Show i The Gambling Mania Hania GAMBLING is the attempt to get something something something some some- thing for nothing and therein lies its immorality It is the desire to secure something without earning it to obtain reward wi without thou t due effort I It t teaches that chance and luck may take the place of honest labor labur that that for which men work may be obtained without work Ye shall be judged according to your works has no significance to a gambler gambler gambler gam gam- bler if he holds the lucky number in a lottery or makes the best throw with a adice adice adice dice box From his standpoint the old ethical idea that hard persistent effort is the corner stone of all success is erroneous He sees in the lottery ticket the faro table or the stock stocke e exchange change an opportunity for making a large sum of money by risking only a afew afew afew few dollars He follows a seemingly natural tendency of mankind to secure the most with the least effort It is this desire for self-gain self that moves him to risk his money Some men it is is' true gamble to drown sorrow others b p play at games of chance because of the fascination of the game in and of itself but the great majority of gamblers gamble to make money and for no other purpose Gam Gambling bling in some soone form exists every every- where Co Country un try towns have their quilting quilting quilting quilt quilt- ing raffles city parishes their church fairs athletic associations their racing events and pool betting In all our our larger ci cities ties there are gambling dens wh where re the faro table the roulette wheel the deck of cards and the dice box are J Jin in almost constant use Racing assocIatIOns associations associations asso asso- could not exist with their long list of high salaried officers ers did they not get a large of the profits of the gambling done on their courses during during during dur dur- ing the racing seasons And then it is s not necessary necessary to to attend the race to bet beton Y Yon on n the outcome In In New York city alone there are over sixty rooms pool where bets may be made on all the racing racing racing rac rac- ing and athletic contests throughout the I. I world world The amounts amounts' bet on ra races rases es in inthis inthis inthis this one city average over per per day At a anum number ber of the great race racetracks racetracks racetracks tracks the betting often exceeds per day Mr W. W B. B Curtis man managing ging editor of the s Spirit of the 7 Times mes is authority for the statement that on one track alone during a single afternoon of the summer of 1891 there was wagered Add to this the amounts bet in the various pool rooms of our large cities and it is safe to estimate estimate estimate esti esti- mate that over changed hands handson on the results of that one afternoon Enormous amounts sometimes as high as are often wagered on a single race The amounts risked on f f. trotting races are even larger it not being at ail all uncommon to hear of th there re being in the pool box on one heat Betting does not stop at horse races and trotti trotting g. g Lovers of If chance bet on everything that involves a hazard Pools are made on baseball games I football contests bicycle races yacht races b boxing xing matches Farmers bet on the number of days before a rain on the amount of hay in a certain field The so called so-called called higher classes bet on election election election elec elec- tion returns on the rise and fall of prices Ocean travelers frequently amuse themselves by betting on the rate of t speed of the vessel the time of arrival at port the number of vessels sighted in ina a certain period N Nearly e everyone gambles in some one of the forms thus far described and it itis t is when we take into consideration the great prevalence of this desire to make r money without working for it that gambling gam- gam gambling f bling bling- becomes in in very deed one of our most reprehensible social evils Of the regular gambling games faro U. U roulette poker and the number combination combination combi- combi V nation are perhaps ps the most popular In these games the house has from six sixto to fo nine chances out of every ten for win- win ning In the low grade gaming houses the apparatus is is i's usually doctored and in such cases the dealer of course has the game in his own hands He loses small amounts to draw on his prey but he invariably wins when the stakes are large But this is cheating and robbery and not gambling The 1 first-class first house either ei ther puts up a fairand fair fairand fairand and square game game or conducts its cheating so skillfully as not to be de de- T The e men who frequent these houses and to whom the proprietors look for support are fr from m every walk of life The passion for gambl gambling ng penetrates all grades of society The salaried meagre-salaried clerk sees in the faro table the roulette wheel or the dice box a brilliant scheme for making money His His throwing throwing throw throw- Ii ing dice and marking with fellow clerks for the after dinner cigars has created a love for gambling Influenced by the seeming recklessness of those about him he wagers a small sum Say he wins He might possibly win the I first few times The fire of his passion has been fed by inflammable success He makes other and costlier ventures The odds are too many against him for continued success and the time soon comes when his own earnings fail to satisfy that craving for games of chance He neglects neg his work and perhaps appropriates the funds of his employer and then is the old story of wrong and suffering and the downfall of a bright you youth tho thoIn In such cases we have presented one of the the most demoralizing effects of gam gambling bling Gambling ts is a crime crime breeder It not only demoralizes industrious habits it leads its victim to commit thefts embezzlements defalcations breaches of trust and as a result there are wretched homes heartbroken women beggared children The business man wagers money on the polite games while feeding this passion he be is neglecting neglecting- his pis business The The men encourage his visits till they have his notes for nearly all he is worth He usually pays these notes and is ruined If he fails to pay them he is advertised as a gambler and loses the respect of both gamblers and honest men The professorial gamblers frequent these haunts because th their ir profession profession profession pro pro- is gambling bling and they make their living there Gambling with this class is reduced to a science They figure the game before they start and usually bet their money on a solid thing They claim to be gen gentlemen of honor They take pride in in declaring that their word is as good as a bond And yet they are the the ones who pilot the lamb the rural moneyed man into their dens and relieve relieve relieve re re- lieve him of his hard earned savings Again gambling shows its demoralizing ing effects The passion for it makes easy victims to those professionals of the successful business men of both Loth t country and town The successful business business business business' busi busi- ness ness ness' men are the social and political leaders When this immoral passion is entrenched in the souls of the leaders it At it must to a greater or less degree influence influence influence in in- fluence the followers Gambling ruins those attributes of character that make men most manly and in doing this it strikes at law and justice and all the best interests of society To gambling thousands of young men in this country annually owe their ruin Perhaps just as many are ruined every y year ar through speculating in so-called so legitimate businesses that are tinged with the same hue of getting something for nothing People whose conscience conscience will not allow them to bet on a horse race or a game of cards gratify their speculative tendencies by dabbling in town lots and in mining shares or by purchases in the stock exchange The II puts pu puts ts the II calls the purchases and sales on II margins of the stock exchange exchange ex ex- change are forms of gambling just as mu much h as roulette and faro are forms of gambling and they even lack the in- in teres of these latter forms for the game played at is out of sight A few Jay Goulds invest money in Wall Street and by forcing the market are comparatively comparatively comparatively sure of winning II Exchange merchants of this class have money enough at their back to II boom or II pull things their wa way To the great majority there is no game It is simply simply simply sim sim- ply an in intangible tangi ble out of sight something something something some some- thing in which the they have no interest save as a means of winning or losing money This purely II chance form of gambling gambling gambling gamb gamb- ling exists again in the lottery Lottery Lottery Lottery Lot Lot- tery tickets have been been sold in almost every town j they have reached all classes of society They take the hard earnings of the poor as well as the hoarded wealth of the rich The lottery is a II chance and seldom an honest one only to the buyer The sellers seller's L 1 J profits are assured when the lottery company is organized This form of gambling secured such a hold upon the people in certain of our states a few years ago that lottery companies were i able to control elections bribe legislators legisla legisla- tors and successfully defy laws of jus jus- tice Their enormous normous fortunes amassed amassed i j without giving any due equivalent there there- for enabled them to expend millions J of dollars every years for these unholy purposes For over twenty five e years i ithe the Louisana State Lottery carried on ona a systematic scheme of robbing in the United States and elsewhere Wherever the tickets of that firm secured a hold in industrial habits were paralyzed and public morals corrupted In the State of Louisana the poor were made beggars beggars beg beg- gars the relation of man to man profaned profaned profaned pro pro- r social law and order destroyed So corrupt did the institution become that it publicly offered bribes to lawmakers lawmakers lawmakers law law- makers to pass laws in its favor and publicly boasted that its officers could j escape the penalty of laws already existing It is pleasing to note that t thuman human nature at last revolted against the disgrace that the manhood of the people of Louisana finally asserted itself In 1892 the legislature ref refused refused re re- f fused sed to renew the charter legalizing the crime and the Louisana Lottery Company was forced to seek other fiel fields s. s Every crime seeks to entrench itself by bribery and dishonest means The enormous gains of gambling houses and lottery companies enable them to offer sums that tempt the best men of the country What the lottery companies do in the South the gambling dens do doin doin in N New ew York and other northern cities They bribe law makers and con control police officers The natural growth of the evil does not ruin morals fast enough j its advocates use every dishonest dishonest dishonest dis dis- honest method conceivable to perpetuate i it and it t and the success of th these ese methods is isI j I only made possible by the great prevalence prevalence prevalence preva preva- lence of the gambling passion Briefly summed up then gambling ruins industrious habits destroys public morals paralyzes law and justice and the best interests of society breeds crime wrecks happy homes Its universality makes the discovery of its preventatives extremely difficult r s' s The passion is so securely entrenched with all classes of people that we must look to the people for the peoples people's sal sal- The b best st class of society is agreed that stringent laws should be enacted against the most pernicious forms of gambling It will however take ages for laws to change the habits of man A successful gambler must necessarily be a m man an of great energy executive ability and conservative dar dar- ing A gambler is indeed a great man mangone mangone W gone wrong The great problem with social reformers should be to direct this courage and en energy and enterprise into other and better channels and not to tot t change charge the mode of gambling into another that is just as demoralizing Fred W. W Reynolds 1 |