The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-15

| but still a consolation. that we maven I
much to give up. Some games Will
stop entirely and a number of sports
will leave the territory, the rest will
Are there any big games now run
ming in this territory %
None that an old-time gambler
would call big. OF course there is slim
| play in Albuquerque, where the profit
gate sons of new rich men abound, but
| such games are rarely public. There
| is only one blooded player in Santa
! Fe.
The only really profitable games
are away out in the mining camps or
at the front of new railroads. About
| the deadest town in New Mexico is
Cimarron. which was once to the
south what Julesburg was to the north.
with the disappearance Of the cow
| boy and the petering out Of new min
| ing camps milling for high stakes
has died out. When the gambling
spirit subsidies it doesn't matter much
what the law $50 we simply don't
care whether or not the legislature
prohibits public gambling
Some of the liquor sellers and gam
blers of New Mexico are men of su-
perior intelligence. The other day
book THE Land of Sunshine" by Lii
liam Whiting. The only available copy
in town was the property of gambler.
When he went to return the book he
struse scientific work Desiring an
expert opinion on the new corporation
law passed by the territorial legisla-
ture. the same visitor was referred to
a saloon keeper as the only man in
town who had made a study of it.
In his message to the legislature
Governor Hagerman advocated the
passage of a stringent anti-gam bling
law providing penalties of from $500
to $4,000 fine and imprisonment of
from two months to one year, and rec
omm ended that any deficit be made up
by increasing the amount of the liquor
licenses. At present two-thirds of the
net amount received by the territory
from liquor and gambling licenses is
paid into the district school funds and
one-third into the general county
school funds. This open Endorsement
of public gambling is Objectionable to
citizens generally, and peculiarly so to
the prosperous settlers from the east.
The number of retail liquor licenses
in the territory in 1905 was 5s5. whole
sale licenses %, and gambling licenses
$50. The total income therefrom to
the territory was only s164.0o0. of
which less thar half came from gam
bling licenses. The figures for 1907
show no material change.
In the city of Ration there are 10
saloons and II licensed gambling ia
bles. The former pay to the city $500
a year and the latter 5000 year each.
Equal sums are paid to the territory
for the county and district school
funds.
In the towns of Roswell and Artesia
gambling has been abolished by ordi-
nance and the experiment of exceed
ingly high liquor licenses. as much as
$4,000 has been made with satisfactory
results.
That most of the games are unfair
requires no proof. In his message
Governor Hagerman treats of this fea-
ture thus:
t'Some of the games as played here
afford the PLAYER ESQ per cent less
chance of winning than similar games
afford in the large gambling establish
rnents of Europe which pay enormous
dividends to their stockholders
The games most general in New Mex
leo are so arranged that the chances
are MANY times in favor of the pro-
prietors.'
There has been long and gradual
preparation in New Mexico for the i'm
pandine prohibition of public gam
bling. About 1880 the female gamblers