The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-24
A BISHOPS CASUlSTRY.

Bishop Hall. of Vermont, is not be
lever in the old maxim, at is sin to
steal penny or pin" In a recent
address on Betting and Gambling and
the wrong of it," the bishop began by
saying that games of chance, or OF
mingled chance and skill, are in them.
selves perfectly legitimate and pro
ceeded to declare that playing fol-
really small stakes" is not altogether
to be condemned as wrong in itself.
Here is his argument:
1T must be understood that the
amounts stal;ed are so really small that
both players could rightly risk them in
such ii way. This provision is really two
fold Your responsible stewardship re
quires ID that you can afford to risk
the amount without seriously feeling the
loss; and (2) that the sum must be sc
insignificant that no apprecable good
could he accomplished by its expendi
ture in other ways. This second prov
sion is of great Importance. A million
aire might not miss 500 or $500, where
you or / could not afford to lose a dime
question. There is the further consider
alton of. the solid good which might have
been accomplished by the use of the larg
or SUM, for the right of which the rich
man is responsible as a steward of Gods
gifts for the common good. Our stew
ardship for money, like our responsibility
for the use of time, is a serious anu sol
emn. considerations but it must not be
pressed unduly, beyond reason and
without limitations. As we cannot al
ways he on duty, and we are not really
wasting time if by way of rest we are
doing nothing for five minutes; so in the
expenditure of money; man may spend
small sums without considering scrupu
lousy whether he actually needs this OF
that article, for instance paper or a
magazine on the cars, or a drink OF
soda water / should most distinctly
say that it is better not to play foI
stakes at all; because of the difficulty OF
drawing q line, not only for yourself,
but for your companions also, as TO what
can rightly be afforded because of the
danger of being led on to what is wrong:
and because you may by your example
encourage others in what is clearly in
furious. For all these reasons it seems
TO me pre-eminently a case where we
should be ready to sacrifice what may
be our liberty for others good
The Springfield Republican says:
'TThis bit Of casuistry would read well
beside some samples quoted in Pascal's
Letters to a Provincial The Rut-
ledge Herald says with truth, ''That
is to say, if we understand the bishop
right. gambling is not essentially wrong;
it must not be condemned without quail
fication only when wrong results are in
yOlved Of a substantial natIIre.'
The Vermont bishops casustry is not
unlike the Republican politicians of this
State, who. when mayor of a North
Carolina town, was at some loss TO know
how to discharge his sworn duties wifh-
out giving up his habit Of poker playing.
One night, after he had participated in
a lively poker game, the mayor was
called uDon to sentence parties guilty
of gambling He promptly gave them
the full limit of the law as a punish
ment for violating the statute. One OF
his friends, who had been with him III
the poker game on the previous night,
asked the mayor how he could reconcile
his practice with his punishment of the
small fry gamblers. The mayor put or
his most official imposing aspect and
replied: Il have made up my mind, sir
10 break up all gambling in this city
- Ga long pause where the limi. is
less than one dollar"
The Vermont bishop must have been
learning his moral ethics from the North
Carolina mayor. 1t is bad enough for 4
politician to be guilty of such casuistry
it is a reproach to Christianity for AZ
officer in the church to give voice to It
The Spanish method Of carrying on