Bisbee daily review., 1906-11-22
aAmeLiNo QUESTION

Because gambling has received its
 ieath knell in many cities of Arizons
 and because it is doomed to be lee
 without a single welcoming place ir
 all the territory. the following editor
 tal from the Phoenix Republican will
 be of interest locally:
 The question of gambling which has agitated this community and disturbed
 politics in this city for several years
 will be settled one way or another next Tuesday. at least for time. Should the anti-gambling sentiment be defeated the conflict would be merely postponed. It has been evil dent for two years that gambling in
 Phoenix was doomed and all efforts in behalf of it have been directed
 wholly to putting of the fatal day.
 The republican council in carrying
 out it's prediction pledges has or dered the question to be submitted to the people and that will be done next Tuesday. We believe that whatever the verdict may be the council will execute it in spirit as well as in let ter
 The controversy which has been in- dustriously carried on by both sides necessarily centers about the finan- cial effect of a prohibition of gam bling. There is no other issue to be joined. There are no ethical ques- tions to be considered except in con nection with the assertion which is made on one side that the city cannot afford to dispense with the gambling license system at this time. The re- ply to that may be that the city can afford to undertake any real or imag- mary hardship rather than to permit public gambling to continue
 But it is not admitted by the oppo- nents of gambling that the city can not afford to cut off this source of revenue. They point out that the government can be conducted as 1t has been without money from the games and without adding a cent to other licenses or to the burden of the taxpayers. They go further and as- sert that the city and the county will be spared the expense which attends the prosecution of offenses directly or indirectly attributable to gambling. They also point to the present i'm proved business conditions in Tucson and Fl Paso, where gambling has been for the last two years. In addition to all this they argue that freedom from gambling viii give the capital city of Arizona a standing abroad which will benefit it in dol lars and cents. To aL this they add the saving of wages which apparently pass out of the community forever, leaving nothing in exchange. They make further point that business as wholly non-productive which can afford to pay an aggregate yearly license of s14,000 must be sup ported at a tremendous waste by the in whica 1t thrives.
 These are the arguments on the ma terial side of the question. Of the moral side of 1t there is nothing that ] can be said in bcoalf of gambling and nothing that need be said against it. All civilized communities are agreed as to the character of it. I
 Personally of many of the men who are prominently engaged in gambling In Phoenix much may be said in their favor. Whether or not they are hon orable in their chosen calling they are SO in their business relations with those who are not gamblers. and are progressive and public spir- tied. Put that fact cannot alter the other universally recognized fact that is vicious in itself.
 One of the worst things about 1t and the one which perhaps more than any other has confronted to the grow ing animosity against the practice is that 1t naturally attracts a group of hangers on, technically classified as ''tin horns." boosters" and "pimps," who constitute most unsiehtly, ul- cerous growth upon the cd immunity.
 No doubt many who might stand