The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-03-14


tains, and misses in steam engines, and
showers out the conilagration, and
sprinkles from the baDsisrnal font of ouy
churches; and with silver note, and golden
sparkle, and crystalline chime, says to hun
drels of thousands of our population, in
the authentic words of him who said: Il
will: be thou cleane'
THE CURSE OF GAMBLING.
All this premise in opening this course
of sermons on the ten plaques of these
three cities, lest some stupid man might
say 1 am deprecating the place of my
residence / speak TO you today concern
ing the plague of gambling. Every man
and woman in this house ought to be in
terested in this theme.
Some years ago. when an association for
the suppression of gambling was organ
lied, an agent of the association came to a
prominent citizen and asked him to patron
ize the society He said, mo, can have
no interest in such an organization. am
in no wise affected by that evil" AT that
verystime his son, who was his partner in
business, was one of the heaviest players in
Hearnes famous gambling establishment.
Another refused his patronage on the same
ground, not knowing that his first book
keeper, though receiving a salary of only
a thousand dollars, WAS losing from fifty to
one hundred dollars per night. The presi-
dent of railroad company refused to
/
society is good for the defense of merch-
ants, but we railroad people are not in
jured by this evil" not knowing that, at
that very time, two of his conductors were
! spending three nights of each week at faro
tables in New York. Directly or indirectly,
this evil strikes at the whole world.
Gambling is the risking of something
more or less valuable in the hope of win
ming more than you hazard. The instru-
ments of gaming may differ but the prin-
| ciple is the same. The shutting and deal
| ing cards, however full of temptation, Is
| not gambling, unless stakes are put up;
while, on the other hand, gambling may
be carried on without cards or dice, or bill
| lizards or ten-pin alley. The man who
| bets on horses, on elections, on battles
| the man who deals in fancy stocks, or
! conducts a business which hazards extra
| capital, or goes into transactions without
foundation, but dependent upon what men
| call "luck, - is a gambler. Whatever you
expect to get from your neighbor without
Offering an equivalent in money or time or
skill is either the product of theft or gam
ing. Lottery tickets and lottery policies
| come into the same category. Fairs for
! the founding of hospitals, schools and
| churches, conducted on the rafting system,
come under the same denomination. Do
not, therefore, associate gambling neces-
sarily with any instrument, or game, or
| GlIQ6 OF DlStcC OE Uu4hk IuS pTIhClplc Qc-
pends upon whether you play for glass of
wine one hundred shares of railroad
stock. Whether you patronize auction
pools, - "Frcnch mutuals, " or "book-m max
! ing" whether you employ faro or billiards,
rondo and keno, cards or bagatelle, the
very idea of the thing is dishonest, for it
processes to bestow upon you IL good for
which you give no equivalent.
TEN HONEST GAMBLING HOUSES
1t is estimated that every day in Chris
tendon eighty million dollars pass from
hand TO hand through gambling practices,
and every year in Christendom one hun
dred and twenty-three billion one hundred
million dollars change hands in that way.
! There are in this cluster of cities about
eight hundred confessed gambling estab-
| ltshments. There are about three thousand
five hundred professional gamblers. Out
of the eight hundred gambling establish
ments, how many of them do you suppose
profess to be honest? Ten. These ten pro
fess to be honest because they are merely
the ante-chamber to the seven hundred
and ninety that are acknowledged fraud
ulent. There are first class gambling es
Establishments. You go up the marble
stairs You ring the bell. The liveried
servant introduces you. The walls are
lavender tinted. The mantels are of Yer
mont marble. The pictures are "Jeph-
thah's Daughter and Dore's ''Dante's and
Virgil's Frozen Region of Hell''-a most
appropriate selection, this last, for the
place There is the roulette table, the
! finest, the costliest, most exquisite piece OF
furniture in the United States. There is
the banqueting room, where, free OF
charge to the guests, you may find the
plate and viands and wines and cigars
sumptuOus beyond parallel.
Then you come to the second class gam
bling establishment. To IL you are intro
duced by card through some '<ropcr-in.' y
Having entered, you must either gamble
or fight. Sanded cards, dice loaded with
quicksilver, poor drinks, will soon help
you to get rid of all your money to a tune
in short meter with staccato passages. You
wanted TO see. You saw. The low villains
of that place watch you as you come in
Does not the panther, squat in the grass
know calf when he sees it? Wrangle not
for your rights in that place, or your body
will be thrown bloody into the street, oil
dead into the East river. You go along q
little further and find the policy establish
ment. In that place you bet on numbers
Betting on two numbers is called "sad
de-" betting on three numbers is called 6
"gig," betting on four numbers is called
"horse," aud there are thousands of oul
young men leaping into that Saddle" anc
4 mounting that gig" and behind thai
''horse'' riding to perdition. There is al
ways one kind of sign ON the door-"Ex
change" a most appropriate title for the
door, for there, in that room, u man ex
changes health, peace and heaven for los
of health, loss of home, loss of family, los
of immortal soul. Exchange sure enough
and infinite enough.
Men wishing to gamble will find place.
just suited to their capacity, not only il
the underground oyster cellar, or at tn,
table back of the curtain, covered will
greasy cards, or in the steamboat smoking
cabin, where the bloated wretch with ring
in his ears instead of his nose, deals tn
pack, and winks in the unsuspecting trav