The Progress., 1893-05-06

Cards were known in China long years
before they found their way into Europe
Cards are so old that history fails to give
their oTl-iu. IL is probable that the doy-
il himself invented them. While gam
Ding has thus It's history that dates bac,;
from the day when man emerged from
the brute world
II hos rc510jacd Jor Nc moHyu "ig 10
doreiop tie pcStHc0cr OF qou6'u,g 10 II
dcgroe Of fdcodlypo~er DCr"rb9o'r h"or"
az the history Of man.
the EACE TRACK.
Nor Is this to be wondered at when We
remember the fact ihat the city is itself
the center of so many Influences for
veal or Woe. That which touches the
city hfe intimately touches every class
Of human society. Gambling has grown
to be in our cities chronic epidemic of
practically rcsistless power. 1t touches
cvery business and threatens It's staDil-
ity. Every counting house. every bank,
every merchant, Is threatened every
night IL the year by this dread power.
Every home, every wife, every mother,
I.
the year. With It's relentless grasp it
lays hold of every race, every kindred,
every tongue.
We see the immense development in
our cities of this evil.
First-In the widespread influence
and power at present cycrted by the
race track. OF all the institutions of
gambling that curse our modern life,
am thoroughly convinced that this Is tie
most terrible. 1t is carried on day III
and day ont, year in and year ont. And
what makes 1t so universal in its power
to touch and destroy life Is the fact that
there is not Il newspaper published today
in our great cities whose columns are not
disgraced by the reports of this internal
institution. The press pandcrs 10 thc
dOings Of the race managers. their pro
grammes, their races. their results, until
it is impossible for an honest young man
to read the happenings of the world daily
and not be brought into immediate CON
tact with the possibility OF entering Il
gambler life.
There are race tracks that are called
respectable. There are those that are
denounced by the papers. But they are
all reported, and the results are thrust
under the nose of men and women whose
lives are the furtheSt removed from such
an influence. In the name Of God and of
truth and of right, in the name of the
thousands and tens of thousands of young
men ruined every year at the race track,
in the name of broken homes and de-
bauched lives through the contact of dis
reputable characters elbowing each other
at these public assemblies, | arraign
those who are thus debauching the lives
of the innocent public.
In the name of God, ask our editors
who profess Christianity, who profess
humanity, how it is possible for them TO
denounce the lottery and the policy shop
and make a speciality of reporting the
races. Every race track is a field of
blood, and no man can deny it and talk
seriously of life. When men, referring
to the race track. say that its purpose is
to improve the breed of horses, they lie,
and they know they lie. The breed of
horses has not been improved by the
race track. The breed of horses is not
being improved by the race track. 1t
never has been so; it never will be so.
The horse which is the product of t ,
race track is not an improvement on the
normal animal He is monstrosity; he
is useless except as a senseless extrava-
gance. Not only is the race horse use
less to the world; he is hideous to look
upon. He is neither beautiful nor use
full: he is trained and bred to be all bone
and muscle. The laws of beauty are all
bred out vf him; he is simply trans
formed into an aggregation of legs and
strained neck.
POOLROOMS OF THE CITY.
The thousands Of young men and woIn-
en- who attend the races are ruined in in
fiuence and character and assert, with
out the fear of contradiction, that no
man who attends the race track and pre-
tends to rcspectability would keep in his
employ young man whom he should
meet at the same track. He knows that
he could not trust him with his money.
He knows that he could not trust him
man who attends the race track con-
stantly will come, and come early. to lie,
to cheat, to swindle, to steal. The only
reason why the man of respectable name
and pretensions in society, and even in
the church, who attends the race track
is not guilty of these things is simply
because he does not meet the temptation
or does not have the opportunity.
Gathered all around the race track,
and inevitably so, are the poolrooms of
the city. These are veritable hell holes.
to describe which is a superhuity. Nc
man has ever dared to stand up before
rational men and women and give one
word in excuse for their existence. They
pander to the lowest and the vilest. The
results upon character are always utter
ly vicious. The power of these institu-
:, tions to destroy young men is something
and the preacher of the gos,