, 1876-04-13

Otner scenes OF ike character, q Chris
tian minister and notorious keeper of
a squaw brothel in close conversation
while eagerly watching the turn of the
wheel in which they had mutually
staked their money.
We mean to make nc reflection upon
the character of the men who conducted
this gambling device. There were
among them men of the highest business
character and credit. They had suf-
ficient credit 20 command an advance
and certificate of deposit from the
Bank of $4,000 in gold coin, without
depositing a dollar. Upon this credit
at the Bank. they guaranteed to the
purchasers of tickets like amount Of
prizes. with license from the County
Commissioners to-sell tickets to double
the amount cf the prizes. Upon the
day of drawing it was announced to the
assembled masses of ticket-holders that
but little over one half of the tickets
had been sold, amounting to $20.515.
and that therefore, the managers could
only pay SO cents on the dollar of the
prizes drawn. This was put to vote and
assented to by those present; leaving to
the managers Of the scheme ov r $40.
0OG for the use of their credit and ex-
penses. Thtir license allowed them
one hundred per cent. upon the whole
and they took it out pro rata. Tie
drawing upon this basis was unques
rionably fairly conducted; but dealer
OF monte or faro who would C mpound
with the winners FIR fisty cents on the
dollar would be kicked out of the pros
fession as d blk and swirdler But as
to the dealings between the managers
and their customers we have no bust
ness. 1t is but the system which We
denounce as corrupting, demoralizing
and fraudulent.
There is another gambling institution
under license, carried on daily and
nightly in public room, opening upon
the sidewalk in the business centre of
the city, which is constantly crowded
with eager gamblers, many of whom
probably never gambled before. the re-
ceipts of which are said to net $50 a
day. The managers CT this institution
ply their vocation under license and the
protection of the law, the same as the
managers of the gold lottery.
A most solemn question of public and
private consideration is: Where does
all this money come from-not only the
amount daily squandered in this open
gambling house. but the $4,000 taken
by the larger institution lately drawn?
1t comes mainly though not entirely
from the most impecunious classes In
the community. How many employers
tills have been rifled? How many inno-
cent women and children have suffered
for the money that husbands and fathers
have squandered upon these gambling
devices? How many honest creditors
have been 6efrauded? And, alas! how
many promising youths will get their
first Initiation in vice the natural ten
dency of which is to the penitentiary or
the gallows. The men who carry on nc
worse system of gambling without the
protection of law, and away from pub
lie observation, are regarded as Grimm
ais and outlaws. and when caught and
convicted are subjected to the severest
penalties and greatest public odium.
Ibe same public sentiment, the same
public authorities, the same statutes,
tolerate. license and protect, more
flasitious, because more public system
of gambling, not a whit better in any of
Its moral phases.
The history of the country proves
that wherever lotteries have been toler-
ated by law, the victims OF lottery
gambling may be numbered by scores
and hundreds. After the drawing of
the great San Francisco lottery, which
WAS under the patronage Of the ''Yonng
Mems Christian Association" and in
tended for a most worthy object, the
local papers of that State were teemlng
with reports of crimes, suicides and
insanity, the direct result of that lottery.
The same consequences are just as like
ly to follow here, and We shall be most
agreeably disappointed if the crimes
growing out of our present lottery sys-
TEN do not cost the County and Terri
tory ten times as much as is received
foT their licenses.
The lus. of gain, the greed to become
rich without labor, is the consuming
passion of the age, effscting every con-
dition of society, from the highest to
the lowest, and woe to that community.
that society, which makes its statutes
and popular sentiment pander to this
unholy passion!
PHYSICIAN TO THE INSANE ASYLUM