Show n nf 1 7 tk Ai Ait f I 1 t I l eI r i l t tI I V f it r ri I i 0 i i J i iM I 1 t j TO ra Ii 11 lt J it f I 1 M NAm ii l i ir il 1 IJ I i I 11 1 z fl JI r 1 fd JJ q fJ h 1 I tIr Ww 1 0 tc 0 0 r lIlI J u 1 J I I M MU 1 1 5 i a i r I If x r p IIo I I ISiS rk II III wl J i Ct 1 fe tt j S1 IS lt j r ji jia 1 I I fIN un if 1 I tl f I U II 1 IM li m is tm 1 I 1 vi T I r WN J I I I l 1 Lr 1 I 1 i AND r f II 1 RP JS V a I 1 I C F t r w I ct r I t I d t 1 v l 1 I I 1 c i L i ALVI B ii I a I I 1 Jr rr 1 L k r r i f v F r II TI uv 1 lV AN Dr I I Y J W fi i i I 1 7 POLiTiCIANS I Volice on a Pool Room 7 I 9 J Manners In r fro to Obstruct y till t iY V tf II u T TH of or tha forces of lav lavand and order t the th pop room throughout the United States shows signs of Increased ed uro many persons Iel who hold that no vice Is so productive of Injury to society as that of at betting on horse races The hc percentage of those who nho visit th tracks und and beta hela through b kern is small In com who patronize tha th pool room lire are In touch with the therace race itce tracks by h or telegraph Irn who follow the races as us a n business are numerous enough but the vast ma majority of ot bettors work worl hard at ILL trade or other occupation and earn money to play on the ponies It iy Is not possible for tor these unfortunates to tu be regular attendants at lit tho tracks s but they toe find It easy cas enough to lay bets at nt thu tou pool rooms in hi town Host of or these gamblers have lae families dependent upon them und and therein lies the tho tragedy tra ed of ot pool room betting To toke take a 11 concrete Instance there ore arc arcla la III the city of New N w York YOI about SOO Ol pool poolrooms rooms roms The rhe pool room operators operator them themselves selves s IeR say that there are ure 2 O but the district attorneys a places the tho total nt All AI of at these places of nf course run In III direct violation of the law They ore lire cases of or criminality It Is estimated j ed M by b a II student of the HID evil that these the c 1 pool rooms roum take from Irom the pockets ets of Cf tho deluded gamblers a year eal The great subway street car system now In operation in Now York cost coat for the I building of or the he tunnels about With the tho money poured Into the pock els ets of ot the criminals who operate these thelle places another subway system s slem could be hf built in less lens than two years eatS The New NewYork NewYork Ij York police force of approximately 10 00 1 men costs the city only about half hulf the sum It HIs Is a pretty stiff tax la lo to pay p pI I for the privilege of taking possible chances to te win with the U certain result of ot starving wives and children ruined homes home and suicides In many instances Pool Rooms Protected l U It In I quite pertinent lo II use the police I force as a basis of or comparison In cost because the police of or New York protect the pool room evil Without the tho organ organized organIzed system of or police protection the pool poolrooms rooms could not stay open an nn hour haUl It ItIs ItIs Is estimated by h District Attorney Je Jerome Tome rome that the pool room people pay the police j OOOO every year for fOl tho privIlege liege of r permitted to keep I their theIL places open The rhe police from each pool room rOm from 50 to lo a n week The rhe amount to he paid by h each is There Thera is no variation from tho lh The man Hum depends upon the size of ur the pool rooms patronage When hen the oper operator ator pays 11 the price he Is II Insured against police raids or other othel Interference ence Theres nothing like 0 It pays both the tho police and the pool poolroom poolroom room New York has bus a population oC or about The money cheerfully cheerful turned turn d over to the pool room operators would split Into 7 a IL year for every man wo woman man and child In thc great city Jut but there arc a D great grent many children In New NewYork NewYork York and a It vast number of older per pel persons sons Ons who do not gamble hie The average 11 e Ill e sum slim blown hI own by lW the bettors no doubt douht in Is ina a 11 very ery considerable part oC or the Income The man who ventures and loses laRes his money Is not the chief sufferer In very vely many Instances his wife and 1111 1 children play pIny that role They The take tuko the tragedy part in the play Those Who Are Arc Victims Who ho plays the pool room game Young men of seventeen old men of seventy and men of all intermediate ages u es but the th majority ire arc young oung men They clerks clell s mechanics laborers und nn l small shopkeepers It 11 Is declared by b the chief clerk clerIc of the New York dis district attorneys that t more young men of respectable antecedents are sent lent to tu the reformatories and nn the penitentiaries aries because of losses loss to the pool poolrooms rooms than from any nn other cause When hen they the have lun lost their thell small earnings they thc pilfer tram from their thell employers und lose the No o doubt they the fully expect to tn win and pay hack what wh ll they the steal but such expectations lire are seldom ful fulfilled filled Even Een when a man does oeR win with pilfered money mone the temptation to play it again for bigger stakes Is strong stron IL It cannot be he said that the mere love oe of gambling Is responsible for tor all 1111 this pool room betting be nl Some men gamble because they the have a mania for It Others do It because they foolishly hope to make hIs big winnings and put their families on Easy street They read about the enormous winnings of ot some of or the tho race ruce racetrack track who follow the tracks constantly and Imagine that they can duplicate these killings In the great gleat majority of ot cases the bettors family Instead of moving to Easy street even r 1 il S1 o 1 ft t J 1 i r cC tot Jl 1 i it fi t i ut ii ff I f 1 tn It illi t I il J 1 l r i f r I l J JIt I JO iI Into i II h Paddock Jill L ri I ij t I Ir r A mr l r y r l lJj turns up lip In III shabby quarters on the Avenue Despair Hero Is I a U sample letter received by District Attorney Jerome from a IL de ae despairing woman My Iy husband works steadily and gets geta good goat wages hut but nearly nearl nil all the money goes oes to the place over oel a saloon at Hes Hester Hestel tel ter and Essex streets I have hae tried sev several se eral times time to Ret get my husband away from there only on to bo hc 11 treated I went to the They rheY laughed at atme atme me Our rent is not paid and we do donot donot not have huo enough to cat The place pi lice mentioned is IR n pool room Here is an extract from another letter leUc the woman having mentioned a certain pool room My 1 husband who Is I the father of eight children loses nil his wages there He Is kind to us liS In every eer other way but the pool room has hils such a hold on Oil him that he lets h tl us go KO hungry so HO that he can use his money to tl piny the races raceR Still another woman writes that her hr husband Ip I In business but he hI loses Io es nearly nil all his money and neglects his business s by 11 going to the pool room He HI will have IUle to give sive up lip his hlA store she Rhe says sa s sIt If It he give gle up 1111 the pool 1001 room Backed by Politicians Hack of the police pollee In III protecting the tho pool rooms stand the politicians It l Is said on good authority that a few years ear ago ao a n New York police appoint appointed ed a n bartender to lo collect the revenue from pool rooms moms and 1111 1 other athe gambling places In four fa II years ears these two men actually divided between he tween them themselves selves most of It being pool room graft How much went to the poll poli politicians hack back of them Is not known Tt V tt l Tt f 1 Pool Room Outfit The situation in New York is similar to lo that In several 1 other cities though I perhaps the graft system elsewhere is not so perfect One may ask usk Why Yh dont the higher authorities require the police to la close up the he pool rooms There are things s that lire are more easily I said than thun done Why h do men still com commit commit mit murder mur el though murder has hUR been Ien outlawed for ages A recent Investigator gator of or the tho situation In N York says While Jt Il may be he practically II Impossible ble to 10 convict the real of pool 1001 poolrooms rooms roams and to establish the relationship of the certain political Interests with them there Is II not nat Oie le slightest possible doubt douht that the recognized pool rooms can be he closed anti and kept closed If It the police were disposed to tC enforce the law District Attorney Jerome has shut them up for the time being heln by h making a few raids The Ill police polle could shut up every gambling place In New York without I making a single raid It would be essary only to send fend the owners word to lo close up lip and keep keel closed Indefinitely Tho rhe police captain cannot enforce such I an order This has been heen proved and time again Many an un honest man I bos hils tried with all his heart only to bj convinced that tho opposition it Is too strong The police commissioner cannot en enforce torcH force the order 1 believe bellee that most t people hal hams honesty and sincerity He Is very Ir much at the mercy melc of his subordinates nates who deceive him constantly but not so thoroughly as they could coult wish Tills ThIs Is proved plod by b his refusal to make Inspectors of certain captains who headed the civil service eligible list Dont DOlIt Jump at lit the conclusion that a n police commissioner who mas be fooled evidences es weakness or lack of ot capacity When hem President Roosevelt was a II pollen commissioner In New NI York he was so 10 thoroughly bamboozled by br subordinates anti and associates that when he realized It toward the end of or his term he 10 was wail V tf II u T TH view W or Track driven nearly frantic by hr vexation he never nevel dill did know ow the full extent of clr the Inception tm A Virtuous Spasm Sp A few years Il ago the tho Chicago police 1 got Irot after the tho pool room men Inen with com commendable hll energy The tOIS well driven from post to pillar and finally i out to sea SIL According to la n IL court de decision I I elston Luke Michigan belongs to 10 the peas beyond bc the three thee mile limit and municipal law operates with within in that limit hilt but not beyond A pool poolroom room 1011 syndicate a 1 11 R Inke lal c cessel vessel essel carrying passengers ped It with the outfit a II lilt and put putout out Into the Inke The who crowded clow the vessel thought they W wr T having a It fine due from tho thorace III race tracks were to 0 be he received by b wire 11 telegraph If It the wireless worked to lo perfection p rf the plan might have hae become popular but linn hos not advanced fill far enough to league with this sort orl of criminality strongly enough to popularize It A similar plan was tried In New ew York 1011 In 1805 1005 when a spasm of ot pretended virtue possessed thu police for a lime hut It wnM nut a success Sll The pool paul room criminal however seldom It Il to In resort In lo such up liP to date Ideas In III order to the law la They find that thaI the fifty nl dollar ciulla fee feo beats the three mile limit under the wire win by several lengths I Only State Law Effective In mine cities the pool rooms have been heen out but hul usually through the 11 operation of laws Jaws Instead of municipal m ordinances This hils hud hul the th effect of Increasing the number of hand book men III en and n the evil ell will per Iler permeate a Ii community until horse racing ra ln with hotting on cm the side sill la Is prohibited altogether A memorable of I the struggle le for the enforcement of till thu law race track Rambling Is that of Missouri Governor Folk Foll In III Ills his administration determined lo enforce the laws to the letter He H caused the St fit Louis police force which Is I created under state law to Invade the county adjoining the city It and raid ruiel the race l s time again Eventually l he hl hewon won though there th nH of n u re renewal renewal newal of the Iru gle upon the th part of the Tho horsemen know very CI well however that thul Governor Kolk I olk will make them obey ohey the law even een If he hu heis huIs is compelled to lo use the entire military force of the state lat They have lIvo learned lean l tram from experience ho mentis ne All 11 this has hall lit III bearing on the pool room roam question but hul It I II mentioned merely to tu show that law can lie he enforced ed d when there In Is on 1111 enforcer behind tho th low law Pool 1001 rooms of course cun elUI nourish anywhere all within 1000 OO miles of a n race IH If It they lire art not nol molested l by l the authorities The cus of ot Hot Springs Ark AI l hi more mure to In thu hu point In this connection For many yearn Hot Jot Springs has hen benn henn n Mecca IN eu for from every whore because of lu numerous pool 1001 rooms A year al the pool rooms room were wele by If force ami Uld the paraphernalia nalia was WRe shipped out The rhe operators wert Kind to with their theil They went to tel other places where pool poolrooms rooms lire ure mill permitted There Thera they the nourish and pocket the earning of In hOI bor which h in I the thing as os taking bread out of the mouths mouth of hungry chil children dren dron DO |