Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1862-01-09

IdckS feature Wncl constitutes gamo
ling. There is no gaining your ueghbors goods with
ou: giving bin en- equivalent You part with good' and
get money. There is merely in the transaction cacu
ation Of probabilities ard the laws of trade which the
most comprehensive mind makes by II q man d.
ceives his neghbo OF course 1t Is mere case Of fraud
B1. there is no such thing in the two meet.
ing in room, and one, after the management of some
pieces Of paper, carrying of the money OF the other
without giving him one cents equivalent. OF course
there i5 exchange or trade cannot exis. but in m.
bng nothing Is given, while the other is deprived Of
everything The want of plrall1am, between the two
cases, is amos! too pdpable TO allow Of DISCUSSION
Ths writer s, OF course, gambler he tells us so
but he has certainly taken mp this paasbiity 60 cen
heard among the advocates Of this practice without be-
soSing it the analysis which Re ia evidently capable
of giving it. commend bis argument on this point to
his reorganization.
The more read this article, Mr.. Editor, the more
ON struck with its want of logical Conference and ofce
Excitement men mus. have" he tells us and because
the minds OF men 10 accordance with Law of their na
ture love aud cultivate innocent enthusiasm In the line
OF sculpture, painting, music astronomy, poetry, ec-
qusnce etc., therefore attempt the indulgeIce
oi guilty and pernicous passion ike that OF gaming
can be expected to be successful Gould any reasoning
possibly be more unsound' Niucty.niDe nen out Of
every hundred, he infoTms u.s. have cultivated "a card
enthusiasm and tits "a pet passion Of tte mllioD." Now
if by "card enthusiasm he means passion for gamb'
ling for money and, by the subsequent language tha,
gaming for the purposes of gain is g" pet passion of the
million" must be permitted to doubt the correctness of
this estimate of the proportion such persons bear to the
car IT,
ed IN community in Virginia, heard automatically of
one where the proportion of gamesters greater than
that Of ten to huadred IL ii that even. do rot
think that there is neighborhood of gentlemen 10 v-
giba where they would deem Il an insult to have it
said of them that ninety nine out of hundred Of them
had cultivated passion for cards. or in other words
played cards or money, for talking of this aud
nothing else. Because OF the vide prevalence of this
Practice this writer iners that "any law which strikes at
tho fullest uon Of this pet passion" will be necessarily
thSarted and foiled in its execution Men, he says
cin do tand they will This is his position, sud yet
b, winds up his article by recommending law forbid.
ding gambling exeep. ia certain egalz,d establish
IN u n. Would not law Of this sort strike at the
fullest and Jrssst fruition Of this passion If man
nus; walk ride, say three miles in city, to reach
penalty Of going the peniteniiary or paying heavy
ine, is this no strike at the frees fuon of his passion,
mi II il, il certainly s how, according TO this
han that exhibited in the proposition wticH wuuTu
,scu TO be the OH &C, of the Communication to make,
VIZ tha, certain gambling houses be licensed with
heavy penalties, 81, to those who game elsewhere
Let US ex,mue this briefly and then close this long
article We must legaE, gambling. as the French and
Germans with their notoriousy low moral tone, have
done We must legsza it, as these two inhde uaiors
Of Europe have done, for they are, perhsp' the only
two dsac;iycly inf lei countries on that continent and
We n the youth Of naton or rather infancy must
begin by initiating them. We mus. follow Farce
standing as che does the thin crust OF social vol
emo and Germany, the confessed fountain OF mocefn
infi,lty in religion and morals. By way OF giving
heahfu moral imp,tus to the conscience of the young
ration We must walk in these iusrious foo!stepe We
must ,gslzs " vice OF no ordinary magnitude unu
our fame as gsmblers rises out Of obscuriy into world
wide potoriety, as these Frsnch aad Germans have
emerged to tLeir bad emineace. If the writer o; this
proposition had wanted to cucumber it with od!uH, be
could not perhaps, have adopted more efr,ctu'l m
boi Of doing So than by tclsg the readers Of the VIII
tha. this law he recommends i Law in Germany nd
law in France.
We must "egaliz, gambling" We forbid murder
robbery SANDER dtuakenness profauo swearing, fraud
and other vices, bu. perhaps we have made terrible
mistake all this while. Certain houses ought to have
been regularly quilted by law, ia which these crimes
could have been committed with legal sancton, and mo-
nay too accrue to the municipal authorities from the
prcpr tors Of these establishments Ia not this, Mr..
Editor the first tim in the history Of this vice 10 this
country that It has been proposed to diminish II by
making Il absolutely lawful act Would 1t not relieve
this practice Of at eas. nnetcths Of its odirmH VINO
that r, ets single moment can doubt this And who
ha, lcves this na ion would tembe to this vca
ken uuder the protection OF her laws and governors
Let bI. thing he Done SIR and steel does not sure
" draS the lightning Of the skies than would snch an
ac, attract the wrathfu ours, of the Lord jehovah
This writer believes that if his proposal adopted
and Gambling in u.ncensed houses made afeony, the
vice would be diminished, and freeborn, highspiht1d
men would no longer be compelled to "slnk In apa
out by night q. the back doors Of gaming houses
This whole proposition Mr.. Editor, ia very summafiiy
bnt ,picsy, disposed OF. These men, who thus fur
tvely r, qpent gaming places, do not "snk out and
IN beeau,e these houses are unlicensed houses, but
prncip,ly for the reason that hcy are gaming houie
They do not want be recognized aslgsmestes, as be-
cau.e It s disrcpuable thing And, although to legal
ze gaming houses would take away large share Of the
odum which adheres to this Practice still any person
who slo Id gamble aud at the sams time have sens
i've regard to his reputation generally, and as safe bu
sness man more particularly, would yet enter these law
ul gaming houses vita steathy Tread, aud that after
tho shads Of night have fen on the earth. Make IN
licensed gaming felony and you will prevent men from
daring to have unlicensed gaming houses. This will do
ter nan from keeping such houses, he tells u.s. and thu
Won will diminish gambling. This admission, Nc. Ed
tor, causes the whole prop al to dwinde into nothing
and vanish like vapor before the SUM- take my leav'
of the subject simply remakng, tha! If men would b'
deferred from keeping unlicensed gaming houses b!
fear of the penalty attached to felony, they would b
d,errca from keeping any gaming establishments at all
70 tho act waa by law fLOnv to be followed oil coui So