The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1892-03-11
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cor Ct r. ss11ssl RS.
svritcsaa Current To pics In the louisville
critic.
Louisville critic.l
s Tie new French ministry viii hardly
survive the flies of summer. It is the
make shift of q most mercifui people.
FRINGE has had sixteen constitutions since
the serrors Of 1859. The proclamation of
1870, declaring the republic established,
has undergone some notifications since.
but while the spirit of stability is grow
ing, ii has not matured. The prcsent con-
stiiution has existed longer than any
since the days of Lonis XVI, but it's
hardly immortal! Aud what TIE country
lacks in new constitutions it makes up in
new ministries.
AT the last congressional elections the
democratic party carried the country by q
majority Of 100000 as against the rep,ib-
licans, and 2500GO as against all the OPP
posing parties, new and old, combined.
Yet few democrats hope for victory at.
the approaching presidential election. En-
army, with overwhelming numbers and
flushed with triumph, is despondent in
face of an Inferior enemy. Why is it
Soldiers know good generals by instinct.
They are superstitious, and shan the Nh
lucky If the masses of democracy would
dismiss the quacks and the incompetents,
they would sweep the nation. Will they
do it? If not, they are doomed to the de-
feat they already sniff in the air. Re.
member the pulled bunglers of lSSs.
Does the powerful and still growing sen
timent against such forms Of gambling as
faro, roulette, poker, I,accaral, craps and
lotteries Indicate that the world is becom-
ing more moral, Or does hypocrisy play
it's part? Does this spirit OF repression
and reform spring from an honest desire
10 rescue our fellows from the temptations
of the gaming table and tile accompany
ing bar-roo or is there desire OH the
part OF the pious to suppress one, form OF
gambling in the interest Of another !? DO
the stockholders, the grainbrokers, the
investors liz speculative lands, railroad
securities, and church lotteries, wish 80
put down rivalry and have monopo-
W. The gaming table is dreadful place
1t is The devil 5 haunt II i;tscinates the
victim only TO destroy hin. Il drives hins
TO the robbery Of his employer, of his
children, OF His wife, OF those dearest TO
his heart, and to sucide If the sufferer
could coin the blood Of his heart into
gold pieces, he would often put it's last
he has defrauded what he has taken from
them in hours vi intoxication and frenzy.
Whatever causes such maGness is OF evil.
But the point ! make is that the moral
movement should not stop with the de-
moltiou of the wheel and the green cloth.
How many families have been made beg
CARS ny the lying loans OF. railroad man
ipulators, by fraudulent promises, by
fasifynS figures, and ali the various de-
vices and enticements known TO the
shrewd manipulator ard money-makcr,
who rise in the social scale i'll proportion
to the success OF their frauds, and sit high
in thc-sanctuary near the devout minister
who has bcen"lct in on the ground floor. .
The banker, entrusted with the funds
Of the confiding patrons, many or them
poor widows and pratting children, with
his pale lace anu, regular habits, venture
| their money for his own gain in all forms
OF wildcat speculatious. Ii he wins they
| get their money without interest; if lie
| loses they are bankrupt. He may be put
! to the inconvenience of II journey to Can
ada or to Mexico, but he has reserved
| enough Of their ready cash to render him
comfortable in his temporary exile. There
is no playhouse | have heard Of where
widows and little children arc admitted.
They patronizc the big banks only, and
though they risk their all unconsciously,
there is not half the outcry among the de-
yuut against those who rob them in the
game, that one hears against the knights
OF the green cloth.
A movement to deserve success must be
based on justice: 1t must be consistent.
1t must drag the bank president from his
easy chair in his back Office, even the
preacher from the pulpit, il he he a party
to these pous deals, as we'll as the man
! who deals the cards or turns the wheel,
The cards aud the dice are played alike
by the representatives Of both classes.
The implements differ only,in figure and
form The action MAY be quicker in the
one case, but the principle is bad in both.
Indeed the man who sits behind his green
table and openly challenges the corners,
taking his chance to-. lose his "roll'' orto
win yours, making himself or you a bank
-rupt, is to be preferred in the respect Of
the discriminating and the just. In the
one case you see the cards, you feel The
tigers tooth and touch its claws. You
enter the contest with your eyes open.
you know the nature Of the game. The
dealer will tell you the chances are
against you. The smooth -shaven banker,
with his -hig vault and piles ofgold pieces,
on the other hand, TELLS you your money
is safeaand is yours OH call, Who plays
the deeper game of deception and fraud?
The money changers and those who sold
doves in the temple were not the less
gamblers because they used doves for
dice If the Saviour should return to
scourge Offenders would he not find some
of them in religious sanctnaries rs we'll
as in the back ROOMS OF upper stories
reached By dark stairways? Make the war
general and carry it into Africa. The
most dangerous OF all frauds is the pions
fraud. Z. +. 5.
MEALS BY SCHEDULE.