The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-20

lie denunciations that were made against
the continuance of the pool gambling was
from the ministers of the gospel, who
made a vigorous crusade against 1t a
week ago. The subject was again taken
up last evening in many of the churches
throughout the city, and the good work
will probably continue until the curse is
entirely stamped out and the validity of
the law proven.
Among those who denounced it from
the pulpit last evening was the Rev. w.
E. Dugan of the Stewart Memorial u. P.
Church. His address in part was as fol-
lows:
Racetrack pool gambling received a death
blow on Monday night at the meeting of our
city fathers For this our hearts rejoice and
we want to commend those Supervisors who
voted US the victory over vice The Call of
our city deserves special commentator for the
noble fight it made against the racecourse
evils: 1t is not always that a daily will make
so bitter a fight against so vicious an evil as
this pool gambling had come to be in San
Francisco.
I have not the least doubt that the Board of
Supervisors was influenced by the way The
Call showed I'D the awful evils of the track.
the scathing condemnation by the pulpits of
our city of this nefarious business surely had
a great effect. Pulpit and people ought to
stand by any paper that will thus fight evil.
1t did us good TO hear that our city fathers
had decided to stop this pool gambling and it
made our hearts leap with joy to note the
commendable manner in which Chief of Police
Lees and his worthy men carried out the order.
We have in this illustration of the fact that
the world is getting better One by one the
cities of the East have been driving out these
gambling parasites of society, and San Fran
cisco had become the dumping ground Of the
United States for such characters and business
But that our city. has said to the maggots,
You must 60. l see grand evidence OF the
fact that the world is growing better.
Thugs, "bums," gamblers and their cousins
will have stamping ground in the
United States unless Oakland some of the
young cities across the bay will give these
nefarious characters a warm place in their
hearts But 1 that The Call, local
clergy and all decent citizens will make it
interesting for these blood-suckers across the
bay.
In all this see the hand of God. He permits
an evil to come up in our midst, to flourish
until our hearts have been made sick of the
gigantic monster of evil, and then His great
hand working through human instrumentaltty
through the press and pulpit-wipeS the
blighting curse from the face of the earth. God
uses many instrumentalities for carrying for
ward His work. The press is the mghtiest
agency in this or the coming century. 1t is the
agency which will in all future time largely
be used to fight evil and suppress vice. Already
the Almighty has been largely using the relig-
ious press for His work. but the daily and
secular press has not been generally counted
as very great moral agency. But In The
Calls cornmendable attack of this pool gam
bling and in various other instances. we see
that Gods arm is the power behind the daily
press. -. 49,. So-
ward; heaven and earth have been prougnt
closer together and human nature mas oeeh