendment was adopted. Several months later, the present
 crusade against gambling was inaugur-
 ated. The Chief of Police declared
 himself helpless on the ground that any tin horn gambler could place bed
 and washstand in gambling room and declare 1t his castle, exempting him from arrest.
 Alderman Roemer, in response to this plea from the Chief, introduced an or- dinance repeating the Jackson amend ment It remained in the hands of the
 Judiciary Committee for several weeks and Alderman Roemer began to fret. Last night majority of the members
 of the Committee reported unfavorably | in the Roemer ordinance. Their report was as follows:
 The Majority Report. The majority report of the commit | tee as adopted by the council was as follows:
 "The Committee on Judiciary re- spetfully makes an adverse report up- | on the ordinance to re-enact the law | that appeared as paragraph 1123 oi the city code and recommended that | said ordinance be not adopted. Public attention was first called ] to paragraph 123 upon the occasion of
 the arrest of number of young men who were playing cards in the resi- dence of the parents of one of them | by and with their parents consent | This arrest was affected by going l through window of the house. open. | ed by the police and was made with out a warrant
 "It was shown that the police saw | the game in progress. and that fl was violation of paragraph 1123 of the city code to play at any game of chance or hazard for money. or other valuable thing or to aid abet contenance or encourage any such game even in a private residence. The young men, therefore were convicted
 and aparagraph 1123 came before the
 public gaze.
 "Why the parents of these young men were not arrested for counte- nancing. encouraging, aiding and abet- ting the game, and violation of the same ordinance, can probably be as- cribed to the discretionary enforce
 ment of the law by the department
 It being shown to the council that
 law was on the statute books that
 made every boy playing marbles, ev- cry persons who participated in a card
 party where a prize was awarded. men
 who played billiards at SO much a cue.
 the loser to pay. and any person who
 aided or abetted, countenanced or en-
 couraged such game, was a violator
 of an ordinance of the city, the coun-
 ell very properly took the matter un-
 der advisement and passed a law less drastic but sufficient to cover tn ? grounds.
 "The Council referred the matter to
 the Judiciary Committee and after a
 thorough examination of the matter
 the committee presented the ordinance
 which is now the law of the city. This
 law is modelled after the State law.
 but Is more fAr-reaching. but it re-
 serves to the citizen the privilege of allowing his family to entertain at a
 card party without the apprehension of police interference.
 More Drastic Than state Law.
 "A mere reading of the law. IS it
 now is, will show that it Is more dras-
 tic than is the State law. which is sat