The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-03-13
Gambling.

III.
1t offers no equivalent. 1t returns no value.
1t produces nothing. 1t accommodates no
one. 1t is leach. 1t sucks the blood of
labor. 1t fattens on industry like para
site. 1t is not venial fault. 1t is not a
rare and trifling pest. 1t is a wide spread
pestlence 1t honeycombs society, bus
mess and pleasure. 1t goes into every-
thing.
All our cities have their dens with cush-
Toned tables. Yale locks, chips. and all nec-
essary paraphernaia for the various games
of the profession. The tiger is a kind of
menagerie that certain curious and silly
minded rustics must visit. These are under
surveillance of the police, sometimes con-
tributing to the support of the watchmen,
sometimes kept very quiet. sometimes given
as much liberty as they DESIRE. Besides
this are the pool rooms where men gather
to bet on the elections. an the regattas, the
races. the base ball games, or anything that
will give an opportunity to draw a crowd
with money.
Every fair ground has it's fortune wheel
and devices to catch penny from the I'M
sophisticated. There is no pleasure for
many without some form or other of gam
bling. Business is undermined with it.
Options in wheat are frequently devices by
which. without really buying or selling, one
can bet that it Will rise or fall by a certain
time. Cotton, OIL. stocks of various rail-
ways, telegraph companies. mining COM
paneS, and coal companies furnish not
only OppOrtun ties for legitimate investment
and speculation. but for margins that prom
ise swift gain or loss. Your grocer gives
you baking powder with silver in it, or soap
with tickets in it; or coffee with glassware;
or flour with watches; your newsdealer
has prize packages, or candy boxes, or jew
elry that may give a wonderful bargain.
Even the churches are into it with their
raff1eS. and grab bags, and fish ponds. and
other arrangements to induce you to trade
unseen" Who will say that it is venal
or unusual fault?
All these schemes are fool traps. wise
man will let them severely alone. He
knows there is no money to be made in
them. From the nature of the case there
can be no prOductiveness. If two men bet
against each other. one hOOdwinks the other
out of his cash. but the next time he loses.
In the long run neither one gets ahead. If
hO pidJo Ill q SdiHOliuS uOu, VIC ldltcI
makes the commission and expense. This
supposes honest dealing. but he is truly YER
dant who has faith in men that make it
their business to get something for nothing.
Who can know whether lottery is hon
eStly conducted or not? Anthony Com
stock found that house which claimed to
give prizes to their customers printed num-
berS up to IS. 900 as prize numbers. but did
not pack single ticket numbered under
that figure. Another offered gold coin i'm
its packages, but examination disclosed
nothing but nickel. A man that has any,
thing to do with gambling scheme shows
that he is a sucker. gudgeon. fool. He also
advertises his dishonesty. He hopes to get
the money some one else put in. He is not
seeking HIS own but that of another. If he
buys ticket in rattle he expects to out
wit all the other buyers AS Dryden says:
Every inch that is not fool is rogue.''
Gambling is a will o'the- wisp that leads
its dupes into the Quicksands with its Sc
ductive sophstry. 1t cuts the sinews of in
dustry. After a man is intOXica with
its excitement he is untitled for hard steady
labor. Work is too slow and stupid. He
is crazy to get rich in twinkling. That
passion feeds the saloon. He must be
nerved for a venture. sustained in a depres-
sion, and toasted for success. Several of
yOuI uOiShOoio UCCdihO S'tS Ill lHlS Wdys
1t temptS to falsehOod. Bluff is nothing
else. 1t kindles envy, stabs and shoots it's
thousands. 1t turns the heart to stone.
Horace Walpole tells of man who fell at
Smiths Club house in London. One fellow
wagered that he was dead; another that he
was not. 1t was proposed to bleed him,
but that was not done lest one of the gam
blers should lose. He sold his brother for
silver.
Gambling makes defaulters. The clerk
tries t1ier and fails. He burrows from his
employer and will repay tOm morrow, but
loses again and again. till the debt is old,
the repayment impossible. 1t brings many
an expert to poverty. A friend of the