Jacob L. Devers, lieutenant colonel, Field Artillery, graduate manager of athletics, United States Military Academy, West Point: It is my opinion that supervision of intercollegiate boxing is unnecessary, and at the same time harmful to it. The colleges can much better control their own athletics without any outside commission and keep it on a much higher plane. B. B. Clarkson, director of athletics, Virginia Military Institute: Other intercollegiate sports are not so controlled. College boxing should be kept as separate and distinct from professional boxing as possible. Leslie A. Bryan, director of athletics, University of Syracuse: I do not think it advisable to have intercollegiate boxing controlled by State commissions. We have our own code on eligibility and rules, and I can see no reason why boxing should be handled on a different basis than that of other intercollegiate sports, since we have most adequate medical supervision, competent officials, and an interest in the boys as individuals which promoters may not have. H. J. Stegeman, director of athletics, University of Georgia: I am sure that any university, with trained and qualified coaches and trainers, is much more able to handle a sport than a politically appointed or elected committee. Thirty-six colleges and universities were listed as expressing the opinion that State supervision was unnecessary and a restriction on the spirit of intercollegiate sport. So far as the committee has been able to ascertain, no State at present has laws placing college and university boxing under control of a State commission. Your committee believes that the schools, colleges, and universities of the District of Columbia are entitled to the privilege of conducting boxing, as well as their other sports, without supervision by the Boxing Commission, if they so desire. In accordance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law are shown as follows: Subdivisions (a) and (b), section 1, of the Act to Authorize Boxing in the District of Columbia, are amended by adding at the end of each the similarly designated subdivisions of this bill. о 3d Session No. 2005 AMENDING LAWS RELATING TO GAMBLING MARCH 25, 1938.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT To accompany S. 711] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (S. 711) to amend an act entitled "An act to establish a Code of Law for the District of Columbia," approved March 3, 1901, as amended, and particularly sections 863, 911, and 914 of the said code, having considered the same, report it back to the House with the following amendments and recommend that the amendments be agreed to and the bill do pass. Page 2, line 6, after the word "any" insert the words "policy lottery or any". Page 2, line 14, after the word "any" strike out the word "policy". Page 2, line 17, beginning with the word "The" strike out remainder of section and insert the following in lieu thereof: The possession of any copy or record of any such chance, right, or interest, or of any such ticket, certificate, bill, token, or other device, shall be prima facie evidence that the possessor of any such copy or record did, at the time and place of such possession, keep, set-up, or promote, or was at such time and place concerned as owner, agent, or clerk, or otherwise in managing, carrying on, pro moting, or advertising a policy lottery, policy shop, or lottery. Page 4, line 9, after the word "warrant" insert the word "either". Page 4, line 12, after the word "court" insert the words "or United States Commissioner issuing said warrant, as the case may be". Page 4, line 22, after the word "court" insert the words "or United States Commissioner, as the case may be". Page 5, line 7, strike out the word "shall" and insert the word "may" in lieu thereof. Page 5, line 9, insert "Sec. 5". Hearings were held on this bill at which the President of the Board of Commissioners, the District Attorney, and the Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police force of the District of Columbia appeared and presented statements in support of this measure. Favorable action was had in the United States Senate during the first session of the present Congress on this bill and a copy of the report submitted by the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia is hereto appended and made a part of this report. The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the existing laws relating to gambling in the District of Columbia. Attempts to enforce the present laws have shown the difficulty, indeed the impossibility, in securing not only convictions but also indictments under charges of violation of the various provisions of the District Code, due to the unwillingness and refusal of those found and arrested in gambling establishments to admit their participation in betting or gaming or of observing the operation of gambling devices or placing of bets in such places. During the last few years and long since the existing law was enacted, a new gambling game or device called "numbers" has sprung up and is now flourishing in the District of Columbia. It is said that the principals carrying on this game realize about $3,000 per day on their operations. The amounts which may be played range from 1 to 50 cents. It is reported that this numbers game makes a special appeal to those of little means-porters, messengers, domestic servants, and the like; particularly is there an allurement to the young and immature; school children in considerable numbers "invest" in the slips which represent chances in securing the prize money. The chance of winning is, so we are informed, 1 to 1,000; the winning number pays about $25 to $30, on a 5-cent chance. To meet the situation confronting the officials charged with the duty of enforcing the laws in the District, particularly in the matter of proof, the proposed bill provides that if any person shall, within the District of Columbia, keep, set up, or promote, or be concerned as owner, agent, or clerk, or in any other manner, in managing, carrying on, promoting, or advertising any policy lottery, policy shop, or any lottery, or shall sell or transfer any chance, right, or interest, tangible or intangible, in any lottery by ticket, certificate, bill, token, or other device purporting to insure any person of a chance of drawing or obtaining a prize to be drawn in any lottery or in a game or device commonly known as policy lottery, or policy, he shall be fined upon conviction of each said offense not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both. The bill further provides that possession of any tickets, certificates, bills, slips, tokens, or other device shall be prima facie evidence of purpose or intent of selling, transferring, exchanging, or negotiating the same (sec. 863). Attention might be called to a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Forte v. United States, 65 App. D. C.) in which it was held that the so-called numbers game "is a lottery." A new section, to be known as section 863 (a) is added, to the effect that if any person within the District of Columbia shall have in his possession, knowingly, any ticket, certificate, bill, slip, token, paper, writing, or other device for the purpose of playing, carrying on, or conducting any lottery or game or device commonly known as policy lottery or policy, he shall be fined upon conviction of each said offense not more than $500 or be imprisoned for not more than 6 months, or both. It is proposed that section 911 of the code be amended so as to authorize the United States Commissioner to issue search warrants in gambling cases. Under the present law the Commissioner issues such warrants only by authority of the Federal Espionage Act. It has been the experience of the officials charged with the duty of enforcing the laws of the District of Columbia that greater secrecy is possible when warrants are obtained from the United States Commissioner's office than from the police court. The proposed amendments to section 911 would authorize the issuance of search warrants for papers and records used in carrying on gambling games, gaming devices, and lottery tickets or lottery policies. The bill amends section 914 of the District Code and provides that games, devices, and contrivances used in violation of the proposed code may be ordered destroyed under the direction of the court. Under the existing law there is no provision authorizing the destruction of gambling paraphernalia where no arrests are made at the time of seizure and no convictions obtained, and in the past large storage charges on such paraphernalia have accrued. Appended hereto and made a part of this report is a letter from the United States attorney, District of Columbia, calling attention to this bill and urging its passage. OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF Columbia, Washington, D. C., December 24, 1936. Hon. WILLIAM H. KING, Chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR KING: Pursuant to your request, I am submitting the following memorandum on the proposed amendments to the District of Columbia gambling laws: It is proposed that section 863 of the District of Columbia Code be amended to read as follows: "SEC. 863. If any person shall within the District keep, set up, or promote, or be concerned as owner, agent, or clerk, or in any other manner, in managing, carrying on, promoting or advertising, directly or indirectly, any policy lottery, policy shop, or any lottery, or shall sell or transfer any chance, right, or interest, tangible or intangible, in any lottery, or shall sell or transfer any ticket, certificate, bill, token, or other device, purporting or intended to guarantee or assure to any person or entitle him to a chance of drawing or obtaining a prize, to be drawn in any lottery, or in a game or device commonly known as 'policy lottery' or 'policy' or shall, for himself or another person, sell or transfer, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale or transfer, a chance or ticket in or share of a ticket in any policy lottery or any such bill, certificate, token, or other device, he shall be fined not more than $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than three years, or both. The possession of any such tickets, certificates, bills, slips, tokens, or other device shall be prima facie evidence of purpose or intent of selling, transferring, exchanging, or negotiating the same. "SEC. 863. (a) If any person shall within the District have in his possession, knowingly, any ticket, certificate, bill, slip, token, paper, writing, or other device, used, or to be used, or adapted, devised, or designed, for the purpose of playing, carrying on, or conducting any lottery, or the game or device commonly known as 'policy lottery' or 'policy' he shall be fined not more than $500 or be imprisoned for not more than six months, or both." You will note that the so-called numbers game is not specifically named in this proposed statute, and that in this respect the proposed statute differs from S. 2925. This change has been made since the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has recently held in Forte v. United States (65 Apps. D. C. 355, 83 Fed. (2d) 612) that the numbers game is a lottery, and the word "lottery" in the proposed statute, therefore, covers the subject. It has come to the attention of my office that certain persons in the city of Washington now advertise that for a consideration they will furnish winning numbers for use in playing the numbers game. To bring this promotion scheme within the statute, we have added to section 863 a prohibition against "advertising, directly or indirectly, any lottery. * * * As the numbers game is usually played, the player gives the numbers writer a number containing three digits and bets his money, from a penny up, on this number. The numbers writer writes the number and the amount which the player wants to play in a small book, which produces an original and two carbon copies. He then gives the player one of the carbon copies. One of the other two impressions is later picked up and turned over to the backer or promoter. The third copy is kept by the writer. The District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia has held that under section 863 as it now stands no offense is committed unless the numbers writer actually sells or transfers to the player a tangible ticket or receipt; and for this reason many numbers writers have recently operated the game without giving the players any receipt. For this reason it is proposed that section 863 be amended to condemn the sale or transfer of "any chance, right, or interest, tangible or intangible, in any lottery." In this respect the proposed statute differs from S. 2925. The Supreme Court of the United States has held in Francis v. United States (188 U. S. 375) that the numbers slips which are retained by the writer or the backer are not lottery tickets or certificates. For this reason the police have been unable to take effective action against numbers runners or promoters in whose possession such slips were found. In many instances numbers runners carrying thousands of slips have been seen driving from the District of Columbia to their headquarters in Maryland; yet, since they were violating no law, the police have been powerless to arrest them. It is believed, however, that the enactment of the proposed section 863 (a), making the possession of such slips criminal, would give the police a powerful weapon in such cases and would seriously cripple the numbers game. H. Repts., 75-8, vol. 2 In the proposed statute, as distinguished from S. 2925, no changes were made in sections 865, 866, and 869 of the code, since it is believed that the decision in Forte v. United States (65 Apps. D. C. 355, 83 Fed. (2d) 612) makes any such changes unnecessary. With respect to section 869 in particular, it is believed that any change would be unwise, since the court in Forte v. United States specifically held that a numbers play is not a bet or wager and since this section is designed to apply only to bets or wagers. It is proposed that section 911 of the code be amended to authorize the United States Commissioner to issue search warrants in gambling cases. This change is deemed wise, since the Commissioner now issues such warrants only by authority of the Federal Espionage Act. Experience has demonstrated that it is better to obtain warrants from the United States Commissioner than from the police court, since greater secrecy is possible in the Commissioner's office. The proposed amendments to section 911 would also authorize the issuance of search warrants for papers and records used in carrying on gambling games, and this would make it possible to raid the headquaters of numbers promoters. The proposed amendment to section 914 of the District Code would relieve a situation which has frequently embarrased this office. Under existing law there is no provision authorizing the destruction of gambling paraphernalia in cases where no arrests were made at the time of seizure and no convictions obtained, and as a result large storage charges on such paraphernalia have from time to time accrued. The proposed amendment would empower us to destroy paraphernalia in cases of this type. I trust that this memorandum will give you the desired information. Sincerely yours, LESLIE C. GArnett, In accordance with paragraph 2a, of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law are shown as follows: Section 863 of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia reads as follows: If any person shall within the District keep, set up, or promote, or be concerned as owner, agent, or clerk, or in any other manner, in managing any policy lottery or policy shop, or shall sell or transfer any ticket, certificate, bill, token, or other device purporting or intended to guarantee or assure to any person or entitle him to a chance of drawing or obtaining a prize, to be drawn in any lottery, or in the game or device commonly known as policy lottery or policy, or shall, for himself or another person, sell or transfer, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale or transfer, or shall aid in selling, exchanging, negotiating, or transferring a chance or ticket in, or share of a ticket in any policy lottery or any such bill, certificate, token, or other device, he shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not more than one year, or both. and is amended by substituting therefor the similarly numbered section of the bill here reported. Section 911 of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia reads as follows: Upon complaint, under oath, before the police court, or a justice of the peace, setting forth that the affiant believes and has good cause to believe that there are concealed in any house or place articles stolen, taken by robbers, embezzled, or obtained by false pretenses, forged or counterfeited coin, stamps, labels, bank bills, or other instruments, or dies, plates, stamps, or brands for making the same, books or printed papers, drawings, engravings, photographs, or pictures of an indecent or obscene character, or instruments for immoral use, or any gaming table, device, or apparatus kept for the purpose of unlawful gaming, or any lottery tickets or lottery policies, particularly describing the house or place to be searched, the things to be seized, substantially alleging the offense in relation thereto and describing the person to be seized, the said court or justice may issue a warrant to the marshal or any officer of the police commanding him to search such house or place for the property or other things, and, if found, to bring the same, together with the person to be seized, before the police court. |