The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-10-11
4-11-44.

As means Of demoralizing and i'm
poverishing the masses of the people of
large cities there is hardly form of
social vicc-intemperance not excepted
that does its baleful work so insidi-
ously and effectively as the variety Of
gambling commonly known as policy
playing. 1t is the special enemy of the
laboring man, whose wages it conveys
away cent by cent, dime by dime, dol
lar by dollar, until, the habit of saving
being lost, and morbid trust in luck
being substituted for it, he becomes q
moral wreck. Its victims are the me-
chanic, the day laborer, the domestic,
male and female, the newsboy, and
others, who, needing money greatly,
and Oblivious of the enormous chances
against them, are easily induced to
venture what little they have on bare
possibility of gaining a large stake.
Those who have not given attention to
the subject are hardly in o position to
understand the extent to which tho
practice peryades the laboring COM
munity. Policy playing is, in fact, a
form of betting peculiarly adapted to
tempt the poor 1t presents them twice
a day an opportunity to venture such
small sums rs they can conveniently
raise, and holds out the inducement Of
prize enormously dispropOrtioned tC
the sum risked. The dealer will receive
deposit OF one cent, engaging in case
his customer succeeds in naming three
OF the numbers drawn in lottery draw
ing that takes place daily in Kentucky
or elsewhere, to pay him in return
$3.50. There is no connection between
the lottery dealers and the policy deal
ers other than the fact that the pub
lished drawings of the former furnish
the latter convenient numbers upon
which his customers may exercise their
skill in guessing, their luck, or their
superstitious lore. The lottery num-
bers range from to rs, and two draw
lngs, the first of twelve. and the second
OF thirteen numbers, occur daily. A
policy before the writer contains the
figures ''l9, Is, 23-S9,n which means
that the customer bet five cents that
the three numbers here would be
drawn, and was to get 50 in case no
succeeded. He did not succeed, as the
number of possible combinations OF all
the numbers between l and Is. as any
mathematician could show, is immense,
and the chance of guessing correctly
correspondingly small. Persons in
fatuated with the game can not see
shat the chances are all against them,
and 90 on playing until their ruin is
complete. There is, perhaps, no way
OF stopping it except by discussion. AS
there is no apparatus or any appliance
of any sort needed in making policy
bet, other than memorandum book
for recording it, its prevention, there
fore becomes q matter of peculiar diff
Guilty, but not beyond the power of the
police. 1t is wrong, Of course, in the
same way that other betting is wrong,
but the great evil of the system lies in
the fact that it follows IT'S victims into
their usual haunts, into their very
homes and workshops, through the per-
sistent efforts of its ''writers, solicitors
and agents. What makes it specially
regrettable is the, wide havoc it plays
with the earnings of portion of the
community, whoS from their very
poverty, have been hitherto compara-
lively free from the debasement of
mind and heart to which the gambler
is exposed. baltimore Sun.