The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 28, 1901, Page 2

o . THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1901. Citizens Unite in Earnest Petition to the Board of Supervisors Not to Curse the City by a Revival of Ingleside, Its Gambling and Attendant Crimes HIS city was the scene yesterday of a series of dem- trations without rival or precedent in the history of San Framcisco. Thousands of people of all classes cre y phase of reputable social life, r sanctuaries to voice a protest against the revival of racctrack gambling and the vehabilitation of Ingleside as o 1 of crime and shame and death. In solemn assembly one i d and representing eve mct i thei congregation of men an professional the heads of families, the preservers of homes women, merchants, , the representatives of all that is best in solutions pleading with the Board of Su-~ ; ors mot to inflict again upon the city the curse which once wrought such havoc. i this city, adopted rc The scene was dramatic in the extreme. The story of =I5 - Ingleside, so fresh in its dreadful reality to the people of San Francisco, was reviewed. The sad recital of homes wrecked, lives lost or vuined, manhood debauched and wo- manhood destroyed, was made to people who kneto its mean- ing and who then pleaded with those authorities which have the power to decide whether or not the thicving gamblers of Ingleside shall be let loose again as swarming birds of prey upon the city. . In other churches pastors spoke words of warning to their people, counseling them of the menace of public gamb- ling and of its dire effects upon all classes, old and young, rich and poor, experienced and inexperienced. Men zwere urged to use their utmost endeavor.to persuade the Supcrvis- ors not to take the step which means so much of evil to the peaple of San Francisco. Mayor Phelan was denounced for the extraordinary position <which he has nx:umr"d .m.!/nS matter, which may be one of public welfare or public injury. In some churches the regular services were abandoned in order that on the cve of the day when the gamblers will ask the Supervisors to license them for a season of crime noth- ing should be left undone by-the reputable people of the city to prevent the outrage and save themselves from the menace of an evil which once had been destroyed. The character of these widespread protests could not be mistaken. It was not the opposition of a single class, clerical, political, social or commercial, but of ail united in one common cause and moved by the knowledge and dread of experience. © It was the protest of merchants who had been robbed by their employes, or parents whose homes had been de- spoiled of their purity or upon which the stan of dishonor had been placed. It was the protest of men :1{11!? won : knetw what price in death, disgrace, flight, suicide nr prison stripes others had paid for what Mayor Phelan is f/mn*r{ tovy call that dissipation to which the people of San Francisc must be educated if they do not already indulge. It seems incredible that such a protest, earnest, ‘gml.r‘.fl' honest and representative of all that is best in San FV(!‘{(’!\'- co, should be ignored by the Sup rs of this city to whons it was addressed. But the gamblers are confident, and to davy, at the meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the pub. <will know twhether or not any member of that body, in the face of a universal public opinion, dare intv-w!nn" an ordi- nance which means so much of deadly harm to the city, its reputation and its pecple. who been the scene denunclatory that deliv- , gather- | and the proposed | at Ingle own and me days r Doviions of Mr the eity. For Baker has, in the company . | S I ts. When he fnese lottery ers his | he was told , as they paid deal k and pool- nd gentleman of the evil and resented con- the t Metho- 1 filled. Not pers present., s of the city to - protest which the the resolu- the hand and as: their loyal he fame of ed by an official ev. Mr. Baker will meeting of the t the session ard of S SOrs. ople Robbed and Spolled. } Mr. Baker in over from the ng his ad- twenty-sec- oter of this forty-second they are y were reduced - AN DRAMATIC PROTEST MADE LAST NIGHT BY THE PEOPLE OF THE FIRST M. E. CHURCH. | & paper was handed to me and my atten- tion was called .to the fact that thera was a strong article iIn it against this vice. Tt fs headed ‘Vultures Feeding on the Public.’ Read that article’ and you will have some idea of the cost of run- ning the races at Ingleside. This is the form of the evil, then. which we are spe- Ny protesting against to-night T want to say fust a few plain things to you, and T wish I could say them to thousands of the citizens of San. Fran- eisco. 1 have done a- little personal in- vestigation myself, and I declare to vou, after having spent several years in some of the Eastern States and In some of the large cities there, that T have hever seen gambling run so wide open, even when not prohibited by the law, as it is fn San Francisco. While 1 I believe that men will gamble in spite of the law, at the same time T belleve that the man who will gamble ought to be driven under cover. Some One Is Recelving Money. 4 Now, T want to know, beloved friends and fellow citizens, whether this thing s to be licensed or mot. If these men are doing this thing, then we have licensed lawlessness, but who s getting the rev- enue? Is the Clty Treasury getting it? Where is this money going? I think it is high time for the better element of San Francisco to unite and to declare that the right thing shail be dome. The right thing will be done whenever the better | element awake from their lethargy and | indifference. The greatest curse of the | age is the indifference of the better th | ing people in regard to this and kin: | evils I am sorry, but T'd6n"t kftow why ovir | -heneorable Mayor hag taken the gtand that he has as€umed in this matter. But [ am going to .tdll you this, that ap long as | zambling is open there is no man who is safe. T don’t know why this is going on. } 1 don't dare say. T wom't dare to accuse anybody, but it suggests to'me the old threadbare .story of the mam who was charged in ecourt with stealing bacon, was tried., confessed. that he wasg guilty, but the jury rendered a verdict of not guilty. The lawyer turned to his client and sald “Why, how is this? As firse | he had refused to take the man's case because the accused had told him that he was guilty, but he finally took the casa out of pity. for the man’'s family. Sald he, | “Why is {t? You say you are gaflty. You said it hefore the court, but the Jury says you are nmot guilty.” ““Well,” said the man, “I will tell you. Eleven out of that jury had a piece of the stolen bacon.” [ won’t say that that is the case in this instance. but I will tell you this: When the gambier is about no man is safe. He carries the boodle that does the dirty work o often of bribing men, even some- ‘ | times men of standing. But enough has been said on this line. | Ingleside Must Not Open. 1 “The great reason why we are hers to- night is to utter our protest against the opening of the Ingleside track. That I3 what we are here to protest against “In his message Mayor Phelan says, according to article which I bhave taken from The Calli: ‘Pub- | lic gambling is a great evil, leading to poverty, disgrace, defalcation and death, which the records of the city abundantly prove, and its practice should be discoun- tenanced and suppressed.’ This was ta- | ken from the message of Mayor James D. e o el e el ruin. And are many k the phrase—as ravages of this spoller a ‘obber of the people of this rat I call your attention to- se commonly pardon if our lawmaking reform. from turn loose upon the peo- “We are here to-night to arouse you the fearful robbery and spolation which thousands have suffered in the past PLEAD TO THE SUPERVISORS FOR PROTECTION. HEREAS, We, the congregation of the First Methodist Episcopal Church f San Francisco, are reliably informed and believe that an effort is about to be made before the Board of Supervisors, supported by his Honor James D. Phelan, the Mayor of this city, to reopen the race course at Ingleside, re-establish bookmaking, poolselling and other forms of gambling; and Whereas, This latest attempt of the gambling and criminal classes to debauch our city, renew among us their carnival of crime and disgrace, is of dangerous moment because of the semi-official sanction it has received; and Whereas, The people of this city have suffered deeply from racetrack gambling by its wrecking of ncmes, its dishonoring of the youth of this city, its debauchery of trusted ruinous effect, both upon the morals and the business of life. The loss caused by the spoiler, however, cannot be estimated in dollars .and cents. Thousands are Truly, crime. then, gambling s a breeder of A daily paper recently contained an editorial giving an account of the sen- ‘Whereas, The dread record of our courts and prisoms, of death and disaster, stands as a warning to protect the people of the city and guord against the encroachments of men who live by dishonest gain; therefore be it Resolved, That we, the paoplle of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in mseting assembled, do earnestly and unitedly petition the Board of Supervisors of San Franeciseo not to reopen the Ingleside racetrack by repealing the law which prohibits bookmaking and poolselling in this city; and be it further Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Board of Supervisors es our deep and solemn protest against any licensing of this formidable species of vice and breeder of misfortune and crime. “Now. I want to tell you one thing that gambling does. Tt not only bribes Judges, jurfes and officals, but it puts handcuffs on the police, £nd it does it right here in would lke to hana Board of Sapervisors “More young men have stood here 2 e :; A 3 o % 3 Phelan delivered to the Board of Super- g - S visors January 8, 1900, and ere he left his @il ik A e el e R R e el el defeb deleieb e b i@ 0fce he signed the ordinance that the Board of Supervisors passed at that time. Now, I want to show you where the great danger comes in, and I want to show you the great necessity of this meeting to- ight, and of meetings like it all over the o-night and even on the is his attitude to-day: In favor of a limited season of horse racing.’ Now, if a_ thing s wrong, it is wrong at any time and in any place, it is_wrong all the time. The Mayor says: ‘I am in favor of a lim- ited season of horse racing, say, thirty days, in San Francisco. I do not believe that we skould give the gamblers of Oak- land an opportunity to have an exclusive privilege to pick pockets simply because - we have a moral crusade on {n this city.’ God hasten the moral crusade. Phelan Favors Dissipation. ; : * * believe that we should perit a rac- e overrunning of clerks, employes and merchants; and . ing season of thirty days in San Fran- 1 horde. \\;‘ oxb. cisco, simply as dissipation for our pee- an attempt is on s, . .. o R 03 B o § oibo o .. . . . . 2 £ ople did ofler who will w the unsuspect- things at the close of the century is the ishes everywhere and it is becoming a you please, of the ruined in the San Fran- them out 'and they located at Emeryville, dent of Police of New York City at they needed some other or new kind of and break into our homes grand stand which the right arm of pow- national vice, one of the most formidable cisco Call of last Saturday, the result of where they are to-day. . that dat dissipation. ‘I wouid therefore approve > t 5 2, ) e us these . P S b e er. the dally papers, are taking in moral proportions, and it (3 eXerting a most the race course gambling at Ingleside. oy words, and I of a city ordinance providing for & lim- fted racing season in San Francisco.” Now I am not going to read all of this article. But he suggests here: ‘While them to the to-morrow: n Francisco the hordes of con- nceless gamblers and racetrack hang- ers-on.” Throttle Iniquity to Death. Rev, Mr. Baker then referred to the de- a of a gambling ordinance by the est work of the press, and, continu- of it through one of our leading , that an attempt was being made organized gamblers of the race- ack association to have psssed to-mor- row by the Board of Supervisors an- or- dinance restoring them to the privilege of robbing, of spoiling dapd of murdering, as they did in gone-by years. These papers stand as the mighty sentinels of our lib- erties and moral safety against these on- coming hordes of crime-breeders. Again they have called our attention to this mat- ter. 1 have said before, and I say it again W-night, one of the most encouraging and which thousands shall suffer if the Board of Supervisors, encouraged by the Mayor, shall pass this ordinance. This terrible iniquity must be grappled with and throttled to the death. God Almighty never intended that any evil should be li- censed, and a city is far from an ideal city of this century which would dare to license such an evil as racetrack gambling. The peopie must be awakened to the enormity of this dreadful evil.” Gambling a Name for Robbery. The Rev. Mr. Baker then quoted statis- tics showing the enormity of gambling in the world. Among other things he dwelt upon the princely sum paid for the privi- lege of running the gambling hell at Monte Carlo, "nd sald: *“I don’t know how much the gamblers here will pay for thelr privilege. In this case gambling Is 2 gentle name for robbing; while it exista in different form, It may be ani it is productive of the worst results. It flour- ruined morally, mentally and socially. Yet gambling, with its twin brother, the sa- loon, is seeking greater liberties to go on unmolested. 1 believe that there nevar has been In the history of the world a greater mania for gambling than at the present time. In many of our manufac- turing towns and cities. and $an Francis- co especially, boys and young men who work in mills and factories, and those who' are the clerks ip our mercantile es- tablishments are belng swallowed up in this awful maelstrom of gambling. A man who gambles-will steal:'a man who wants something’for nothing Is a thief.” The speaker then read an extract from the report made by Anthony Comstock to the New York Soclety for the Prevention of Vice, In which couniless cases were ra- cited where young men and women traced their descent on the downward path through ha first frequented the race track and poolroom. Continuing, he said: ‘‘Read the lst, if tencing to the Btate's prison of a number of State offictals in various parts of the country, all of whom owed their downfall to the race track. Race track gambling and poolroom gambling are the most heartless things a man can do. and 0 sanction them is a criminal thing. A gambler has no heart; he would play a: his brother's funeral or- gamble on his mother's coffin, “I want to say to you something that you know, but I want to refresh your mind in regard to {t: Gambling is in volitics. It won't stop short of the highest men i office. The barroom and poolroom men are wide awake. They exert a great pow- er over courts and juries and legislators, and over municipal governments and their officers. The pcol men some years ago bought out the City Council over in Oak- land, and the whole city arose In righteous indignation. The poolroom men were driven out of San Francisco and went to Oakland, but public opinion there drove 8ah Francisco.” The reverend gentleman then presented figures to show the enormous expense of maintaining racetracks and poolrooms, and continuing he said: “The racetracks cannot pay without gambling, and racecourses are a network of gambling under the pretense of better- ing the breed of horses. The racetracks are breeders of crime. They are the worst breeders of crime that we have to deal with. Racetrack gambling is a terrible menace to the public safety and to the public morality. Nearly $3,000,000 = was stolen in a single ar by men who had lost their money playing the races. Vietims of the Racetrack. The New York Times a year ago contdined a column article nnder the heading “Vietims of the Race- track,” which gave a long lst of forgeries, embeszlements find other crimes, all attributable to race- track gambling. The Superinten- » ‘&ether. at this desk confessing their of- ferines againat law and ascribing their downfall to their infatuation to poolroom gambling than I would care to estimate. But actual expe ence has sati of mambling tion ta young men to take w not thet Ax horseracing is con- ducted now it would be far better for the community to stop it nlto- We prison right the race gambling craze, home: being destroyed, and the Iiv. t being blighted every day in the city f reason.” v for the same “I have a big pile of clippings th have coliected In .the past few ):;r: which tell of those who have been wrecked and rulned by - bling in Calfornia, Y R “Read to-day’s article in The Call. - The I admit that the Legislature should adopt some restrictive measure, [ also admit that if it does mot no ordinance adopted by the Supervisors of San Francisco fix- ing a_ limited season will be effective. Unless we give the samblers here as many days' racing as another city we will not accomplish theypurpose I have in view." “So this is the attitude of the highest efficial In our city! I have said enough, and I thank you for your earmest atten- tion. “I'am golng to read a set of resolu- tions, and if you are in sympathy with me I want somebody to move that we adopt them by a rising vote, and' T will take them in person or we will send them By somebody to the Board of Supervis- - To Cure a Cold in One Take Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets, AN _J druggists refund the money If it fails te eure, E. W. Grove's signature s on each bex. e, *