The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-02-24
c,1RLING WAS THE SUBJECT OF
MI. CHESTER SUNDAY NIGHT.

savs This Channel Is Widening and |
neepening in the City. Card Par
ties and Gambling on Margins.
Rev. o. B. Chester preached the
sacond of his series of sermons Sun
dav night on the three channels of
sin. gambling being his subject.
He took as his text Job "a, 2-1O,
and said:
channel number two is fraudu- |
1ant gain. The principle of sin never
abanges. There may be variations
in accent and expression, but the
core of the matter continues the
came. The sin of fraudulent gain
was even in Jobs time as bad as the
devil could make it, It's record I'M
I'll now is heartless, cold as death
and cruel as the grave. Gambling is
the most common expression given
the principle of fraudulent gain at
his time. Gambling is an effort to
get something for nothing, and
hence gives the fullest expression to
this principle.
Gambling Worse Than Liquor.
WASHINGTON GLADDEN. says despite
the fact that we have been putting
$500, 100000 per year in the liquor
bnsiness, most of which has pur-
chased poverty, misery and damna-
tion. the gambling evil is a worse
menace to our society. 1t is spread
inc over our land like a plague, and
gripping our people with the tenta-
cIes of death. Mr.. GLADDEN. says
further: "a gamblers relation to
society is exactly that of a thief"
The eighth Commandment, '"Thou
shalt not steal" is the seal of Gods
law upon the right to property, and
teaches that all fraudulent getting
is stealing. A man who steals is a
thief, and the Bible declares no thief
can inherit the kingdom of Heaven.
That means he will inherit hell. The
man who wins another's money
gambling will, with the last throw
of the dice, win hell.
Gambling on Margins.
The worst form of gambling is not
in gambling houses, for there gam
bers steal only from each other,
while men who bet on margins in
Broad street and boards of trade
rob the whole country. 1t has been
stated that the New York stock mar
ket feeces the people out of $780,
100000 per year in this manner 1t
is the most dishonest form of gamb-
ling, because men load the dice, so
to speak When one man simply bets
another that 1000 bushels of wheat,
or 500 bales of cotton, which never
did and never will exist, will sell
for certain price on a named future
date, he to lose the difference if it
sells below and gain if it sells above,
he is going to do his best to effect
the price in his favor. That is load
ing the dice.
Men who do these things may be
prominent in the church, but they
are gambling, and gambling stands
in the same relation to society as
stealing.
The Channel Is Deepening in Dawson
It is gravely feared that this chan
mel, number two, the sin of gamb.
ling, is constantly widening and deep
ening in Dawson.
There are tributaries to this
stream which we must mention
There are few things more damning
in influence and which prove to b.
greater tributaries to this sin d
gambling than pool rooms. Such in
stitutiOns have been kept out of Daw
son by $500 license tax, which
proved prOhibitive. l am sorry t
say that we have now, officially, in
yited such an institution to come il
and help swell this stream of gamb
ling by reducing the tax from $500
to $3.50. Unless we meant this a
an invitation of course we would no
have reduced the tax, because Their
would have been no reason for doini
so. We did not dig this dam ava
nor punch a hole in it, but just du
1t down half way, so that if tn
stream rises a little it can overflow
IT, 1t will be sure to rise, and I'm
less the dam is built up again vii
soon flow in and become a great trit
utary to the gambling stream. l sa
We did it, because the acts of tn
city council are ours. We put theT
there. Brethren may wriggle a
much as they please, but just as W
use to run a dispensary and Sc
LOO bottles of Whiskey on Satul
day before coming to church on Sur
day so we have licensed near bee
and we have removed One-half tn
tax on pool rooms, thus inviting thel
10 our town.
Fast Living Tributary.
Another tributary is the fast liz
ing of the time. Social customs hay