The Portland daily press., 1874-05-09
How to Make Defaulters.


We may safely venture to assert that |
three-fourths OF the church and Sunday |
~, school fairs held in the State during the past
season, gave elementary lessons in gambling
or games Of chance. 1.-THE grab bag afforded
si lothe zest of the OCCASION" "a deal of excite
,ssG ment was occasioned by the guess cake which
Aa fell to so-and.so,'' "The fairy pond afforded
the children an immense deal of pleasure"
- are the words of the reporter who looks IN
al . upon the church or charitable fair. ''Weli,
what's the harm ?" asks the enthusiastic pro-
ssaisI qector to which we reply, very little in the
"a &c act itself, very much in its possible teaching
70 OF and infuence-so much that it may be the
first lesson to crime that will bring disgrace
and punishment. The boy who is there hrst
ma melted to give ten cents for the chance Oh
agJ drawing prize worth fifty, is well s'ar'eo Oh
ila the path of rash Spectator II not a coniiin-
s1od1 cd gambler. He will next be found purchas-
ing prize packages of candy, not because ne
~ ~ particularly Graves the doubtful compound,
~ but that he may get the prize that one in
dozen or fifty contains Growing older, he
a, =. 8 led on to that dismal, but most honest of
"a asdf all games of chance, "buf'' az "penny
a ante" or purchasing lottery tickets, raffies,
le or buying pools at horse trots. A boy thus
educated Is, no longer SalSIleu VIII Tue re-
wards of honest toll or the fair returns of the
4 !, prudent management of trade. He is eager
sli for the speculation by which one dollar will
"a q yield ten, or to find some means by which
he may secure to his own use the results of
a'. labor it is impossible for him to give. A boy
], thus educated is quite likely to draw upon
= ~ his employers money drawer, not with the
% p a. pu1 pose of stealing, but merely to make
Temporary i.~eos-se1s- which he would re-
place in time to escape detection. Usually
he has doubtless been able to do, but now
AMI then he has failed, his dishonesty discov-
ered and as result his career is closed in
early life by being branded as thief More
vr ~ frequently he escapes detection in early life
40 Al to be entrusted to positions of responsibility,
but the boy who took his employers money
to invest in pools and small gaming, he
grows to be ambitious for greater specua-
tions, or stock gambling. Here lie doubtless
escapes detection too, but this class furnishes
the disappearing agents with large sums, the
defauiing clerks and cashiers. The great
Z, majority, we may assume, escape detection,
but the anxious days and sleepless nights
81 they pass all their lives long, is punishment
that is scarcely to be preferred to the open
shame of detection and punishment. $500
..an 9 q, We do not propose to be so unjust as to
charge this class of fairs with sowing the
seed from which the terrible harvest of spec
nlation and gambling is reaped. Indeed,
they are responsible for very small part of
"a @ it; but when the tendency is SO strong in
ID VI that direction, their influence and example
should be in decided hostility to that or any
other evil which threatens to sap the founda-
lions of society. Headlong haste to get
wealth and a reckless tendency to rush into
speculation are among the great dangers
4 %. - and evils of the day. As nation we are
now reaping some Of the fruits of this reck-
lessness, and unless prompt and effective
means are taken to curb the spirit of specu Ia
ton, We have not seen even the beginning
of the whirlwind of destruction that por-
tends.
p. ev We cannot dismiss this subject without
gg taking the occasion to express our unqua-
fed condemnation of the course of certain
religious societies in accep ting money of not
ed stock gamblers, and to use plain and
straightforward terms, thieves and swindlers
to found theological schools. We already
.4aa have the Drew Theological Seminary. AID
who is Daniel Drew? A robber who lies in
wait for men less cunning, who brushes by
his mastery combinations smaller men by
pas 1.-The hundred; who, to make million, has
shH9ub brought poverty to widows and want to help
less orphans; who in the courts stands ac-
cused as purjured vnfan; whose name
among men, stands as the synonym of all
that is false and base-this is the man who
8 furnishes money to found theological school
. which bears bis name! Another king of the
stock gamblers has lately endowed his theo-
logical school.
as Can the effect of the practical connoniza-
ton Of such men be otherwise than disaster
Il Oous in its influence upon the young? How
long will there be such a virtue as integrity if
these things are suffered is 60 unrebuked2