New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-09-18


for nothing-this is the erring aspiration OF hail
mankind Ignorant Of the elemental law when
unites labor indssolubly with benihcent acquisi-
tlon, or madly hoping TO circumvent OmmPo'ehce
and evsde that law, the great majority are al al
times intent on acquiring wealth and enjoying
luxury virtually if not svowcdy at the expense oi
others They would fare sumptuously, but on the
products of others toll not considering that bxer-
else more properly Exertion,l IS as necessary to
the endowment they covet as the yands which alone
encross their attention. Yet, without the adequate
and well-balanced exertion Of all mans powers
and faculties, Appetite pals Health fails and the
fancied enjoyment loses its zcst, ITS essence
What remains is
Like Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye,
But turn to ashes on the lip
This, man in his blindness his grossness, his
sreediness III not see, or seeing will not realize
and lay to heart Hence the passion for Gambling
which corrupts Trade, degrades Labor, and poisons
the very life blood Of Society, drawing family after
family 10 utter wreck and ruin.
But though Gambling can never be wholly Grad
icated until our Social laws and maxims shall be
recsst in tho mould OF purer aud higher wisdom.
yet some of its baser and more fatal forms and
manifestations may be measurably If not wholly
abolished. There will still be Gambling in Stocks,
in Goods, ia Lands in the chances Of Peace or
War, &c. &c. but the grosser and unredeemed ex-
hibtons Of the vice must fee before the light shed
by inquiry and demonstration. The veriest sim
peton in the land could not be ass enough 10 stag
gerinto agambers den and there bet money on faro
or other games if he really knew the fact that he
had not chance in the world OF winning dollar
except as the swindlers disguised gentlemen
and combined TO fleece him might think best 70
let him. in order in the end 70 strip him more
surely and utterly. The country merchant with
well filled pocket book, the clerk just dipping into
dissipation and his employers money drawer, steps
into the theater or tip-top reiectory to enjoy an
evening hour, and there quite accidentally makes
the acquaintance Of a Southern gentleman Or
City blood who proposes drink. a smoke and
stroll which terminate probably the first night at
a sumptuous brothel, the next or the next at
superb granddaughter as was the absorbing de.
sign Of the decoy duck from the first. He, poor
wretch, was perhaps literally educated and por-
toned, and once imagined himself a gentleman
but, falling into temptation and evil courses, he
was himself decoyed into one OF these fifty termed
bells there stripped of every farthing, and sent
forth desperate aud diabolic-a bankrupt and
villain. Soon, impelled by necessity and the hor-
rible fascination OF gambling, he became the &C.
comphce and pimp OF his destroyers, sharing'ther
iessts and their orgies and paying his way while
learning their arts by decoying the unwary into
their tolls But hes victim knows nothing, sus-
poets nothing, Of this he does not even think Of
gambling, except perhaps to a trihing amount
he has visited the den TO see life But he throws
down dollar, in acknowledgment of the civih-
ties shown him, and wins doubles it and wins ;
and perhaps goes home the first night with blood
boiling. brain fire, and hundred dollars of
other mems money in his pocket. The next
night, or after, he meets his friend cgain, is
persuaded If he needs persuasion) to follow up
his luck again enters the Internal precincts, and
is undone. Whether he is played through two
or three nights more or finished at once is imma
terisl the hook is in his jaws, and though be may
Autter and founder he cannot escape. He is
doomed
Now preaching or threatening will not reach the
marrow of this evil nothing will eradicate it
which does not demonstrate that the wish to &C
quire without recompense what is properly an
others is as well blundcr as a crime. But this
demonstration IL Il slow, laborious process the
pupil must unearn about all the world has ever
taught him and learn something better in It's stead
Taking men as they are. and leaving them as they
are, the only antidots to Gambling is occulsr, abso-
lutte demonstration that against the practicod
gambler the novice or occasional player has not a
shadow OF chance to win except as his antagonist
may see fit to let him-that utter ruin is the inev
table result of his continuing to play. He who
would hold out against such demonstration must bo
already demented and thoroughly bent on his own
destruction.
The srduous and perilous work of opening the
eyes OF the community to the horrible mysteries
OF Gambling was commenced some years since by
J. II. Green who in boyhood aud destitute orphan
age had been forced by seeming necessity into
association with gamblers had been initiated into
and ultimately become an adept in their nciarous
arts, aud had thus aided in bringing many 10 ruin.
At length, disgnsted pcnitent, and elfsbhorring
he iorsook the guilty craft made restitution OF his
plumber So tar as he was able, united with Chris
tan Church and commenced the work OF opening
the ewes of the uninitiated to the swindlng nature
of the games, ostensby of chance, by which gam
blers despoil their victims Having been some
time engaged in the manufacture and sale OF Play
ing Cards, he knows and can prove that they are
almost or quite never honestly made-thst the
Manufacturer is nearly always an acoomplce Of
the gamblers, and that all his cards are privately
marked so that he who has paid for the marking
and procured them to be put in the market at low
rates IN order TO force their sale and general use
can at all times distinguish by glance ut the
backs either the whole or all those most impor-
tant in the game he Processes to play. Then
boxes from which cards are dealt in the game
styled Faro Ia very common game on which thou
sand safer thousands are daily staked and quickly
lost are full of fraudulent devices, whereby the
banker or dealer is enabled to give himself the
winning cards whenever he thinks ri TO do so. Add
to this the immense advantages which an eye
and memory trained to incredible ieats, whereby
the thorough gambler knows from glance the re
lative position of each card sense o, touch so
exquisite that he can soon distinguish each card
by the edge alone and slight hand So amsz-