Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1914-08-07
BLAME THE CLIMATE
Why They Gamble Down In Old
Mexico.
Local "Feria." When Every Gambler
Lets Instincts Revel and Plays Hls
Favorite oame--oulck Changes
In q Day.

Camblng, which is as OH as the
pyramids and as young as Broadway,
is one' of the chief features Of life In
present-day Mexico. the New York
Evening Telegram remarks.
And the philosophy of gambling
among our southern neighbors beyond
the Rio Grande Is given BY Henry
Baerlein in his Mexico. the Land Of
Unrest
And now We come to the phlloso-
ply OF all this matter writes Mr..
Baerlein. One may argue that there
is none. and that people gamble In the
Mexican republic for the same reasons
as they gamble elsewhere.
But. according 10 certain school.
the Mexicans demand consideration
that Is quite peculiar.
.They are given. so It's said, to gam
bling on account OF imperfectons In
their agricultural economy. Wide
stretches OF the land are always rush
ing from one extreme into the other.
from extreme fertility to unproductive-
ness.
In four and twenty hours the people
pass from wealth 10 misery. Their
wheat Is all destroyed. their nocks are
dying, and underneath the wheel OF
fortune they are helpless II II does not
take another turn. which consumma'
ton is not 70 be brought about except
By gambling.
Mexico Is vast. and on the one hand
there are tracts OF country which un-
roll a savage fruitfulness- as the
part OF Coahulla where II IL sufficient
for the cotton to be planted once In
ten years. and the district near to Ira
pnato where. a mile or more above
the sea, one has throughout the year
crop after crop OF strawberries. and
SO the jungle. round rubber clear
Ing, where the tenfacles OF the yege-
tation try TO choke ali human effort,
and II they are cut win grow again.
and nj the rate Of half IN inch day
Then. on the other hand. we have
the desert places where the summers
heat or CHASTITY whiriwinds or the dust
goes dancing, but where cactus grows
and nothing else.
In either sort Of territory you know
what is to be expected: II win surely
happen. but a great deal Of the land
is subject TO the varilIations we have
mentioned. And the causes are less
difficult to find than 10 prevent
what country. Portions OF u
change 30 little that ne have the tale
OF Chicago woman who came down
TO live In this eternal spring. and "A
the mercury OF the barometer did not
80 much as tremble abe was certain
that the instrument was out Of order,
and she broke II,
In those other regions that we have
described a laborer would formerly
have chosen one OF three professions
--brigandage. rebellion. gambling.
Now the former has been more or
less blotted out by the ruFales. rebel.
Hon does not always offer the antique
Inducements. and the disappointed Ia
borer falls back on gambling. He ID
not restricted 10 the lottery.
There Is said 10 be a time for all
things. and IN Mexico II is the local
feria tthe fair when every gambler
is supposed to let bis instincts revel.
He can start to play soon after sun
rise. and IL he should be unfortunate,
can visit. now and then. the image in
whose honor all the festival 10 being
held.
Monte, roulette and lotto are the
chief games. II 10 curious 10 see a
circle OF adults, thought OF the poorer
classes, solemnly seated at their lotto
cards and wait until the fish or bird
There Is demand for lighting
cocks. The cock fight In itself
Is unattrnctiye. being but matter of
some seconds. As the one bird files
across the other be brings into play
the fearful spur that mas been fastened
10 his leg. A mass Of feathers
tumbles down and many pesos change
sA-4~