The San Francisco call., 1899-05-14

Q o o o o o o 90 Q o 90 Q 0c0
will make a big haul for the weekly pence
by the child's death?
At the time of the last illness of George
~, when the Duke of Clarence was in
triguing with the different parties in the
state, and also gave offense to the King
by his advocacy of the Irish emancipation
bill, Sir Henry Cooke wrote to his friend,
Lord Fitzgerald: LAS betting is the fea-
ture of pubic opinion in this country, |
will inform you that now the general bet
is that Clarence is in a strait wastcoat
before the King dies"
And are there no ghouls on the stock
exchange now? again asks our author
During Mr.. Gladstone's last illness every
day bets were made, sometimes In large
amounts, on his chances of life. And on
ers. thus betting, attend with their fam
lilies, all carrying Bibles and prayer
books, their parish church!
Gambling Laws.
The English law, like that of every
State in our Union, recognizes betting as
an evil, and endeavors TO suppress it.
But when evil examples are set in high
places, when an English Duke sets his
pride in being a crack hand in smashing
the pipe nose of an Aunt Sally and rend-
ering the game fashionable, when a Prime
Minister'S : ambition is Centered on having
his horse win the Derby. for which he
meets with more applause than If he had
rendered the most signal services to the
country, while thousands who have bet
on the wrong horse are plunged into
misery, is it to be wondered at that the
workingman always has money for bet
ting, while his family may lack neces-
saries 2-that he can incur heavy expense
in the keep of racing or fighting dog,
which must have his fresh egg every
morning while his children must go with
out their breakfast?-that he can forsake
his ordinary occupation for days to attend
races?
The present writer knows a ship-buiId-
ing yard in the North of England where
the work for whole week was at a
standstiu because all the workmen were
gone to the races held in the neighbor-
hood. OF course. they lost not only the
wages they might have earned during
that week. but what money they. had in
hand, which went into the pockets of the
rascally bookmakers. while the owner of
the yard sustained a heavy loss by his
machinery being idle and unproductive
during all that time.
Betting destroys every finer feeling,
every regard for human or animal suf-
fering. The bet is the thing, and to that
every consideration must yield. 1t is re
lated that at Crockford's a visitor to that
hell dropped down in fit; some of the
bystanders thought him dead; immediate
~ bets were laid for and against this be
ing so. Some humane person. proposed
sending for a doctor to bleed him, but to
this the bettors objected, as that would
interfere with their bets.
Modern Passion for Betting.
In, those days, however, betting was
had little TO do with it. But now every
ragged urchins' who sell newspapers or
errand boy has something on" The
matches in the streets, the shoeblacks
VINO clean your boots, are hackers and
layers among themselves The police re-
ports daily remind us of the fact and of
It's fatal consequences. Until recently,
indeed, betting was looked upon as a
habit confined TO the male sex, but now
even women indulge in it, as they do in
the filthy habit of cigarette smoking A
Miss kenWard of Birmingham who has
long been engaged in endeavoring to
raise The status of fectorv girls in the