The Weiser semi-weekly signal. (Weiser, Washington Co., Idaho) 1904-1911, 1904-08-27
Die following from The Portland Or

the following from the Portland Or
egonian should be of great interest;
Upon every occasional and period
zeal closure of PorIland's gambling
houses there goes up wall Of pierre
ing grief over the sad state to which
the good and useful gamblers are re-
duced and note of sorrow over the
blow that has been struck to le-
giumate and productive industry. 1t
is a strange thing how this fallacy
exists, for there is no dollar IN the
gamblers Golfers but must first have
been wrung from nothingness BY
honest toll There is not an ounce
of merchandise or a grain of gold in
all the world but was there before
the gambler levied his tribute on it,
and whatever he consumes is paid
for with substance that has first been
withdrawn from legitimate industry.
No money is added to the circula-
ton by the gambler, no business is
created and no service is rendered.
The most that can be said for his &C
tivities is that they divert money
from some channels into others; and
even here his operations are economi-
cally disastrous. The specious idea
is still put forth that the money paid
out by the gambler would not other
wise be paid out; but it would be ex-
pended though in different channels.
1t goes to the tradesmen whom the
gambler patronizes; but if it did not
go through his hands 1t would go
more directly into the hands of the
producer of foodstuffs and merchan-
disc. 1t would in most cases be
spent by the original owner for nee
essaries or comforts for himself or
his family
All the monetary operations of the
gambler constitute burden upon the
community financially, in the absorb
ton of funds that would otherwise
be spent in honest ways and especi-
ally in the payment of bills, the bet
ter clothing of women, the educa-
ton of children. 1t is almost uni
versally true that not dollar goes
into the gambling house but is actu-
ally needed at home for some specific
purpose of food or clothing, furnl-
tnre or fuel, or payment of debts.
The gambler is, in fact, almost alone
in society, in the situation of con-
to the community not a
single service for the emoluments he
from it. Others, however
humble or vicious, do something in
return for money received. The
gambler does nothing; and offers his
patron but the poor alternative of
possibly robbing some one else in
stead of himself being robbed.
The essential baseness of the
gambling propensity, whether anna
teur or professional, lis that it con-
sists of the desire and intention to
get something valuable without ade-
4uate equivalent. 1t is therefore
thoroughly antagonistic to the whole
of exchange on which in
dustry and commerce rest, and it
makes no difference whether it
springs from the impulse of deliber-
lte dishonesty or from the passion of
aziness which refuses to work. So
'lety's face is set against the gam
bier, relentlessly and unchangeably.
The only question is how to deal
With him so as to reduce his malign
influence to the minimum; whether
o treat him with pretended but CHI
nerical prohibition, or to tax him
heavily for public purposes, or to
uffer him to run clandestinely by |
officials. From one of |
hese devices to another, most com.
nunities alternately fly, about equ-
lily unhappy in each, and plundersd
in all.