Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-03-22
The Morning journal Bureau.
Santa Fe. y. NJ, March 20.

u SANTA i Z. y. NJ. AldItn ~.
= The house tonight, by a vote of u
to >, passed the Spiess anti-gamblng
bin, which prohibits gambling in the
territory of New Mexico on and afte.
January /, 1908.
The only members of the house who
voted against he bill were Repre-
sentative Beach of Otero county and
Representative Green sof Socorrc
county.
The passage of this bill marks the
successful ending of the relentless
campaign against gambling which has
been waged by Governor Hagerman
since the day he entered the executive
office less than Il year ago. From
the day he became governor, Governor
Hagerman began to urge the neces-
sity of laws to suppress gambling. He
has pushed this campaign early and
late ard has lost no opportunity to
show the balefUl Influence of open
and official sanctioned gambling upon
the moral and material interests of
the Territory Almost from the be-
ginning of his campaign the governor
mas had the enthusiastic backing Of
the vast majority of the people, and
the passage Of the Spless bin tonight
marks the successful ending of that
campaign,
The passage of this bill places New
Mexico upon the same moral level
with other states and territories which
have placed the stamp Of Official CEN
sure upon gambling.
The SpieSs bill introduced by Presi-
dent Charles \. Spiess. of the coun-
ell, provides that on and after jan
uary /, 1908, it shall be unlawful to
own, conduct. operate or otherwise
participate in any game of chance
played for money, checks, credit or
any other evidence of value, and pro-
vides a penalty for the violation Of
the law of a maximum fine of $500
and six months in iail, the jail term
being a compulsory part Of the sem
tence, no matter what the fine and
while the bill specifically provides
that conviction shall be had only upon
indictment, the Jail sentence makes
the law sufficiently drastic, SO that
in the opinion of many anle lawyers
who have examined it, the law will
prove strong enough to prevent gam
bling in this territory.
Mr. SpieSs upon the opening day Of
the session, announced his opposition
to public gambling and his intention
to aid in passing a law which would
stop gambling i'm this territory. He
has fulfilled that promise, anf Gov
ernor Hagormans campaign has been
successfully closed by the passage Of
the Spiess bill tonight. A majority
of both houses of the legislature have
stood throughout for the passage Of
an anti-gambling bill, but the gam
bling and other interests have been
sufficiently strong to prevent It's pas
sage until dangerously near the END
of the session.
The SpieSs Dill was passed by the
council last week upon favorable
report from the committee on terri
torial affairs, of which Councilman
Miera is chairman, after 1t had been
found that the sanchez bill, which
had been passed by the house the pre-
ceding week, was defective in its first
clause, so as To apply only to the
owner of the building In which a
gambling establishment Is operated.
The Spiess bill was reported tonight
in the house by the steering commit
tee. with the recommendation that it
be passed. Mr.. Ruppe at once took
the floor and made a lengthy argu-
ment In favor of the bill.
Mr.. Ruppe early In the session in
tiouuC'u plIl " prevent SdIlplllS'
which was almost copy of the Lit
tlefield bill He spoke tonight in fa-
vor of the Spicss bill, expressing the
belief that 1t would accomplish the
purpose.
Mr.. Holt spoke in favor Of the bill,
although he did not consider 1t as
good bill as the sanchez bill He
said, however, that the bill had come
to the house so late that there was no
time to amend or substitute, IT for
fear that all anti-gambling leglsla-
tion would fail. Mr.. Biernbaum