Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-05-08
xEEoEo...A Blackstone vuLcAn,zEa.

Muscatine HIS had a shock. Thru
the efforts of citizens the state depart
ment of justice has had an agent in
vestigating matters in that town with
the result that gambling devices Of
sorts from dice boxes to rattle boards
have been relegated to the lumber
rooms to await quieter times. It
seems that the state suggested to the
city authorities that unless the cleanup
was made the state would deal hand
and shake a game or two with the
Cosson laws wild" So the mayor
proclaimed as mayors do and all the
devices went under the counter.
Up at Sioux City the council is
seriously considering an ordinance
providing a sentence to the rock pile
for the offenders against the speed
laws. Probably they will pass it. The
idea seems to be that if the council
makes an ordinance Of that sort the
scorcher we'll be so filled with fear
that he will slow down to five miles
an hour. If the ordinance passes it
will never be enforced. Some fellow
without friends may have a six-day
sentence handed to him but that's as
far as it will go 1t isn't intended to
be enforced. The foolish hope is to
scare the scorcher. In short it is
merely that official monkeywork that
seeks to avoid enforcing laws and
ordinances that can be enforced
Now why in the name of city gov
eminent and official duty was it
necessary for a state department to
come to Muscatine and threaten in
vestigation to stop widespread gamb-
ling in the cigar stores and drug stores
and pool halls? What's the matter
with the mayoro Why didn't he pro-
claim earlier. Better than that why
wasn't his police force ordered to pull
every joint in town that ran gambling
games The ordinance and the statutes
both provided against those forms of
amusement and systems Of gain. He
knew all about it. II he didn't he
ought to be removed for incapacity or
buried as a corpse The fellows who
ran the games aren't responsible as the
mayor for their running. OF course
they'll run them if they aren't bothered.
One fellow will start it and all the
others think they have to in order
TO hold their own. But the mayor, il
he did his duty can stop it all in Ave
minutes without being threatened into
doing his duty by the attorney gem
erals office.
And that rock pile proposition.
There's no need of rock pile for fast
driving in Iowa towns. We don't need
the rock pile. What is needed is just
a little official backbone. Most COM
missioners of safety and mayors dis
play spinal columns on the scorching
question almost as stiff as the string
the grocery man uses to tie UP pack
|ages. When somebody does some ex
traordinary stunt OF scorching and
comes up to pay for it it sometimes
costs him as high as $4.s5. And he
goes right out and yanks her open
and goes home at the rate of forty
miles an hour. If it cost $25 and cost
it regularly to nullify the laws and the
ordinances fifteen miles an hour would
mark the limit Of the speedometers
along streets where houses are within
| 100 feet of each other. We don't need
stone pile. We need officials whose
rubber backbones have been vul-
caniZed.
Law? There's law enough to make
this state not only decent but actually
religious.