Evening star., 1924-04-15
Ia Gambling MAD
large is RESENTED
.merican Tourist Declared to- Be
Hasty and Superficial in
His Judgment.
POLITICS ALSO IS DEFENDED
Corruption Said to Be Proportion.
ably Normal in Republic.
By Consolidated Press.

by Consolidated Press.
HAVANA, Cuba, April 15.-Cuba,
wnich always has a bill of complaint
10 file against the American tourist
at the close of every winter season.
is lamenting today the fact that she
is being held up to exhibition by
visiting writers-or writing visitors
as a land peculiarly addicted to
gambling
Ot1cially :he season is not yet over,
and Will not be until the end of
April Actually, however, it is over,
despite a few stragglers and late
comers from America. For the hun
dred days of racing at Oriental Park
have terminated: the long car
nival, which makes Havana the gay
est and friskiest city in the world
has ended, with it's ba title of flowers
and. most important of all, the hotels
nave begun reducing their rates.
Resents Gambling Charge.
So, complaints are in order, and
the most serious one is that American
writers are giving Cuba a bad name
Tor gambling. One cosmopolitan Cuban
with whom the writer talked was
particularly wrought up over the
statement of magazine writer that
tubans were addicted to betting
they would bet on the score of an
opera If they could figure out some
way TO do it
The magazine writer has dedpced
this from the fact that Cuhans bet in
, every imaginable manner at hall
Eames--buying tickets in pools on the
last man TO be put out in a game
me frst of either team to be struck
out the total Score and so on: be-
cause of wild and exciting scenes at
lat alai games. where the applause
is drowned out by the shouts of
oettors and layers of odds; and be-
Ssuse OF the crowded betting in
closures at the race track He also
mentioned the lottery. in which every
hody participates. and in which the
wife Of the president recently won
the grand prize.
Admit betting Is Heavy.
The cosmopolitan Cuban admitted
there was lot of betting going on at
all these places, but he declared il
was erroneous to say that fact proved
the Cuban people were gambling mad
Remove the restrictions in the
United States. and see how much bet
ting will go on at base ball games"
hs said. And do you think lottery
tickets would go begging over there
II there sale were permitted? AS for
the race tracks. isn't there just as
much betting on the races in the
United States today as there is in
Cuba?
But even granting, for the sake of
argument that there is more bet
ting done in Cuba, that doesn't prove
that the Cubans are such terrible
gamblers You must remember that
Cuba is a resort to which come peo-
pie OF all nationalities. Study your
crowds of bettors and you will find
the percentage of Americans and
other foreigners far exceeds that of
Cubans Betting is a universal trait
not a Cuban trait
Cites Analogy Here.
The speaker quoted another writer
who said no Cuban could spare time
for game on which he could not bet.
He should have said no Cuban
gambler. was the comment The
same would apply to the American
gambler. The author of that would
be epigram should have stayed in Ha-
vana long enough to see the race be-
tween the Cuban and American speed
boats or the annual tennis CharnpiOn-