Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-01-02
German aud American Gam bl,n.

arc filed with details Of the last hours
Of the various public gambling estab-
lishmcnts ut Badon. uomburg. Neu-
helm, Spa and elsewhere. Our read
ers know probably that tho con cessions
granted by the government to certain
companies. permitting them to carry on
games Of chance under certain restric-
lions Of law, have been withdrawn
aud that the splendid casinos which
have been for years \ principal a.
traction at the most fashionable water
ing places Of Europe will be closed.
The spendthrifts, the idlers, the black
legs. aud the demireps, who have
formed characteristic feature in the
physiology Of these beautiful places,
will now he driven for their diversions
to the solitary island Of Monaco ; or to
the lonely Saxon les Bains, among the
ice hills Of Switzerland.
It has been contended even by NOR
alists Of reputc, that public gambling
under the supervision Of the law is less
injurious than the secret gambling
hich is sure to take its place wherever
it is suppressed. The public games at
the German spas, carried on by known
and responsible authority, we're games
Of equal chances, save in ono respect,
that percentage Of chance was always
reserved to the bank. Everybody who
played knew precisely the terms Of the
game, aud tie amount Of risk against
him. No cheateries, no conspiracies,
20 sinister methods Of any sort-such
as render private gambling houses a
swift destruction to all who enter
them-were employed by them. for
the simple reason that they were need
less. The advantages conceded by tho
law were an ample source Of gain to
the banks, without resortins to fraud.
Their winnings were assured in spite of
the aleatory appearance Of the play,
and they couli afford to regard the re-
suit, no matter how large the stake,
with the provcrbial indifference OF the
cronpier. Indeed, the greater the
stake, the grca ter the success. On the
contrary, in private establishments,
fraud is the luie, fairness the exception,
and while the losses Of the players
are more the surroundings and accom-
paninents are fer more deleterous.
There is plausibility in this view,
but nothing more. Government is the
representative Of justice, Of the stern
sense Of right, Of the feeling Of honor
and purity that constitutes the life OF
society, and should never degrade its
functions so as to participate in the
vices Of the community or to lend
them it. sanctions II it acts at all it
must act as a restraint and antagonist,
and, not as q halfway abettor and
ally. The moral tone Of a people is
far more seriously paralyzed when the
organ Of public right becomes the &C.
complice Of, than when it ie merely in
different to vice aud wrong. The dan
gerous classes, as they are cslled-the
criminals. the sharpers, the panders to
unnameable corruptions get to be
tolerated by the public sentiment, when
they get to be tolerated by the law. 1t
il for this reason that games in which
the law connivcs become as internal in
their effects as those which the law re-
fuses to recognize. Governments that
deal honestly with their subjects arc
obliged to suppress them in the end.
just as they are obliged to root out
other evils that desolate private peace
and public order.
But there is one form of gambling,
as detcstabie in the cupid,ty and dis.
honesty that prompts it as any other,
that neither law nor sentiment nor pri-
vate prudence seems able to restrain.
We refer to that prodigious and COR
rupting form Of it which is carried on
in the centers Of trade, but chiefly at
the Stock Exchanges. All the hazards
staked at Honburg, Baden, Wiesbaden
and Monaco in week, do not equal
those OF Wall Street in a single day,
sometimes for single hour. In the
one case the highest wagcrs of Hundreds
Of people do not amount to a tenth OF
the wagers Of a single person in the
other case. The gamblers at the Spas
bet On the turn Of ball or the count
Of card, while the gamblers in Wall
Street, On the prices Of commodities, OF
rather on fictitious opinions as to pros
pective prices. But the gamblers in
Wall Street have one superiority to the
gamblers at the Spas, they can be cum
ming, by lies, by trickery, in short, by a
rascaIity Of some sort, influence the re.
suit upon which they bet. They have
It in their power, as We have recently
seen, to produce what are technically
termed corners, which eu,barrass their
adversaries, and, in fact, render them
powerlcss. A highwayman who knocks
bis victim down with a club, that he
may rob him more easily, takes the same
sort Of advantage, with about equal
morality. The gambler at Spa can.
not do this he must submit to the
chances and accept his fate; the nun.
bers on which his money is risked come
out in spite Of him; and he may calcu.
late never SO skillfully and yet lose.-
The Wall street gamblers put up their
stakes, and then do ali they cun to cog
the dice, to bride the dealers, to insure
tho result they wish. The former pass
under very disagreeable names, but
tho latter, who seem to US the worst
offenders IF the two, have recognized