Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-04-25

cock hghting. gambling and othe- pul
. Tic vices. They claim that Secretar
Taft promised them the privilege G
controlling their own affairs and the
would like to have that promise al
piled In this particular case by pei
mitting municipal authorities through
out the island TO decide whether ther
shall he cockfighting in their jnrisdic
ton or not.
There was never much bullaghtin,
IN Cuba. 1t was common 20 tease tn,
bulls by throwing darts into thei
hides and torturing them In othe
ways. This was called "bull-baiting'
and occurred frequently, but the bulls
were seldom killed.
! Lotteries Mere suppressed oy Gen
eral Woods order also. although 1t dc
priyed the government OF a revenue
/ averaging s2,000,000 year. which was
I collected as commission on the
Royal Lottery of the Ever-Faithful
/ island of Cuba during Spanish dom
! ination. This company was chartered
early In the nineteenth century and
paid the government 10 per cent of It's
receipts. There were monthly draw.
ngs, with capital prize of $4,000
and Christmas prize OF $3.50. 900. It
was honestly conducted and was pat
ronized by all classes of people, espe-
cially by the poor. Mercantile houses
bought lunches of tickets every
month. All their employees partici-
pated in the cost and the prizes Poor
people put their pennies together to
buy ticket, and a story is told of a
syndicate of negro slaves who pooled
their money. bought ticket and drew
a prize of 100000 with which they
bought their freedom.
Although the lottery Is suppressed
theoretically and the sale of tickets
Is forbidden, tickets In the Madrid lot
tery are peddled secretly from house
10 house. and not less than $4,000 a
month is sent to Spain in exchange for
them. It is, however, a great ad-
vantage to suppress public sales.
When | was last in Havana in 1896
every third person | met on the street
was peddling lottery tickets and half
OF the wages of the cigarmakekrs and
other working people were wasted in
that way. Frequent applications have
been made to the provisional govern
ment for the re-establishment of the
cid Havan lottery, and at least two
syndicates have applied for franchises
for bullfights, Offering to pay into the
treasury a royalty of $4,000 year
and percentage of the receipts. But
such applications have received no at
tention.
Gambling is forbidden by law, but
is carried on Just as usual at the clubs
and at Canfeld's Miramar hotel under
a clause in the constitution which pro
tects "domicile" from invasion by
the police. Everybody knows what is
going on, and the police have fire.
quently asked permission to raid Can
fields hotel and some of the other
gambling places that are masquerad-
ing as clubs, but Governor Magoon
says he Is not looking for trouble,
and the police have been compelled to
patrolman at the door of each OF these
establishments TO warn people who en-
ter that it is 'the gate OF hell"
But cockhghting is on entirely DIFF
ferent proposition. 1t has always been
the national amusement In Cuba, as
in the Philippines, and until General
Woods order forbiddig IL was issued
there was contest in every village,
on every plantation and in regular
cockpits in the cities every Sunday
afternoon. All classes of the. popu
lation participated, and 1t was not
considered immoral or undignlfed for
a priest to attend the game and sport
his own chickens.
There are arguments on both sides.
Army officers in the Interior say that
plantation and village cockfghting
does no harm and ought to be toler-
ated. but they contend that IL should
not be licensed. and that General
Woods order should net be revoked so
that the authorities can reserve the
power to interfere If necessary when
It is being carried too far. They say
that It keeps dissolute people out OF
worse mischief and affords a diversion
that promotes contentment among the
negro plantation hands. Many plant
ers also advocate 1t. They declare
that II promotes industry, and advise
the restoration of the lottery for sim
liar reasons, but those are entirely
selfish. They do not affect the moral
or pecuniary welfare OF the laborer,
but 1t is claimed that a planter can
get more work out OF his men If they
are afforded additional opportunities
to spend their money. Cuban la
borers never save anything. They
need very little. They never buy
homes OF their own; they live in mis-
cradle shacks without comforts or con
veniences of any kind. and their cloth
ing costs only a trifle. Formerly II
Is said. plantation hand would worl
six days in the week to earn enough
money to support his family. supply
his own wants, buy lottery tickets ant
have something left to gamble ava,
at the cockfights on Sunday. Nova
days. since the era Of reform enforced
| by General Wood, he has been abl'
TO earn enough 10 support his famil!
In four days, and there Is no reasor
| fer him In WORK tho other two Their,