WHAT IT WOULD MEAN by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 38.

WHAT IT WOULD MEAN.

By G.

A NEW law takes effect in Mexico the present month. Gambling-houses are to be suppressed; that is, they are not to be licensed, and every other possible means is to be used for their suppression. Army officers and public officials will be liable to dismissal for entering such establishments. If in the United States the licensing of drinking and gambling dens were abolished, the liquor traffic could no longer boast of the people's obligation for its tribute to the public treasury. It would be far cheaper for the people at large to pay the amount of these licenses by direct taxation, than to pay the enormous police, and prison, and police-court, and charity expenses entailed by the maintenance of these dens of crime. It is this implied obligation to the satellites of the liquor traffic on account of their license money, that gives them such a powerful influence in politics. And it is this influence that places corrupt men in office, who for gain make merchandise of public interests.