The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-11-14
American Gambling.

II there 1s Any evidence Tnat tnlS 2etl-
I Grafton Of Americans IS prone 70 follow
/ the devil on the downward read 10 per-
i ditioa, it is 70 be found III the multi
form popular devices for getting some
/ thing for nothing. or In other words, in
the widespread passion for gambling.
/ Not only in the large cities where vice
/ has its temples, but in many quiet vii
lagas. aud In some Of our acadenlies
and colleges the faro bank and poker
table are running some of the most gifted
and promising men Of the time, corrupt
ing their hearts and habits, teaching
them to be tricky and false, and leading
them straight along to the disgrace and
ruin which follows thieying, defalcations
and breaches OF trust Even IN New
Hampshire they are scores of men who
are to-day broken in fortune, in ambi-
| ton, and in reputation, simply because
of their strife for riches at the gambling
table, where only he who IS cold blooded
enough TO be professional cut-throat
ever succeeds IN amassing q fortune.
And vet this kind of gambling which
/ shuns the daylight and fsurishes only
behind bolts and shutters, which Is out-
iawed By the statutes and by public
/ opinion, which only the heartless sue
ceed in, and only the shameless confess
to be addicted to, comes as near TO being
aa honest occupation as almost any
other. The gambler with cards IS gen
eralfy cheat. but he has this IN his
| favor. that. as rule he does not claim
I to be ANYTHING else He SAYS to the man
who PLAYS with him, 81 intend to get
your money without giving you any
| thing in return" and whoever bets that
| he isn't sharp enough TO carry out his
| intention, does 50 with bis eyes OPEN
| The victim, of course, expects to win,
| bnt when he has lost his last dollar, and
perhaps hundreds that belong to Others
he has only himself to reproach. He
| has known from the start that he was
engaged in an illegal, dangerous and
disgraceful business, IN which he could
expect no favors and no quarter, and
when he thinks it all over he is forced
to the conclusion that he has Jared quite
as we'll as he deserved.
Next to the card table comes the lot
teries, beginning with those which open
Iy defy the laws of the United States,
and ending with the cheap copies by
which some weIl-meaning people whip
the devil round stump, at church and
charity fairs Some of these are cheats
of the worst description, and some, per
haps. are managed squarely; but they
are all organized for the purpose of APP
pealing to mems passion for gambling,
and conducted to get money without
returning an equivalent. They all rob
| their patrons, and, in nine cases. cut of
ten, gather their receipts from the igno-
rant and the poor, who have no money
to spare.
A twin-sister of the lottery curse goes
out in the shape of the prize-package,
which is the bait used to lure people
into the meshes of traders who have
merchandise to sell that cannot be sold
at the prices asked upon its merits.
/ This, too, appeals to peoples desire to
.'trv their luck" aud is a species of
cheap gambling which finds victims By
! the thousand among those whose cir
cumstanees should induce them not to
i fool away their money in game OF
chance. Generally, this game is a cheat
at both ends. The prize is not what II
is represented, and the wares which it
| helps to sell are frauds. Whoever buys
prize candy in order to get chance to
! find a gold ring, even when in luck, gets
glucose AHSt6dd III dhN OAeAoS Ia
stead Of gold, and most of the men and
women who are induced to pay 50 for
clothing and groceries by an agreement
that some one of them shall draw a piano
! or chamber set, are pretty certain to
wear shoddy and eat adulterations for
the rest of the year. while even the for
tunate prize-winner listens to hideous
music and sleeps on a rickety bedstead
| until he wishes some of his enemies had
his good luck. Still worse is the mania
for gambling in stocks which corrodes
the conscience, frenzies the brain and
4 petrihes the hearts of the men and
women who constitute the spectators OF
! Wall and State streets. This is an emi-
nently respectable curse which attacks
all classes. 1t haunts the parlor as well
as the bar-room, r0osts over the doors OF
our strongest banks, occupies front
seat and often-times the pulpit at church,
/ and makes paupers and thieves out of
the most gifted and the most trusted In
the community. 1t is recognized as a
legitimate occupation, and the man en-
gagged in it loses neither caste, nor his
seat at the communion table as long as
he succeeds.
And so it is all along the line, and in
all conditions OF life. A frantic struggle
to get money without working for it-a
reckless trusting to luck, deliberate
stalking of everything upon the honor Of
professional sharpers, tricksters and
cheats. And the worst of it is, there is
little or no attempt to check this mad
rush to destruction. We have no end
of reform organizations for the suppress
sion of intemperance, no lack of preach
ing to correct the evils that grow out OF
our divorce system, and as often as We
care to be, we are lectured upon the
necessity of reform in our dress and
manners; but this widespread and many
shaped gambling curse exists and ex
tends in the silence that gives consent
provoking scarcely protest anywhere
ard an earnest movement for its sup
preston nowhere. 1t ought to be other
wise, and some day it viii be, or We shall
: have a country in which honesty anC
square dealing are strangers.