The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-02-14
Poker As an Aid to Development of
Character.

1 OAeI As an ala 10 Development OF
Character.
1.-THE value OF the game of draw
poker as an educational factor
in the development OF our ma
iicnaI character can hardly be over
estimated" said the gray-haired, young
looking man as he lighted his pipe in
the club smoking room. AS a matter
of fact, however, I DO not think it is
fully appreciated in that sense. There
can be no question as to its apprecia-
ton as a game, but not everybody real
ICES how much can be learned from
IT.
"Of course, everybody knows that you
can learn a whole lot of mathematics,
and you can develop your intuitiOns
and add TO your knowledge of human
nature and cultivate your courage or
nerve and train your judgment and ali
that, but I mean something above and
beyond this. The lessons that may be
learned from playing draw poker in
diligently may very well serve to in
crease any mans efficiency, and pos
sibly also may save him from disas-
ter
such talk undoubtedly sounds like
LReOEIZlIE- ana VIII certainly Dc puOA-
poohed by those who object to the
game on moral grounds. l have no
controversy with such people If
man considers gambling sinful in itself,
he certainly cannot approve of playing
draw poker, but even such a person,
if he is at all fair-minded, must adj
nit that there are valuable lessons TO
be learned from it.
''One such lesson was impressed on
"A
younger than / am now, and the rec
election of it has more than once since
then saved me from despair and prob
able ruin. For my life has been a
toierably adventurous one, with many
ups and downs
1t has repeatedly seemed TO me that
every possible chance there was for me
was exhausted, and il had not learned
from a game Of poker to keep on the
alert even after the last chance seemed
10 be gone. and 1 was, to all appear
auces, hopelessly beaten, ] think
] would have given up in despair.
THAT particular game speak Of was
a curious one, or, rather, there was
a curious incident in it which ! have
never seen duplicated Moreover, 1t
was "A vitality important game to me,
and my partner, Jim Holcomb-
Facing a Failure.
we We're both of US young enough
to think It was the only thing that
stood between us and irTetivable
ruin, not knowing at that time that
business failure does not necessarily
mean ruin to any man, and never ought
- mean 10 TO a. young man. And It
was q desperate game not in the sense \
of being crooked in any way, but be-
cause it was played by a lot of plum
gers who bet eTTatically, and who made
heavy plays from time to time without
apparent Teason-the sort of game TO
exasperate the loser and fill the win
ner with wonder.
"lI was a business failure, all right,
that Holcomb and 1 were facing. We
had Travelled through three or four
western states looking for the sort of
opening that should suit us before We
stopped at Holy City.
The name is changed now, but they
called &c that when it was very new.
It was one of those grim western jokes,
for it was not gOdiy place by any
means
1T was q pretty lively town, though,
and H0lcomb and ! agreed that il was
sure to grow, so. as the owner OF the
principal store in the place wanted to
sell out. we negotiated with him. His
price was just 81 600 more than we could
raise i'm cash but we asked for time,
and wrote to a chum of ours In New
York. Offering him an interest in the
business for that sum- He beiieVed IN
us. and answered that he was in If W.
could use an accepted draft at sixty
DAYS. as he hadn't the cash 10 spare
Just at that time.
We could and did use it. The bust
ness was ours. and we branched out IN
the most ambitious fashion, enlarginS
the store and buying goods. largely on
credit, as freely as we could.
It Looked ALI Right.
1T looked certain that we would do
wen. but we used our income as fast
as il came and made no provision for
meeting that draft suppOsing our New
York friend 10 be good for many times
the amount.
The day before the draft came due
we got a letter from him saying that hs
had had losses and could not possibly
meet il. jim and ] read it together and
looked al each other blankly for few
minutes.
we knew the man we had bought
from wen enough by this time to know
that he would jump on us hard the mo-
ment he should learn what we knew.
And we realized that. while we could
take care of our other obligations, We
could do nothing whatever with this
added TO them.
we talked it over for long time,
but this was all we could see. Finally,
Jim said.
There's nothing to be done unless
we so 10 Old Whaleu tomorrow with
thousand dollars in cash. They'll tel
egraph TO him from the bank and he y
krow It tomorrow night. We've got
20 20 % atm with the money before he
bears, sr our credit and our business
vii lzo down together like a house og
cards.
And said That seems TO be right,
but here are you going 10 get the
money! we've. borrowed up To thesl.m-
il. aud there's nothing We can regfze
on in a hurry.
Wei ] dunf know. said jim. How
much have you got in your clothes