The Washington herald., 1912-05-27
GAMBLING WILL
RUIN BALL GAME
Mothers Should Teach Boys Not
to Bet.

In times gone by it was always an
unmixed pleasure to note the keen In
terest of the small boy in our national
same, baseball; and it is still pleasure
so long as his interest remains untaint-
ed by the unhappy craze for gambling
which has found its way to the one
game which we had always believed free
from that reproach.
But do you realize that with the
revelation that baseball has been trans
formed into a gambling game there
comes the added information that the
lure OF the pool ticket has not stopped
with men, but has passed on to boys?
And some are even saying that wom-
en- and girls are falling prey to the
fascination, for in the pool tickets there
is always concealed the hope of win
ming a little money, and the tempta-
ton easily comes their way.
Perhaps you and know as little about
baseball as we do about pools and the
manner OF instituting them, for the na-
uonal game has not drawn very heavily
upon feminine interest, skill, or knowl-
edge.
But, you see, it is this way:
How IL Happens.
The promoters, for the sake Of tempt
ing small earnings into avaricious
pockets, form a pool. selling tickets in
nearby shops and other places that will
handle them, or sending out agents to
distribute them as they can.
Sometimes men and boys go to these
stands purchase tickets, and risk as
much money as they dare, and the lure
does not reach women and girls. And
sometimes, when the ticket peddlers cir
Culate in shops where many are en-
IL
as numerous as the rest, they fall in
line with the men and boys, tempted by
the hope Of seeing their pennies grow
irto dollars and their, dollars into-who
knows what?
And now that the word has gone
broadcast concerning a danger that
threatens not alone the modest wage
Garner but a deservedly popular national
sport we are finding that boys and
young men do not always rely upon out
side pools. but form their own, risking
little or much. as they can or will. And
the little chap in the big establishment
watches the men, sees them venture
some Of their earnings week after week. !
is tempted 10 try his luck-and the pool |
has another victim. For there is al |
ways the growing expectancy OF great |
returns.
It is pity that the little fellow
should be drawn into the net; and II Is |
a pity that baseball should fall into dis |
repute, for It has proudly boasted that |
it was the supreme sport Of men and |
hoys throughout the nation. without a |
faint of the gambling element, which |
can, IL il tries, force its unseemly way |
into any game, provided there is not |
some one on guard to call a halt
Better BE Left Alone.
And while we are waiting for the |
managers Of baseball leagues, and 9TH
ers in whom authority is vested, to drive
out the big offenders and to influence
the baseball lovers themselves to keep
clear from the new temptation, II seems
very opportune to endeavor to impress
upon the minds of boys and young men
that this business OF gambling had bet
ter be left to the idle rich
For however else one may describe II,
foible or vice as he likes, il is distinctly
a luxury for the money-free, alone. II
learned that the gambling germ had
taken hold Of the wage-earner, ones
would surely drop to ebb-tide.
For when the pennies then the dollars.
begin 10 go from the poor mans pocket,
TO meet the relentless gambling urge,
then the financial stability OF the little
home is no more. And II one were the
would nightly hate 10 see him step
into the tracks Of the gambler. what
ever the stakes.
Mere woman, as she runs, even in these
a spring days, cannot throw a straight
ball if she tries, and does not know
home run from a sacrifice hit; but while
freely confessing ignorance concerning
our national game, she has learned to
recognize it as a royal pastime for hus-
bands, brothers, sons.
And so mere woman comes to the
front with a promise 10 at least try to
influence the small boy to do his part
In removing the stigma which seems to
have suddenly settled upon a game
which all Of US had believed above re-
DToach.
For those who know assure US that
baseball will not outIive many seasons q,
II baseball and gambling must go hand
In hand.