The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-02-14

jackson, Ml5a.-in worus Iaifiv ptlst-
ling with de~nunciation Of the saloon,
bucket shop and pistol carrying, Gov.
Noel sent his first message Of import.
ance to both houses of the Mississippi
legislature this morning. The recon-
mendations he suggests leave no doubt
but what the fight to the dealth of the
saloon in Mississippi is on. He not
only wants state wide, or statutory
prohibition, but wants it incorporated
in the constitution of the state.
Gov. Noel is no less severe with the
bucket shop, and after showing the easy
road from the legitimate TO the lille
gitimate dealing in the products Of the
country, which makes a gambler out Of
a man without his knowledge, recon-
mends that it be closed completely and
forever, and that every person con
nected with the operations of such
gambling institution be made a criminal
and speedily sent to the pen. Besides
being made a criminal every person who
provides a building, a telegraph or tel
ephone or other facility, for operating
future gambling, be made liable for loss
to patrons, recoverable by the nearest
relatives if the victim himself will not
institute legal proceedings.
Gov. Noel recommends that more re-
strictions be thrown around the sale
and ownership of pistols, and suggests
that the crime Of ~manslaughter by
means of such weapons be higher and
the punishment more severe.
Following is the full text of the
Governors messages:
Representatives:
One of the chief objects of wise leg
~islation is increased security for life,
liberty and property by suppression of
crime, the chief causes for which, In
this state, are concealed weapons,
gambling and liquor drinking. Effec,
tive blows at these evils will greatly
reduce the number and grade of all
offenses. While laws, of themselves,
can not make evil men good, they can
make crime p~erilous and profitless, there
by restraining criminal instincts.
Pistols are made and used chiefly for
taking human life. For nothing else are
they adapted. Men who carry them are
brutalized by constant association with
an instrument of death and its sugges-
ton of shedding human blood. Contem-
p%lation and preparation Of necessity for
use of a pistol often creates such ne
cessity, seemingly, when none really ex-
lists. Additional restrictions should be
thrown around the sale and ownership
of deadly weapons. The defenses should
be better defined and possibly narrowed
to weapons of the largest size. Except
as to officers, otherwise than in connec-
ton with arrests, manslaughter is the
least otfense of which a jury could CON
Wet when a homicide was committed
with a deadly weapon which had been
carried concealed. The penalty for man.
slaughter being largely within the dis
erection of the court, could be adjusted
to meet emergencies.
Gambling in its various forms is one
of the prevalent crimes of the age, lead
ing to nearly all the others, especially
thefts, embezzlements, murders. Dealing
in futures is one of its most seductive
and ruinous forms. Speculation in actual
products and bucket shop betting on the
rise and fall Of such products shade of
into each other SO gradually that many
90 from one to the other without being
aware when they cross the line, grad,
ually convincing themselves that there
is no difference, and that the two widely
different transactions are identical. lie,
Ultimate trading, to men of ordinary
prudence, possesses some safeguards
Speculation in futures becomes so all.
absorbing as to draw to destruction a
very large share of its blinded and help,
less victims. Farmers, manufacturers
and consumers are vitality interested in
maintaining stable prices, but the inter
ests of gamblers in futures is exactly the
reverse, and they resort to imaginable
device and falsehood to so manipulate
markets as to rob outsiders. They are
a curse and a blight to all communities
which they infest.
Public Sentiment Asks That Bucket
Shops Close.
Public sentiment asks that the bucket
shops be closed, completely and forever
Besides being made a criminal
every dealer should be made liza
BILE for all losses to his patrons; and
every person who provides a building
telephone or telegraph, or other facility
for operating future gambling, SHOULD
also be made liable for such losses re
coverable by the nearest relatives, If the
victim himself will not institute lega
proceedings. When all who contribute
to make the operation of bucket shops
possible are made equally responsible
civilly and criminally, with tbe\ opera
tors, as in morals they are, the evi
will be effectively suppressed.
The brand of crime has been placed
upon liquor selling by the moral sense
of all the counties in the state, except
a few on the gulf coast and the Miss;s.
sippi river front. There the saloons and