Iditarod pioneer., 1917-03-03
GAMBLING IN ANCHORAGE
 DISCUSSED BY NEWSPAPER

This town has been upset by raids on alleged games of chance that were taking place in certain pool halls and public re- sorts in this community says recent issue of the Anchorage Times. Those found at the alleged gambling games when the rsiding officers appeared on the scene were placed under arrest and have had trials or will be tried, as the case may be. The Times does not care to discuss the merits yf these raids nor to dilate on the subject of gambling and kindred vices that are al legged to prevail in this community, as well as in every other community in Alaska. We desire to point out wherein the fault, and the cause, of the whole trouble lies, and we unhesitatngly place the responsibility suuarely upon the shoulders of the United States marshal's office in Anchorage
 "We take it that no one seriously ob jects to 8 game of cards, even if there IS little monetary consideration attached. There are very few men who do not play cards for small monetary consideration, wager money oA elections and other events and generally, and in Alaska particularly, do object to professional gamblers men who make their living at cards and other gambling devices who do not hesitate to employ unfair methods over the unsus- pecting and incredulous These profes-- sional card sharpers, we believe, are the initial cause of the entire trouble here in Anchorage, and that they arc here-and permitted to remain here-may be laid at the door of the marshars office. The mar shals office knows-or should know-these individuals If at the beginning these gen. tlemen of leisure who seek to make live. lihood entirely out of gambling had been blue -ticketed out of town, the question would have found an easy solution, and much trouble and notoriety would have been avoided. Because we are persuaded that there would have been no protest or com plaint whatever about little company ot friends sitting in a card game, run entirely on the square, even if 8 petty considera- ton were involved Men who work hard must have amusement when they come to town All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is truism handed down from past generations and it holds good now.
 Had the marshaps office here weeded out from time to time, the few who have sought to live entirely on the proceeds of games of chance, hard working, worthy fel- lows would not now be involved in the trouble prevailing
 "Other communities weed out the unde srable element The cadets men of low morals who live off the earnings of the unfortunate women of the underworld, are unceremoniously driven out of towns in Alaska, until now this class has been re- dueed to the minimum. So, too, with the professional gambler He is not tolerated in other Alaskan communities.
 Deputy Marshal Jim Hagen, assigned to duty at Nenana makes it practice to meet the boats when navigation on the river is open, and if he sees man whom he knows to be an undesirable, he will not permit him to land in the new town. He has adopted the right policy for keeping Nenana free from the undesirable element. And yet we venture to say that the male residents of Nenana may gather in the public resorts there and indulge in a game of 'pangynga' with a little monetary consideration in volved, without molestation from the au- thorities, simply because the class of men who play do so merely for pastime, and not
 as profession or for gain In other words, they do not depend on the games for a livelihood"