The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-03-10
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE.

gambling, and if it a be used to good
ends, | reckon it's all right. Anyway the
money was thankfully received-and L
can see the cold, clammy and crafty JAY
wink the other eye. But ten thousand
won't buy a through ticket over the last
road you'll travel on, JASON.
In the above from "Tattler," in the
Asheville Citizen, the writer has simply
penned a clever paragraph without con.
| sidering the fallacy, not to say absurdity,
of the point which he has attempted to
make.
The fact that JAY GOULD has COM
mitted the high crime and misdemeanor
of contributing for religious purposes
$4,000 which was made by specializing
in railroad stocks, which the good pious
| folks who nave no stock and who lack
the sagacity and foresight to turn it over
if they had, characterize as gambling,
has been the occasion of much comment
in various quarters. The conscience
burdened individuals above referred to,
having proved themselves, SO far as the
business world is concerned, so many
ciphers in the great problem of human
progress, raise a mighty hue and cry,
give morality an airing on dress parade
and profess much horror at the wicked
ness and depravity of the age in general
when then comes along a fellow who
can see beyond his nose and who, in a
lucky deal or a timely investment rakes
in a few thousands.
Well, suppose speculation is wrong?
Suppose it is gambling and that gambling
in any form is illegitimate.
Then merchants must all stop selling
goods; manufacturers must close their
doors; traffic of all kinds must cease and
every man must become a producer, rails
ing only so much of each article as to
supply his own individual necessities.
What a grand system we would have
and what a truly great people we would
be, to be sure! What magnificent achieve
ments, what social and intellectual adj
vancement, what glory and what distinc-
tons would be ours! What splendid
savages we would be and what a delight
full state of barbarism a decade of such
ideal existence would bring about!
Rats!
If JAY GOULD wanted to give money
for any purpose, provided he got it within
the pale of the law, it was not for people
receiving it to question either his methods
or his motives. Coin itself has no per-
sOnality and no sig%niicance-it merely
represents a value and is worth nothing
except what it will purchase. The fact
that the same dollar has purchased the
diamonds of the demi monde which buys
the christians crucifix, does not alter the
character of the ~crucifix nor make it less
sacred. AS we'll to say that we would
breath free air because a buzzard had
inhaled the same. And how about the
church fair rattle, the same article sold a
dozen times over and other popular fakes
worked at religious enterprises?
While we are at it let us go to the root
Of the question and admit that every
thing in life, even existence itself, is a
game of chance.
THE GLOBE believes hat all specula-
ton licensed by law and which tends to
growth and development is legitimate
and desirable. And it believes that JAY
GoULD's money made on railroad stocks
or any other stocks will go as far towards
buying a through ticket" to the New
Jerusalem as that of the man who sold
bibles on a close margin and died a
pauper.
THE GLOBE does not believe, however,
that the Through ticket" to which Tat
tier Familiarity alludes, is purchasable in
American currency. If it is, GOULD will
buy no ticket, but build a new route and
go in his W private car.