Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-28
THE DEVILS GAME


m HE gambling evil which degrades
racing and makes the sport of
- kings" a plague to the people is
| illustrated by a little package of souve-
Mrs OF the betting ring sent recently
to Los Angeles Herald by heart
broken woman. One dozen tickets, rep
resenting one dozen lost wagers. were
inclosed in an envelope and forwarded
toqthe editor of this paper Each ticket
is of recent date, each tells story. and
the story is of local interest, because
the transactions indicated by the wick
ed little bits of cardboard were local
transactions This peculiar pack of
cards represents the Los Angeles club.
Vernon club. Walnut club, Denver club.
Chicago club, Goldfeld club. all of
which are gambling clubs, and Nelson
Jones and ]. MacManus, professional
bookmakers or gamblers.
The cards represent a great deal more
than the sporting institutions and gem
tlemen involved. The woman who kept
and forwarded the tickets made rec
ord on the back of each one. The record
is historical, and we are told, genuine
Each record consists only of a few
lines, but the few lines speak volumes.
Here are the inscriptions on these SOU
venirs of the race tracks: This repre-
sents all that was left of once pros
porous business" 1.-THE cause of a
woman's shame. A life ruined. A home
neglected" '"The cause of fathers
downfall, mothers grief" 1.-THE cause
of betraying a friends confidence"
"The cause of ruined business"
''Wife's shame" "This is the cause of
mothers heartache; fathers ruin"
"The cause of an unhappy home; and
empty larder." THE cause of losing
the home by foreclosure" THE cause
of sisters shame, mothers death.
1.-THE cause of losing a position" MY
financial ruin" "The taste of He'll
For this 1 became a liar, a thief, a
betrayer' This tells why I'm an out
cast!"
Blind to the consequences of this
huge iniquity, with it's ears deaf to the
angulshed cries of the victims, with its
heart hardened against the appeals of
the crushed and the bleeding, the gov
ernment ignores national vice, which
must be dealt with by national legisla-
tion, backed up by local legislation. The
country must be policed against gam
bling as effectively as it is policed
against crimes of violence. We do not
pretend that crimes of violence have
been stopped, but no one can allege that
they are committed with the conniv-
ance of the law. Most of the gambling
that disgraces California and other
parts of the United States is conducted1
with the connivance of the law: i'll
some communities with its direct sane
tion, in others without interference ex-
cepting of a half-hearted and insincere
kind. When we speak of the gambling
EVIL we mean that we believe it to be
an EVIL. We class it with murder.
suicide, smallpox, the black plague and
the Seven Deadly Sins. What would
think of nation which de-
clared that while perhaps it could not
therefore must tolerate and to some ex-
tent encourage-for political reasons,
perhaps-murder suicide, smallpox. the
black plague> and the Seven Deadly
Sins?
Here is an evil. f1ourishing HERE,
in the United States, in California, in
Los Angeles, and it is as vile and re-
pulsive and as dangerous and per-
nicious to society as murder, suicide,
smallpox, the black plague and theI
Seven Deadly Sins, and we tolerate it,
it, mollycoddle it, pretend
we cannot deal with it, make believe
that it may be modified but cannot bel
delude ourselves about it,
make apologies to ourselves concern
ing it!
Yes! While because of the gambling
evil, which is most intimately assocf-
ated with the race track, men sell their
souls and women their bodies and chill
dren starve and steal, the law snores,
conscience sleeps and the devil laughs!