OCR Text |
Show I Slot Machines and Other Grafts H It seems as if an epidemic of fraud H and corruption had broken out in MW Utah. The fraud and corruption has H from all appearance been in existence H for a considerable time, but its pres- H enco has only recently been made HI manifest by eruptions on the body pol- EH ltic. The bounty steals, the collection H from tho stato of largo sums as pre- RJ miums for the slaughter of wild ani- H mals which did not exist, were tho mm first to be brought to light. Then came H the utan World's Fair commission IH scandal, the details of which strenu- H ous efforts are being made to covei IH up. Several other things of consider- IH able moment of a similar nature are H brewing, and then there is the admin- H istratlon of the civic affairs of Salt H Lake, which have been a standing IH reproach for a year. That the prese- H ent city administration Is not only no- Ymt toriously Incompetent but strikingly IH corrupt is a matter of common knowl- fl edge. Tho policy of tho city govern- IS ment 'a ne o' graft. Tho city coun- IV ell has a large proportion of grafters H ana the example sot by tho council IB has permeated other departments of IB the administration. It is to bo fer- Bj vently hoped that tho legislature in Bj its desire to reduce the number of II elections will not inflict on the people ill of this city an extension for a year of II tlie terms f ofllco of the present city administration. It would be an un-H un-H mitigated calamity. Bj One abomination which has been fostered and chorlshed by tho city government in which there is a big graft participated in oven by some members of tho city council is tho Bj slot machino plan of gambling. It is Bj he most pernicious kind of gambling that exists, mainly for tho reason that ,H 11 separates from their money youths III and poor people who can ill afford to II squander their hard-earned coin and I! Implants in tho youth of. tho cty a I ovq of gambling to, which heretofore I they have boon strangers, a school for I J gambling. j Few people have any idea of tho I wi to whlch thls system of gam- M oiing Is practiced and tho amount of money which is lost by tho public and m won by those who have a monopoly jn supplying tho machines, and who H oporato thorn. Thoro are approximate-m approximate-m y a hundred slot machines operated H h sa.Ioons cigar stores, etc., in tho I ot Proflts from which exceed oy far I1Q0.000 a year. Tho fact that 1 one concern offered tho municipality I ,ma of 50,000 a year for tho ox- i cius vo privllogo of supplying these machines In tho city gives some idea SI extent to which tho people are oemg robbed by the device. Those 2?nf ??,ply the machines get 50 per cent or tho net gain and the person in whoso place of business tho machino Is placed gets tho other CO per cent, and tho city, by way of flno or llcenso, gets $9 a month for each machine. Just why tho city should openly foster and encourage, as it has. done and is doing, this form of gambling is In one sense a mystery and in another sonso it Is not. That tho city oillclals fostor, aid and abet it is beyond question. It is also well known that tho "Industry" is flourishing. Some of, tho machines in operation "take In" from $100 to $150 a day, tho major part of which is clear profit. In some cases the city Issues straight licenses to tho parties who operate the machines, and in others oth-ers $9 a month is collected without any formal license being given. Tho operation of these gambling machines is clearly against the law. Tho city would havo just as much right to issue is-sue a license to a man to steal horses as to operate a gambling slot machino. ma-chino. But tho city administration fosters and aids that form of gambling because there Is graft in It. Is It not a scandal that tho man who collects tho licenso or flno for tho city for tho operation of tlie machines should bo directly interested in supplying tho machines and should, with his partners part-ners in tho business, receive half tho profits from tho machines supplied? It may bo a legitimate business to furnish tho machines, but it Is, wo think, not very seemly for tho city llcenso collector to bo In tho busienss. It is n flno paying business, however, ono which would mako a man independently inde-pendently wealthy in a very short timo. Why does Hie mayor allow such a thing? Why does ho permit those machines to bo operated at all In tho face of tho fact that tho city attorney has given It as his opinion that tho operation of slot machines aro absolutely abso-lutely contrary to law? ' If tho city, as tho mayor said, needs tho monoy so badly that it must break tho law to get It, why does it .got only about $10,000 a year fo"r tho one hundred machines in operation when it could get $50,000 a year just as well? Theso aro a few questions which many people would like answored. Another thing about theso machines, trade machines, as some aro called, Is tho fact that it dpes not give men In business who want to do a straight business on business principles a fair chance. They aro placed at a disadvantage, disad-vantage, compared with those who havo gambling machines as trado bringers. Mayor Morris, as Truth has remarked before, is a weakling and lets himself bo run by othors. It Is a well known fact that any ono presenting pre-senting a petltlo'n to tho mayor must, before ho can hope to succeed, havo it Indorsed by some of thoHo who com pose tho mayor's kitchen cabinet preferably pre-ferably by tho chairman of tho said kitchen cabinet, John Ilnlvoison. At this writing tho joint committee of the legislature Investigating tho Irregularities Ir-regularities In tho accounts of tho Utah World's Fair commission has not reported. Tho commit! co Is meeting meet-ing with much dilllcuUy In the pursuit pur-suit of Its inquiries. It Is said tho shortage which existed In the casn has boon partly mado good by tho conveyance of certain sums Into tho treasury, and that the books very recently re-cently havo boon "fixed up" so that discrepancies nro hard to traco. The air has been full of rumors of a contemplated con-templated arrest, but so far no stop has boon taken In that direction. It seems to Truth that It is tho duty of tho members of tho commission to see-that see-that tho guilty parties nro dealt with according to law. They know, or ought to know, moro about tho affair than any othors, nnd to clear thorn-solves thorn-solves of suspicion of complicity, If for no other purposo, -.they should act vigorously. Certain parties havo been urging Sheriff Ehiory to mako complaints com-plaints nnd arrests, but it Is doubtful If this is in good faith. Without tho active help of tho commission convictions convic-tions could hardly ho expected. Let tho commission demonstrate its good faith by taking tho initiative. It owes that to Itself and to tho public. |