The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-08-26

- aIAAXE
We would like To make clear
once and for all, just how this
writer stands on the question
of the various forms of gam
bling, ranging from the petty
barroom poker table to the
more complete and luxurious
Sage Patch Club type, that
usually is part and parcel of
the liquor business, whether
il be the illegal Mississippi va
riety, or the no-less open but
legal business in non-prohibi-
ton states. In the first place,
as we have often remarked, we
believe that enforcement Off
GERS should work on the prin-
ciple that the law is a law of
laws, and not a law of men. In
other words, if Joe Doakes can
run a poker table in his saloon,
then Jim Zilch has the same
privilege. By the same token,
if Joe is prohibited from oper-
ating a table, then Jim also
should be prohibited.
All OF which brings us to the
fact that some minor gambling
is going on in Pascagoula UNI
der the guise of dominoes. The
city sells a privilege license to
saloons and others for the OPP
Grafton of a domino table at
five bucks a table. The domi-
noes have card symbols on
them, instead of the regular
dots and III used for poker, as
we understand it. We suspect
that the "house" takes a cut,
as is usual in the operation of
a regular poker table.
e
This. of course. is relatively
minor, and compared to the
operation of the Sage Patch
club, which is free from inter-
ference by law enforcement
officials all the way from the
attorney general of the state
of Mississippi down, is a rela-
tive drop in the bucket. How
ever, it is the pattern that de-
velops around the operation of
the gambling racket in which
the danger lies. Jim sees Joe
with a poker table in his place.
He decides that a punch board
would yield better profits and
installs a few. He uses the ar
gument that gambling is gam
bling and there is no more harm
in punch boards than in a poker
table. Then Joe sees the play
going to Jim's punch board so
he puts up a counter-type slot
machine, and uses the same
argument as Jim. Then Jim
comes back with an honest-to-
goodness garden variety one
armed bandit and the bars are
down.
This pattern leads to the con-
ditions we see in Harrison, Han
cock and other "wide-open"
counties. II leads to bribery and
general corruptness that inev-
itably seep down through the
entire moral fibre of a commu-
nifty. We have often had the
argument put to us that the
Sage Patch operates wide open,
offering virtually every type
of gambling, drawing a good
portion of its trade from Jack
son county and Pascagoula and
that. therefore, barroom opera
tors in Pascagoula and outlying
sections should be allowed to
do the same thing in self-pro-
lection.
This argument is complete.
~ fallacious. We can't solve
the mystery of the Sage Patch's
immunity from the law. We be-
lieve firmly that it could be
closed. However, its continued
operation and immunity from
the law is not license for wide
open operation of gambling and
sundry rackets in Jackson
county. That's just the same as
saying that if the foregoing Joe
beats the rap on a bur-
glary charge and goes free,
then Jim Zileh is automatically
given the same privilege and
can burglarize to his hearts
content and be immune from