Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-09

money. If any man under thirty gets by
and is found gambling In a pool room, or
other gambling establishment, raid the
place, close 1t up permanently, arrest the
man under thirty, and give him a sentence
In jail, or a fine, or both"
Every man desiring to gamble would
nave to exhibit his certificate of birth at
the door, then?''
"Oh, It's easy enough to pick the man of
thirty. I say thirty in random sort of
way. my meaning being that only the fell
lows who are fixed in the habit of gambling
should be permitted to play. My scheme
would put an end-to the recruiting system.
You see, the chaps who are confirmed
players OF the horses, or bank, or the
Wneel, or what not, are just going to gam
BILE, anyhow, one way or another. II they
can't get action on their favorite games,
they're going to bet with each other on the
number of peanuts in a bag, on how many
cracks there are in block of pavement,
on the odd or even numbers of the passing
street cars, on any old thing that comes
the handiest. These gambling people can't
be stopped.
They're not to be cured. The gambling
bacillus is in their blood to stay. They'll
nave the gambling fever until they go to
their graves. Once that thing gets you, it
gets you right, and no mistake.
|. Leads to Trouble.
But, as 1 say, my scheme would prevent
the creation of gambling recruits. Now,
the proprietors of the gambling houses
Noi want pay VI the young lefiOWS.
The young fellows are the ones that cause
all of the trouble. The beginning and the
end of the cutlery Is on their account. Nor,
in fact, is there any wonder that there
should be an cutlery on their account. The
young fellow who earns Sc, ors$S, or $40, or
w. or $50 a week, drops into the pool
room on Saturday afternoon and loses all
MS wages, or he stacks against bank on
Saturday night with the same result. He
goes nome broke-without even the price
WhereWith to face his landlady. This sort
or thing is bound to lead him into deep
.Water-to the temporary abstraction of his
employers money, to the signing of checks
that he hopes to win enough to meet, to
drink TO dull the edge of his misery over
his losses, to all sorts of things We
don't want the play of the young fellows.
We know perfectly well where they all
land, and We don't extract any particular
amount of enjoyment from that sort of
thing. Moreover, the young fellows are
great 'squealers.' They're always more
than liable to demand their presents back,
under pain of saying things to their friend
the district leader, or their friend the cap
tain of the precinct, or their friend Tom,
DICK or Harry, who has it in his power
TO make 1t disagreeable for us.
PitiabIe Lot.
THE youthful gamblers, in short, then,
are the one big disturbing element in the
business They are a pitiable lot. 1 have
often studied the swift deterioration in the
characters Of upright young chaps who
have permitted themselves to catch the
gambling fever There's nothing that
makes them go to pieces rapidly.
My scheme, then, of having the gam
bling business placed under the supervision,
officially, of the police would eliminate the
young fellows and save them from becom-
Ing so firmly addicted to the vice of gam
bling that they'd find 1t impossible to shake
it off Let the confirmed gambling fiends
go right ahead until their devotion effaces
them from the picture, as it is bound to
DO In time. Then the period will gradually
arrive when only men who can afford to
gamble, men to whom losses at gambling
mean nothing serious, will be left and in
the course of time even these, if the law
against young men being permitted to puo-
hcly gamble are rigidly enforced, will be
wiped out.
"Supposing, for example, that there was
a law providing that no man who had
never taken drink should ever be per
mltted to take one, and the law could be
enforced, how long would it be before
drunkenness would be wiped off the cate
CORY of evils? Such law as that, of
course, is impracticable, If for no other rea-
son than that there would be no method of
determining whether the applicant for a
drink had ever had one before. But it
would be whole lot easier to determine
whether an applicant for admission to a
gambling place had ever been up against
the game before. Vices, you know, are
formed gradually. Destroy the young
mans opportunity to gamble, and Of course
he won't form the gambling vice.
Couldn't the proprietors of the gambling
ablishments-supposing them all to be
endowed with the same philanthropic prin-
clples that you possess-do all of this them
selves, without the cooperation of the DO
lice?"
Do the Most Harm.
sUm-but we never do anything unless
we have to. Moreover, 1t would require the
offices Of the constituted authorities to put
the small fry out of business 1t is the faro
bank that sells two chips for quarter that
does the harm, for it catches the chaps who
can least afford to lose. It's the ten-cent
red and black and roulette and craps lay
out that works the most of the mischief in
the gambling business. It's the pool room
that accepts ffty-cent and ene-doIlar bets
that causes the thoroughbred game to be
looked upon by conservative folks as some
thing abhorrent. Supposing for example
that no gambling establishment were to ac-
cept any bet smaller than $50. How vastly
diminished would be the gambling estab-
lishments clientele. and what a vastly
smaller amount of harm the gambling es-
Establishments would cause!"
Supposing these rosy schemes of yours
for the elimination of the gambling class
were to be put into practice what would
become of the fellows who want to become
proprietors of gambling plants in 1850,
say7"
well, we don't consider posterity in our
DuSuueSS, Teplleu l1llS pnldnlnrOplC
sional gambler with the Bellamy IDEAS as
he laid down a dollar bill for three cigars,
and instructed one of the restaurant hire
lings to summon his automobile Were
unselfish, of course, but we don't do that
It's the strenuous life with US, and we're
mildly content If we get ours without lay
ing corner stones for those who are to fol-
low u.s."
The adoption of the socialistic idea which
comprehends government supervision to
such an under world affair as gambling was
deemed so novel in its possibilities, and so
impudent in it's conception, that the writer
could not refrain from quoting this pro-
fessional gambler at length. Moreover
weak as the gamblers presentation is, it is
at least the other side Of the story.
Not Drinking Drop.
From the Philadelphia Record.
"Give me a pony of brandy quickv ex-