MISSOURI FORGETS ITS HISTORY

"What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it."

---George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Pursuing games of chance for riverboat casinos in Missouri as if they were morally responsible solutions to more revenue for government, many of the state's political leaders are now striving to submit for a third time a revision of the constitutional prohibitions against gambling. Before this year's legislative session is over, it is quite possible that in less than two years, voters will have cast three ballots on this issue, all in the name of expediency and insufficient revenue.

We have, as Hegel suggests, not learned much from the consequences of history, and Missouri now finds itself embarking on a road that will, most certainly, cause thousands of citizens a maximum amount of suffering and hardship. Those who have forgotten -- or never knew -- the history of gambling in Missouri see nothing wrong in this journey, and their myopic view of the relationship between government and public morality is, to say the least, pejorative and even downright foolish.

Missouri had gambling long before today's officials were old enough to read. Long ago the state sanctioned, in one form or another, every conceivable kind of gaming device, including the much-discussed slot machine that today seems to be an integral part of gaming companies' strategy to fleece gullible citizens of their paychecks and even their savings.

This gambling was brought to the state by elements that may not be that much different from today's well-dressed and obviously affluent casino owner. Fifty years ago gambling was sponsored by promoters who were equally well-dressed and affluent, and some of the names may or may not be familiar to the legislators of today. Does the name Pendergast ring a bell with anyone in Jefferson City in 1994? It certainly did 50 years ago when the affluence and influence of Tom Pendergast was as pervasive as the influence of lobbyists who today exert so much power in the Capitol.

The Pendergast operations were enormous, including every activity from ready-mix concrete to slot machines, from liquor stores to hand-held punch cards. Uncle Tom's operations were not only financially rewarding but politically empowering, and from the headquarters in Kansas City to courthouses in remote counties all around the state, the word of Pendergast meant more than the word of any governor or any legislator.

The operations were so huge that Pendergast was able to control not only the conduct of municipal and county officials but the outcome of legislation that might affect his business anywhere in the state. While the organization was selling Kansas City enough ready-mix concrete to pave the interstate to Hell, it was financing political campaigns in St. Louis, dictating Democratic candidates in Howard County and running competitive liquor distributor dealers out of town in Springfield, even if a little bit of violence was required to get the job done.

Hey, you can't find a better deal than that.

Pendergast control was so pervasive that newspaper reporters who dared write about any felonies the group regularly committed were in danger of being beaten up and even killed. I remember hearing one Kansas City newspaper reporter describe the beating he took when he dared write an election-day story on the illegal ballot procedures being carried out by paid Pendergast workers. I looked in horror as he showed the scars he carried as a result of that beating. The irony is that the newspaper didn't even have the courage to print his story, and it wasn't even generally known until the reporter appeared as a federal grand jury witness against Pendergast years later.

Like most power brokers, Pendergast's political influence was exaggerated over time, but it was greater than any organization, before or after, save political parties. The Kansas City machine ran local politics like a well-oiled watch, even naming the chief of police who eventually went to federal prison for his malfeasance. The state Capitol was not much different, although there were enough innocents in the General Assembly to keep Pendergast power contained. It was not until the Stark administration in the late 1930s that efforts were made to stem the beast of Jackson County, and one of the strategies was to outlaw all forms of gambling so that state efforts could supplement local enforcement when it proved ineffective against Pendergast goons. That's why Missouri's Constitution has such strong prohibitions against gambling and why, until memory dimmed the abuses, they were never revised by the voters.

I am not suggesting that gambling forces of today could equal the power, and the corruption, of one of the nation's most powerful political machines. But Pendergast used gambling for his benefit and gained immeasurably from its prevalence, with the proceeds used to enhance his organization's power and increase its political influence. The state's most revered political figure, despite his constant reassurances to the contrary, was elevated from bankruptcy to the Jackson County Court and greatly assisted on two occasions in his bids for the U.S. Senate. Harry Truman's first campaign for Congress, undertaken in 1934, was significantly advanced by Pendergast contributions and political assistance, both legal and illegal, at the polls. Even Stark had Pendergast's endorsement in 1936, although it was not solicited and the Louisiana, Mo., Democrat refused to "do business" with Boss Tom throughout his term in office from 1937 to 1941.

Gambling generates millions of dollars in revenue, making men of ordinary abilities inordinately wealthy, while corrupting countless others with its promises of quick money and easy terms. It indirectly corrupts those who promote it for its largesse to bankrupt cities, schools and states, choosing a small percentage of revenue from games of chance to assure their continued popularity with voters. Gambling promises a quick fix, with no regard for its consequences, to replace the odious higher-tax levies that increased service demands, inflation and improved services require.

As Missouri hurries back to gambling, and all of the suffering it once caused our state, Tom Pendergast must be having a great laugh at the prospect as he watches us from down there.