Albuquerque morning journal., 1920-10-23
MEASURES TO CORRECT
L00SENESS FOUND THE
G. O. P. TOLERANT 7
Continued from Page ons)

This passed the house with unani-
NOUS vote early in the session. An
! other resolution totally prohibiting
the sale Of liquor was introduced
lnear the close of the session and
passed the ..- vote of 81 to
us. On the last day of the session,
The senate took up one of the house
resolutions relating to prohibition.
An attempt to consider it was de-
feated and the resolution was sent
to steering committee for final in
torment. 1t was never revived.
In the senate, joint resolution No.
s, submitting prohibition, was pro-
posed but never considered. House
bill No. s, to regulate-the liquor
traffic, never got out of commit
tee, and neither did S. B. "a, 10
prohibit the drinking of liquors on
trains.
Other moral reforms were sug-
eested to the 1912 assembly. H. b,
so, to abate houses of lewdness, S.
r. 49, relating to prostitution, H,
B. 1O5 and II. B. 106, to control
houses of i'll fame and S. b. SO, to
prohibit gambling, were all defeat
ed, either in committee or on the
floor The 1918 session finally
passed a good law concerning gam
bling, but it was destined to have
a short life.
Tolerant" Attitude Persists.
In the 1915 legislature, senate
Joint resolution No. 10 proposed an
amendment to the constitution 20
prohibit the sale of liquors. 1t
failed to pass, as did H. b. IFS, to
prohibit the drinking of intoXicat-
ing liquors on trains, H. b. 165, to
regulate the liquor traffic, and 5.
r. 107, relating to the liquor traf-
fic.
The 1913 law relative to gam
bling immediately became target
by the 1915 legislature. The 1913
measure provided that "any per-
son who should play for money or
any thing of value any game of
chance by whatever name known
or howsoever played should be
liable to fine or a Jail sentence
or both. The legislators declared
that this prevented ladies from
playing for bridge faVors, although
the law had never been so applied.
Hiding behind this protection, they
proceeded to start movement for
a new law.
House Bill 1928, an act relative to
gambling, introduced by Fleming,
a republican, was referred to the
committee on mines and mining by
the republican speaker. This was
sample of the twists its hackers
would employ to pass the bill. Ap-
parently they lost their courage
somewhat, for a few days later. Mr..
Fleming, as chairman OF the com
mittee on mines and mininS, re
ported out the bill with the rec
ommendation that it be without
recommendations"
The bill as presented made it a
penalty to conduct gambling
game, but no penalty to play. III
the game would bank itsell, IL was
impossible to fine anyone. When
the bill came up for final passage,
Tharp, socialist, proposed to amend
the title to read: "A bill to permit
gambling" instead of ito prohlbit
gambling" The motion was tabled
and on final passage, twenty re-
publicans and four democrats voted
FOR the bill with five democrats,
one socialist and one progressive
republican against. The Dill faile@
to become a law, however, Il
The bill permitting gambling
was introduced again at the III
session of the legislature passed
both houses and was signed by
Governor Lindsey. An attempt
was made at the 1919 session TO
wipe the law off the statute BOOKS
and restore the 1913 system. H.
B. As, proposed for that purpose,
was the subject of an intense llght
in the house and finally passed 81
to 13. The party vote was: Ayes
republican II. democrats IL: nays
u. democrats l.
The bill went over to the senate
and an effort was made to get II
on the calendar. Upon Clark's mo-
ton to table the request that 1t be
placed on the calendar, the vote
for the motion and against the bill
was 12 to II. the party vote being
Ayes, republican II. democrats /;
nays, republicans 2, democrats y.
The resolution submitting prohi-
bition went through at the l9ll
session, but it could not be classed
as a party victory for either side as
it went through both houses with
practically a unanimous vote.
The legislative record since
statehood is a refusal to enact suit
able laws for the control of houses
of i'll fame, a decided apathy In the
submission of prohibition. though
finally it went through, and the
repeal of a good gambling law to
pass in its stead measure when
has greatly crippled the work OF
gambling suppression over the
state