Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939 Page: 214 of 263
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-215
had
held in a test case that the so-called pari-mutuel system of betting
violated the laws of Texas. When the free conference appropriation bill,
with the race track gambling rider attached, was presented to the Legislature,
members were confronted with the proposition that they either
had to vote against all of the appropriation bill or, voting for it, accept
race track gambling. At least, this was the argument or excuse
employed; and thus lightly, yet perhaps designedly, did Texas legislators
wipe out a great moral "landmark" of the fathers and bring back to
Texas race track gambling evils grown a thousand fold more undesirable
in the period that had ensued.
It is true that in a subsequent special session of the same Legislature
a corrected bill was passed, but it was with the explanation that it was
merely to clear up the legal question involved-a ready excuse or
alibi to the voters.
Mind you, this was done without the issue having been submitted
to the people by any candidate for Governor or the Legislature. The
first time the people spoke was in the gubernatorial primaries of 1934
when the demand for repeal was openly and clearly made by the successful
candidate for Governor. That demand was then incorporated
in the Democratic platform. It was recommended to the Forty-fourth
Legislature, but the repeal bill was not even permitted to come up for
a vote on the floor of either House. Again the people spoke in the
primaries of 1936! Again the demand was placed in the Democratic
platform! Again that particular plank in the platform was submitted
to the Legislature!
Within one month after this Legislature convened, the House of Representatives
suspended all rules and passed the bill by the overwhelming
vote of 109-26. It went to the Senate. Early efforts to get it out of
committee were fruitless. So much so that on March 4, when House
Bill No. 167 was pending before the Senate, an amendment was offered
and adopted to make gambling at race tracks unlawful. Every dilatory
motion, every effort at delay, even proposed local option, was voted
down by the Senate on that occasion; and the amended bill passed tc
engrossment by a vote of 20-8. At that time two members of the Senate
who had committed for repeal and one who was against repeal were
absent.
Six days later by a vote of 15-14 the bill was sent back to the committee.
At that time the race track people said that all they wanted
was an opportunity to be heard. That hearing was held. Not a single
member of the committee who had voted or committed for repeal changed
his vote in committee. On the contrary, each member of the Senate
committee who had voted or committed for repeal promptly voted to
recommend to the Senate that the bill pass.
The practical effect, however, was to kill the repeal bill for the regular
session. When it was sent back to the committee on March 10 it occupied
a favored and advantageous position on the calendar; to such an
extent that it could not have been kept from coming up. After it had
gone to the committee for the hearing, other bills had meantime secured
preference on the Senate calendar; and those, as is well known, were used
as filibuster vehicles to keep from reaching the race track repeal bill.
How disgustingly successful these efforts have been is a story well
known to the citizenship of Texas.
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Allred, James V. Legislative Messages of Hon. James V. Allred, Governor of Texas 1935-1939, book, 1939; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth3899/m1/214/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .