Year: 1867

Everybody knows that the evil OF
gambling is one which has taken deep
| root in this city, snd which hourishes
| perennially in spite Of the law. 1t is not
/ so generally known, however, that the
| evil is now increasing and expanding to


an extent that was never known before.
! Faro banks and kindred gaming estab-
| lishments have been IN operation for
wears in the city, as many verdaut per
sons have learned 10 their sorrow but,
within the LAST few months these places
have largely increased IN number, and
many new gambling devices have been
introduced. A morbid taste for this great


vice has apparently sprung up. Its class
of patrons is much larger, its operations
are bolder, and its evils consequently far
greater than they formerly were. All
the ingenuity Of the gambling fra
ternitv has been taxed in the effort
10 provide new and more attractive
forms in which to dress the evil New


games have been introduced, new de-
vices have been invented, and new
allurements have been thrown out to


catch the unwary and drag them into


the gamblers nets. The faro banks are


not the greatest evils Of this kind at the


present time. Their victims are mostly


from the class who have learned TO look


vice in the face without blauching. It


is the more insidious but equally danger


Gus forms of gambling which do the


greatest harm, for they draw into the


net the timid and hesitsting class who


would shrink from the portals Of faro


bank. The lottery or gift presentation


method Of gambling Is one Of the great
est curses to society. The evil arising


from one Of these enterprises will out


weigh that Of a dozen faro banks. Being
presented IN an attractive style
and covered with the gsr5 OF be-
nevolence, they truly "steal the livery
of heaven 10 serve the devil in They
entice the victim into the first step of
vice and crime, and for that reason are
responsible for the other steps which he
subsequently takes upon the downward
road There Is another gambling feature


which has lately appeared in the city,


and which is rapidly spreading. II is


game called "kenO,N and is played some


thing like the youths gameFf " lotto"


l. is no less a gambling gSsze than is


faro, and yet it is now played openly in
q great many places purpOsely fitted up
for it. The worst feature Of this game Is
that it is pstrOnizsd, to great extent,


by boys and other persons who are not


vet sufficiently hardened in vice to
patronize\ faro banks. We might


mention several other plans and
devices of the gambling trade
that have lately been put
into operation in this city but our only
object now is to call public attention to
the rapid growth of this dangerous evil;
particularly that feature of IL which en-
traps the young and Unwary into the
gamblers meshes. The only remedy
consists in a stringent and sweeping en-
actment OF the legislature, providing the
most severe penalties for gambling, and
investing the police with power to make
summary arrests, as they now do under
the excise law. The latter point is par
ticularly important. Every gambling
place in New York is well known to the
police, and they might ali be broken up
if the police authority were so extended
as 10 enable the officers TO arrest gam
blers vi hout waiting for complaint and
formal warrant. We hope the legisla-
ture will take the action we have sUg-
gested, and thus relieve the city from an
evil which Is now spreading with alarm
ing rspidity.-N T. Sla3.