The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-04-08

UIAlSIhXS ssEAaASAzIEN pU ynry @ambling
REV. TALMAGE. saloon. and every
table, public or private. where men
and women bet for sums of money.
large or small, and. that is word in
carnadined with the life of innumer-
able NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
The gambling spirit, which is at all
times stupendous evil, ever and anon
sweeps over the country like an epi-
demic, prostrating uncounted thou
sands. There has never been worse
attack than shat from which all the
villages, towns aud cities are now suf-
fering.
While among my hearers and read
ers are those who have passed on into
the afternoon of life. and the shadows
are lengthening, and the sky crimsons
with the glow of the setting sun,
large number of them are in early
life, and the morning is coming down
out of the clear sky upon them, and
the bright air is redolent with spring
blossoms, and the stream of life,
cleaning and CHANGING, rushes on be-
tween fowery banks. making music as
it goes. Some of you are engaged in
mercantile concerns, as clerks and
bookkeepers. and your whole life is to
be passed in the exciting world of
traffic The sound of busy life stirs
you as the drum stirs the fiery war
horse. Others are in the mechanical
arts, to hammer and chisel your way
through life, and success awaits you.
Some are preparing for professional
life and grand opportunities are be-
fore you; nay, some of you already
have buckled on the armor But,
whatever your age aud calling. the
subject of gambling about which |
speak to-day is pertinent
Some years ago, when an association
for the suppression of gambling was
organized. an agent of the association
came to prominent citizen and asked
| him to patronize the society. He said:
mo, | can have no interest in such an
organization. | am in no wise affect
| ed by the evil" At that very time his
son, who was his partner in business,
was one of the heaviest players in a
famous gambling establishment An
other refused his patronage on the
same ground, not knowing that his
! first boollkcrper, though receiving a
salary OF only $4,000, was losing from
$50 to sl0O per night. The president
OF railroad company refused to pat
onize the institution, saying: That
society is good for the defense of mer-
chants. but we railroad people are not
injured by this evil not knowing
that at that very time two of his con
ductors 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 some thing
more or less valuable in the hope of
winning more than You hazard. The
instruments of gaming may differ,
but the principal is the came The
shutting and dealing cards, however
full of temptation, is not gambling un-
less stakes are put up; while, on the
other hand, gambling may be carried
on without cards, or dice. or billiards,
or II n-pin alley. The man who bets
on horses, on elections. ON battles the
man who deals in fancy stocks, OF
conducts Il business which hazards eN'
ira capital, or goes into transactions
without foundation, but depcnden,
upon what men call luck is gam
bier.
t Whatever you expect tn 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 poll.
ces come into the same category
Bazars for the founding of hospitals
schools and churches, conducted on the
Hing system, come under the same
denomination. DO not, therefore, as
sociate gambling necessarily with any
instrument, or game, or time, or place
or think the principle depends upor
whether you play tor glass of win,
or 100 shares of railroad stock. Wheth
/, err you patronize auction pools,
"French mutuals," or "bookmaking,
whether you employ faro or billiards
rondo and keno. cards or bagatelle, the
( very idea of the thing is dishonest; fol
: 1t processes to bestow upon you gooC
for which you give no equivalent
Q This crime is no new born sprite, bu
haggard transgression that comes
f. staggering down under a mantle o
: curses through many centuries. AL
I. nations, barbarous and civilized, haV'
been addicted To it.
y But now the laws of the whole civil
! lied world denounce the system En-
. actments have been passed, but onl,
! partially enforced, and at times no
Z enforced at all The men interested
: in gaming houses, and in jockey clubs
WELD such influence by their number
2 and atiiuence, that the Judge, the jur,
d and the police officer must be bold in
! deed who would array themselve
against these infamous establishments
The house of commons of Englan'
actually adjourns on derby day tina
! members may attend the races; and Il