Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-12-04

OUT of the boom emerged two big Shots"
~ partners, whose gambling houses are still
paying big dividends and whose activities are
spread over wide field
James Mckay former miner. who did his
early-day gambling in Southern Nevada during
the heyday of Tonopah and Goldheld. and
William Graham, product of San FranciSco's
South of Market district, hold the spotlight as
Nevadas leading opponents of liberalism in the
operation of night clubs. gambling houses,
liquor dispensing establishments and all the
other side attractions.
Close friends and devoted political allies of
the Governor of the State, Mayor e. e. Rob-
erts of Reno and the lesser political dictators
in this vast commonwealth of 80, 900 inhabi-
tants, Mckay and Graham are taking little
notice now of the attempt to repeal the gam
bling law, leaving the early skirmishes to the
smaller fry. When the proper time comes and
IL 1t appears to their advantage to step into the
fray. they win be ready. Both are wealthy.
Business Is not so hot right now and we
should worry about the gambling law" said
Mckay TITS quite a job co put this repeal
measure through the Legislature and over the
Governors veto, and We don't have to exert
much effort to head 1t Oh. If We want TO- Let's
wait and see what the reformers have up their
sleeves before we start any battle"
Regent Williams, director of the drive against
gambling, Is no reformer and he Is not sur
rounding himself with reformers in setting out
to force the repeal Of the Law which was passed
by the 1881 Legislature.
He intends to wage the battle on purely eco
nomic grounds centering it around the alleged
injury to the university and he has amassed
a flock of fgures to show that wide-open gam
bling is Improbable to the State, to the mer-
chants and to every one concerned excepting the
proprietors of the gambling houses.
A TENDANCE at the University of Nevada,
~ a o-educational institution for the school
year ending on May IS. 1882. was per cent
less than the attendance for the previous year,
Williams figures disclose, and he attributes
the decline to the fact that parents in selecting
universities tor their children to attend pass up
the University of Nevada because it Is located
in Reno, the center of Nevada's gambling
activities.
THE University of NeVada's growth for the
period starting in 1919 and ending in 1881
showed a steady increase" said Williams "and
it was very gratifying to me and to all the peo-
pie of the State. Nevada abolished wide-open
gambling in 1910 and Renos palaces of chance
were soon occupied by legitimate business
houses
Parents who sent their children to the uni
versity felt they were being sent to an institu-
ton where the surroundings were Of the best
and the educational opportunities equal to those
Off red in any SIMILAR institution in the country.
Last year the gambling element forced
through the wide-open gambling bill in the
Legislature and it threatens to disrupt the uni
versty by driving its attendance down, and
this is something that the people of Nevada
must forestaH at once
There are many moral grounds on which
the Nevada gambling laws can be attacked. but
under the circumstances it Is not necessary to
dwell on the moral issues at ali. 80
I'VE need only to show the rancher and
miner. the business man and the professional
man that gambling is economically unsound.
that 1t is q detriment to business stability and
that it is creating political situation In Reno
that Is retarding the growth of the city and
destroying the standing Of our university. an