The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-03-11

nrSC stone mt ner need not speak OF
the institutions for the blind, the lame,
the deaf and tie dumb, for the incur
ables, the widow, the orphan, and the
outcast; or of the thousand armed
machinery that sends streaming down
from the reservoirs the clear, bright,
sparkling, God given water that rushes
through our aqueducts, and dashes out
of the hydrants, and losses up in our
fountains, and Kisses in our steam en-
gines, and showers out the conflagra-
ton, and sprinkles from the baptismal
font of our churches; and with silver
note, and golden sparkle, and crystal
line chime, says to hundreds of thou
sands of our population, in the anthem
tic words of him who said: II will; be
thou clean'
All this l promise in opening this
course of sermons on the ten plaques
OF these three cities, lest some stupid
man might say l am depreciating the
place of my residence. l speak to you
to-day concerning the plague of gam
bling. Every man and woman in
this house ought to be interested in this
theme.
Some years ago, when an association
for the suppression of gambling was or
ganized, an agent of the association
came to prominent citizen and asked
him to patronize the society. He said:
''No, can have no interest in such an
organization. am in no wise affected
by that evil" At that very time his
son, who was his partner in business,
was one of the heaviest players in
Hearne's famous gambling establish
ment. Another refused his patronage
on the same ground, not knowing that
his first book-keeper, though receiving
a salary of only thousand dollars, was
losing from fifty to one hundred dollars
per night. The president OF railroad
company refused to patronize the insti-
tuition, saying: "That society is good
for the defense of merchants, but we
railroad people are not injured by this
evil" not knowing that, at that very
time, two of his conductors were spend
ing three nights of each week at faro
tables in New York. Directly or indi-
rectly, this evil strikes at the whole
world
Gambling is the risking of something
more or less valuable in the hope of
winning more than you hazard. The
instruments of gaming may differ, but
the principle is the same. The shut
fling and dealing cards, however full of
temptation, is not gambling, unless
stakes are put up; while, on the other
hand, gambling may be carried on with
out cards or dice, or billiards 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 foun-
dalton, but dependent upon what men
call "luck," is a gambler. Whatever
you expect to get from your neighbor
without offering an equivalent in mon
ey or time or skill is either the product
of theft or gaming. Lottery tickets
and lottery policies come into the same
category. Fairs for the founding of
hospitals, schools and churches, con-
Quoted on the rafting system, come un-
der the same denomination. Do not,
therefore, associate gambling neces-
sarily with any instrument. or game, or
time Or place, or think the principle de-
ponds upon whether you play for a glass
of wine or one hundred shares of rail
road stock. Whether you patronize
auction pools" French mutuals," or
''book-making, whether you employ
faro or billiards, rondo or keno, cards
or bagatelle, the very idea of the thing
is dishonest, for it pro fesses to bestow
upon you good for which you give no
equivalent.
It is estimated that every day in
Christendom eighty million dollars pass
from hand to hand through gambling
practices, and every year in Christen-
dom one hundred and twenty-three
billion one hundred million dollars
change hands in that way. There are
in this cluster of cities about eight hun
bred confessed gambling establish
ments. There are about three thousand
five hundred professional gamblers
Out of the eight hundred gambling
establishments, how many of them do
you suppose profess to be honest? Ten.
These ten profess to be honest because
they are merely the ante-chamber to
the seven hundred and ninety that are
acknowledged fraudulent. There are
first-class gambling establishments.
You 60 up the marble stairs. You ring
the bell. The liveried servant intro
duces you. The walls are lavendar
tinted. The mantels are of Vermont
marble. The pictures are "Jephthah's
Daughter" and Dore's "Dante's" and
"Virgils 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
gambling establishment To it, you are
introduced by card through some
''roper-in." 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 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, squatted in the
grass, know a calf when he sees it?
Wrangle not for your rights in that