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Show Payments should be made by Check, Money Order or Registered Letter, payable to The Citizen. Address all communications to The Citizen. Entered ae second-clas- e matter,. June 21, 1919, at the postoffice at Salt Lake of under Act March' 3, 1879. the City, Utah, Ness Bldg. Phone Wasatch 5409 8alt Lake City, Utah Published Every Saturday WEEKLY PUBLISHING CO., INC. FRANK E. SCHEFSKI, Editor and Manager SUBSCRIPTION PRICE:' Including postage in the United 8tates Canada and Mexico, $2.50 per year, $1.50 for six months. Subscriptions to all foreign countries, within the Postal Union, $4.50. per year. BY GOODWIN'S - 311-12-- , 13 BUSINESS MEN UP IN ARMS What constitutes oris meant by. gambling? If two gentlemen meet on the golf links and play for so much a hole, is that gambling? Have they committed a crime and are they criminals? If it is not a crime to lay a wager on the little golf ball, why should it be a crime to post a bet on a horse race, upon a baseball game, or upon some politician who is running for office? About two years ago, the legislature passed a. racing bill, permit-- ting horse races, and this law is still upon the statute boiks. However, if you are found with a racing chart in your hands you are adjudged a criminal and are forthwith arrested and lodged in the bastile. If it is not-- crime to take a drink of wine in church, in the name of the Lord, why then is it such a crime to take a drink of wine in your home, in your hotel, or wherever you may be stopping for the health of your friend? If two or more men meet on the train and have a friendly game of cards poker or slough are they criminals? If at the same hotel and meet in one of the rooms for which they are paying to play,are they criminals? Can a landlord be responsible for what happens in any place that he may rent to a tenant? What hotel proprietor would subject his customers to a search to see if they had a deck of cards on them or a drink on their hip? If such partice was in vogue at, say the Hotel Utah, George Relf, would have to close the doors in less than thirty days.. Is it a crime for women to give an afternoon party where they play cards for prizes? Is it any more of a crime for two gentlemen to sit down at a table at a hotel and play for a drink of soda pop? If it is such a degrading crime to play a punch board for a prize, . why is it not just as much of a crime to fill a show window with cheap jewelry concealed in paper bags, at so much per grab? -- , a they-registe- r - -- . . But why all these questions? The Because a moral" wave has hit this city in the Cinergy of the entire police force has been centered away from real crime to the downtown district where the people are harrassed upon the most trivial offenses. Commissioner Burton has decided to make this city the Holy City of Zion. Strangers" beware of the flask, dont flirt with the girls on the streets, dont make a bet unless you go to the municipal golf links, don t play a game of cards unless you go to a ladies afternoon pink tea, and above all, don t let a detective catch you reading the horse race entries published daily in our newspapers. The biggest knockout of them all was the alleged solicitation of our commissioner to place stool pigeons in some of the hotels to spy upon the people who come and go. Next in order is a high priced. Commissioner who lowers himself to the rank of an ordinary policeman and helps make the raids. Surely the commissioner is not doing plain police duty for the lack of finances, because for the quarter just ' ended he has spent more money than any previous commissioner in this department. Where a year ago former Commissioner Barnes has spent spent $149,995.42, Commissioner Burton so far this year solar-plexu- s. hip-pock- et j r $163,789.36. Probably the present commissioner will argue that the city is larger; granting that, we come back with the information that P. J. Moran has reduced the expenses thus far in Burtons former department of upwards of $50,000. Then whats the answer? Commissioner Burton is a good spender. But to get back to our story. The entire city is talking of what is going on and no one can see what good will result from the present If the holdups, the hardened criminals, murderers and thugs drive. were rounded up, we would all take our hats off to you Commissioner Burton, and you could name your office in any election.. You know that one service station has been held up four times in one month. Homes are continually burglarized nearly every night and-i- t is seldom that the thief is caught. The probable reason is that nearly the entire force is chasing the little brown jug for evidence to arrest some harmless person who never committed a greater crime than taking a drink of liquor. If the present energy was used in rounding up the real criminals who use the pistol to make their living, this city would set a good example for the nation, but these reform drives" in which hard working people and many good citizens are arrested and hailed into court never result in any good. In fact the law was never intended to be used as a club. Many arrests have been made lately and it is said that few have been convicted of any crime. Surely if a man is arrested he should be brought before the bar for trial. If the evidence is so flimsy or the offense so trifling that the person cannot be brought before the court but is summarily dismissed there is cause for criticism, and justly, too. Reports on the street are that the city is full of stool pigeons" and that police officers have been brought down from Ogden. Business men dont know what to make of it all. They are told that if whisky is found upon their premises padlocks will be placed upon their doors. Business is getting duller every day. After all the present moral drive may be the best thing that has ever happened in this city. It is waking up the business men and putting some life into them. There was talk yesterday of calling a meeting and discussing, the present situation for the purpose of making certain demands upon the city commission. the average business man cannot take care of his business and watch bootleggers who are as thick as fleas in this city. A bootlegger may drop into any hotel, restaurant, etc., and dispose of his wares right under the very nose of the proprietor, yet the latter is held a helpless victim. It is not right and the business men are fast tiring of this continual nagging and heckling. The business There . is one thing sure man refuses to become stool pigeons. He says that he pays taxes to support the police department. A stool pigeon is the. most despised and person in the world. He is like a snake that crawls in the grass that if pounces upon his victim. Some of our business men now say they refuse to become stool pigeons they will be put out of business. If these reports are true, it is high time for the business men to get together for their own protection. |