The Colorado statesman., 1908-06-13
GOVERNOR BUCHTEL MEANS TO
SUPPRESS BETTING ON RACES

Denver.-Gov. Henry A. Buchtel has
sent letter to the attorney general
calling for the enforcement of the law
against betting on horse racing.
The letter to the law officer of the
state is as follows:
State House, Denver, Colo,
June s, 1908.
The Hon. William H. Dickson, Attor-
ney General of the State of Colo
rado, Denver, Colo:
Dear Sir-For a long time we have
had no prize fighting in Denver.
Mayor Speer made an end of this
vice shortly after | came into office
as governor At that time no one was
able to point out any method by
which the governor could secure the
execution of the law against the COM
mon vices of prizefighting and gam
bling and Illegal liquor selling except
by personal appeal. OF necessity all
my personal appeals at that time for
the execution of the law were made
without any publicity.
Immediately when you sought au-
thority from me to proceed against the
food trust, the way was made plain by
which l might proceed against the
vices of prize fighting, gambling and
illegal liquor selling. Accordingly l
issued a letter, December 2S, 1907, to
all district attorneys and peace Off
GERS for the purpose of arousing those
officers to a keener sense of their
duty under the solemn oaths which
they had taken.
In that letter district attorneys and
peace officers were urged to do their
full duty and promise was made to
send you into the courts, when such
an extraordinary proceeding should be
found to be necessary, and after the
necessary evidence had been brought
by reputable witnesses who would
agree to go with you into court to tes-
tify to such violations of law. An i'm
mediate response was given to that
appeal in many quarters. Mayor Speer
closed the public gambling places in
Denver at once and required the sa-
looms to keep the law.
On the 10th of April, 1908, directed
you to proceed against any men who
might be found guilty of illegal liquor
selling and gambling and kindred
vices in the counties of Garfield, Gun
nison and Ouray. Those three coun-
ties were named because so many
complaints had been made by repu-
best results came out of that letter
Today we have no open gambling and
no illegal liquor selling in many towns
where the laws have always been vio-
lated.
All this is good and wholesome. We
may now say that the laws are bet
ter executed than ever before in the
history of Colorado.
Certainly we ought now to take an
other step in advance and insist on
the execution of the law in every part
of Colorado against prize fighting,
open gambling and illegal liquor sell
ling. In this city, where gambling
houses have been closed and where
the mayor has closed all slot machines
it is a matter of common rumor that
an attempt will be made to violate
the law by open gambling at the race
track. l hope the mayor will act in
this matter as courageously as he
acted in closing the gambling houses
and the slot machines. In the event
that he does not act, 1 hope the dis
trict attorney will act as resolutely as
he did just before the recent election.
I'm the event that neither one shall
be faithful to his oath of office. we
need to remember that we are not
thereby exonerated from keeping the
solemn cath which we have taken to
support the laws. The plain letter of
the law is that all gambling is abso
lutely prohibited. We have no alter
native. We must do our utmost to
uphold the law. Under our statutes it
is made your duty to appear for the
state, prosecute and defend all actions
and proceedings civil and criminal. in
which the state shall be a party or
interested, when required to do so by
the governor or General Assembly"
l hereby require you to proceed to
prosecute any persons who may be
guilty of gambling or prize fighting or