Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-23
WAR ON THE BETTING HABIT
WOMAN'S 1NTERDENoMINA-
TIoNAL UNION ENTERS PLEA.
-Clergymen Denounce Alleged Gam
bling at Benning Race Track.
Utterances in Pulpits.

The Woman's Interdenominational Mis-
| sionary Union of the District of Column
bia has entered the fight against betting
| at the Renning race track and the union
will carry the matter before Congress to
secure the enactment of law to prohibit
| betting on the races and other forms of
gambling in the District.
A largely attended meeting of the union
was held this morning in the Luther Me-
mortal Church. and Mrs. Randolph of the
| Luther Memorial Church presided. The
ma tier of the betting at the Benning
| races came up for discussion. and the Ia
dies by a unanimous vote decided to send
a message to the chairmen of the District
committees of the Senate and House OF
Representatives urging the enactment of
a law to put stop to gambling
The message. signed by Mrs. Belle Cald-
we'll Culbertson. president Of the Inter
UNCONVENTIONAL Union. was sent to SEN
ator Gallinger and Representative Smith.
1t reads as follows:
Assembled for prayer. the Christian
| women of the District urge a law prohib
| iting gambling at Benning and in the
District.
The meeting closed with an address by
Rev DR.. Charles Butler and with prayer
Rev. DR.. Wallace Radcliffe. pastor of
the New York Avenue PRESBYTERIAN
Church: Rev. Dr. Frederick d. Power of
the Vermont Avenue Christian Church
Rev DR.. Samuel H. Greene of Calvary
Baptist Church. Rev. Albert Evans of
Metropolitan Presbyterian Church. Rev:
! J. G. Butler of the Luther Memorial
Church and other clergymen discussed
the subject of horse racing before their
congregations yesterday morning. DR..
Wilbur F. Crafts of the international
re form bureau made addresses on the
same topic. He spoke in the morning
at the Metropolitan NJ. E. Church and
the First Presbyterian Church and at the
Y. NJ. c. A. and w. G. T. L. He ad-
dressed the congregation Of the First
Congregational Church last evening.
All the speakers pointed out the danger
to the morals of the city by the influx
Of race track touts and gamblers said
to attend the races. At the New York
Avenue Presbyterian Church Rev. DR..
Radcliffe was severe in his denunciation
He referred to published statements that
more than 100 gamblers were travelling
to the Capital city to attend the races
DR.. Radcliffe said that something should
be done at once to put stop to the
influx of persons Bent on spreading evil
in the District
Described as Criminal.
The bushes at Benning Is gambling
plain, vulgar, unvarnished. commonplace.
criminal gambling. Improving the breed
of horses is the euphemism for dwarf1ng
and damning the breed of men. Round
and round the horses go, and out of the
hopper of the swift machine come the
blunted moral sense. the dissolute life.
the defaulter. the thief, the suicide. the
murderer, ruined men. beggared women
wretched little Children
In a ringing voice, Rev. DR.. Power. pas
tor yesterday morning thus denounced
the situation at the Bennng race track.
before an audience which filled the Yer
| mont Avenue Christian Church. DIR. Pow
er's sermon dealt exclusively with Ben
ming and the race meet. The pernicious
evil he declared, sis wrecking the morals
and polluting the purity of the young men
| of our community who. day after day,
are drawn into the gambling hell at the
race track.
"Benning is today" DR.. Power added,
"a center of attraction to the most vicious
and lawless class In America Benning is
our nearby entrance to the bottomless
pit. Benning receives today. the New
York papers tell US. hundreds of book
makers and blacklegs who have been
driven out of the Empire state by Gov.
Hughes and who will set up in full sight
of the big red Jail where they belong the
betting ring and proceed to fleece the pub
lie.
Some of us will remember when this
heliish business was carried on at eth
street and Florida avenue. and then 1t
was driven to the south end OF the Long
bridge. Now 1T Is intrenched at Ben
ming.
Contrast With the Past
AT one time the gambler was a mere
biackleg, a swindler. a sharper. q low
browed criminal unknown to virtue or
| shame; a creature sunk so low in the
| social scale that conscience was dead
and intelligence. become mere cunning.
| wholly given over to dishonesty. trickery
and lying. with no purpose but to trap
| the unwary and rob and pillage as
common pirate or highwayman. Today
princes indulge in this sin: merchants.
| with earnest faces and courtly ways, and
| pews in leading churches; fair women.
alleged Christian women. at the races
or In their parlors: even churches, by
rafting devices. votes and lottery schemes,
will cultivate the black art of the black
| leg. Yet. from the craps players in a
Washington alley to Tranby Croft, from
the church or county fair to Monte Carlo;
| from Benning to Baden Baden 1t Is the
! same SIM"
In ten years. the speaker said. 1000 per-
sons have committed self-murder through
losses at the gaming tables of Monte
Carlo. And if the suicide is not by vio-
lence In moment. drink is sought to
drawn the memory and bury the record
Manhood and womanhood wrecked: boys
and young men made thieves and de-
| faulters: honorable men, having lost
character and self-respect go down to
dishonorable graves and become the gain
Of the arch gamester Satan.