Truth THE GAMBLING EVIL.

NZ Truth, Issue 132, 28 December 1907, Page 4

Truth

THE GAMBLING EVIL.

.PUBLISHED EVERT SATURDAY MORNING at Luke '.s Lane (off MannersSTBEET)', N.Z. Subscription (in j advance), 13s, - '.'■'; PER ANNUM. SATURDAY, DECEMBEE 28, 1907.

A FUTILE FIGBT.

"The Betting House Evil Transferred to the Streets'.— fin consequence of the proceedings against betting houses, those, who made a trade with alintjomiers haye adopted a new plan— they havy taken to the, streets, transactingjfcheir business m /the.highways._ The "collection of People around" them," 'the;: chdfferamg - and.^ the', obstruction of the footwiays,- Have become a nuisance, which the* police of London have been instructed to suppress." The foregoing paragraph, which was ■first printed m the "City. Press" (London) on August 25, 1857, half a century ago, serves as a fitting text upon which ;to say a few words respecting our, Brethren of the. Book. Firstly, it is evident from the text that m the good old days we often hear about the gambling evil was just as pronounced then as it is to-day. After half a century of antigambling agitation and puerile parsonical prating we find the evil still existent, and. not that alone, but if there is any alteration m regard thereto then it has been m the direction of an increase of the evil, if evil it can be rightly termed. Because, after all, on the latter point there are . decidedly diverse opinions, and whilst the. bad-breathed Biblebanger and pragmatical pulpitrpuncher brands the gambler as the . son of Belial and m danger of hell-five, there are many, hiscblv-rcspec-tablc members of society who vce no'Jiini!; objcctionnWe m lftvjnn- a w-.'/e". particularly wlhmi their turn comes lo

do the collecting; and, without personal- physical, exertion, add to their banking account. .; It is that- craving inherent m human" nature -to get something for nothing which does much to "nullify the efforts so continually being made m the direction of suppressing gambling., j **■ . ' . ■ ■ ! Unfortunately, we have never yet heard gambling actually denned. There is certainly*^ dictionary meaning to the: word, but a, full definition of the practice it ; is impossible . to secure, for the very simple and Sufficient reason that what, by some persons is termed gambling, is, by otheps, looked upon , as a genuine and legitimate speculation. The parson who, on Sunday, will . loudly hai> angue Ms audience. oh the pernicious habit of betMng ; on horse racing, will, m all proibabiliiv. be found on Monday morning eagerly scanning the share market reports m the day-lie press with the object. of ascertaining, so far as he possibly can, the best kind of scrip, to speculate upon m the effort to secure "something for nothing. " If , m, $c opinion of the gospel-grinding anti-gambler .the Wild Cat Consols show an upward tendency,, whilst the Blue Stone Bluff have teen gradually weakening, it is-, the Waihi gold mine .to a 'chew of bad tobacco that the white-^'hokered cleric will inves-t m the' consols 'm the hope of participatinig.s m the "gopd thing" by selling- -out 'on the top of the 'market. <■- But if: it is found, -that the reef which 1 should; > according to' expert opinion; be on -the: Consols property has taken; a sudden dip into the Bluff and shares m the latter suddenly increase m- value, whilst shares m the former suddenly slump, the cleric finds himself a loser. Actually he. has. been taking . part m a decided gamble. • He. has bet so much money on a' certain contingency — a rise m Consols shares— the rise hasn't eventuated &yd he &as lost his money just as empha i iacally and sure-' ly as though -he had bet on a certain contingency ■ m a horse' race—rtne.winning thereof by a certain horse-^and the horse hasn't : succeeded m being first past the judge's box. In the case of ft horsey race, vi- 1 ; -the backer whose faricy succeeds in ' winning collects the money he has speculated, together with a certain percentage speculated ... by ; otheru persons whose' fancy didn't win. : So' it is with the gambler m shares, he lays out a sum of money on certain shares believing they will' increase" m value, and. if they do, he sells out and secures His original outlay augmented by a .sum-; of money which some other person has risked on the chance of the shares going still higher m value. One-man; has bet on a certain horse winning- '•• a race, the other has bet on' certain shares rising m value; | Sometimes when•"hulls" and "'bears" get to work we are told straight- out m the .allegedly respectable section of the press, that there is a? good gamble going on m a certain class . of share ; although the .same section of the press will prostitute- itself to the God of' Mamnion by screeching for the suppression of ' gambling •m • two-up schools and . tote^shops, whilst ferring to the sfttare. gamble as : a legitimate speculation^ ' • ' 'Whilst huriian nature and oui{ : socr ial system is constituted as it is today, so long, .as the. so-called civilised race is Compelled, to 1 .struggle for existence, so ''long. ";a? human b'eih'gs realise the. possibility of want catching them "by" the ' coat^ta'ijs and holding them back from securing the necessaries of life, so long 'will men, religious and' Otherwise,, indulge m their little 1 gamble 'in the hope that they may he enabled by some lucky stroke to secure '■'. sufficient, of the root .of all vevil 1 Jto insure 'them aigtainst possible watit m the years when their hand has 'lost its cunning; their brain become becloud and their physical 'pow'eri: have departed. It seems to this paper that only a peculiarly distorted, {intellect can possibly differentiate betw 66 * 1 the many forms of gambling— the- land speculator, . the merchant' who buys . heavily m anticipation* of a/risfe m the price of the commodities "; m. which he deals, equallsr .with. 1 the , share specu^ lator and r'acepourse, ,'punter,' are gamblers. Most,, of the -vacant land we see lying, idle m .and, around the oity oi Wellington: is' being held by individuals who , are gambling on the possibility; of securing 'certain unearned increment •; , m qjiher words, like the speculator i on la racehorse they have speculated 1 on a 1 rise m the, price of land. If population, increases and the land, itiCreales m" value, then, they will sell out arid : secure V their divvy just-, as, does <the , punter whose horse wins. on, the, ftther" hand, if. population, falls awu.y',\arid, the ' land decreases m v^ue,, then the. gambler .loses, m precisely . tjtie^ same manner as^the punter whose Kotse falls' away to the -rear of his corilpetitors. ■ We are not' vadvoedtes of lari-tah shops or back parlo?' poker joints or, Sunday morning • two-up schools. That form of gambling we readily admit can well foe- abolished. : iChd ■ if those poor, narrow-minded bigots who a-re wasting their .little . energy m endeavoring to abolish gambling were to direct their . efforts towards a regulation of the practice werwould grant them every .support. If ' the cute gamblers m merchandise, /shares and land, who chiefly comprise the anti-racecourse gambling ;'.■■' fanatics, would only : ; realise the nitter * imposr; sibility of abolishing 'gambling and the urgent necessity^'of legislatively controlling the practice they would be conferring' a benefit on the community and receive .the solid 'support of every right-thinking person. Only a very few years ago there existed m Wellington, Auckland, and other large centres of this Dominion, certain well-known betting shops. They were mostly run by men of proved, probity, and who, m. the majority- of instances, were more trusted by the general public than the. average" col-lection-taker . m a. gospel-grinding Bsthel. - These betting-shop keepers, having an interest in;the town wi^re they were located, took care to be always m a position to meet their liabilities, and theY speculator m making a bet was,, m the event of proving a winner, was s ure to receive the dividend forthcoming. Then the anti-gambling crusaders got to work and secured a little of the limelight of publicity by; causirg the police authorities to, swoop down on 1 the betting-shop keeper and compel- ■ ling him to put up the shutters; 'close the ' shop rind— bet elsewhere. I .The' "shutting of the shops did not. cause a penny less to be succulnted ' nn the .striving povers "of Ihe racing ' gee ' geo. ' 'it- siniply, resell cd m bat-

ting being carried on surreptitiously m + he public streets and .less freqiuen-i',6pen-air locations'! •; -.'And 1 ,therein the anl?i-gambling crusade has proved itself absolutely opposoa to tlie best interests, ; of the comiqunity . When shop " bettirig was allowed the punter invariably knew the financial standing of the person with whom he was speculating. Now that 1 it is carried on surreptitiously the punter has to risk the possibility of the oddslayer failing to materialise when settling day conies round. As a matter of fact, the crusade which culminated iti the closing of betting shops was m effect a crusade m favor of the crook odds-layer and welshing turf trickster, who, under existing conditions, find the way made easy whereby they can fool and fleece the pubMc, whoj shops or no shops, Will " persist; m having a "bit on" any current facing event. j ■ . ■ ♦-.-■■' * - ■ ■ - * ■ Onoe the wiry ; whiskered Wesley, wowsers, the puritanical, pulpiteering Presbyterians and the many other cults and creeds of religio maniacs realise' that it is m the public interest to. regulate the betting practice they will Teeeive generous public support, and will be doing that which must result m the public benefit and' will tend to the welfare of the people "generally. The law should be so amended as to allow the existence of duly licensed betting shops,' properly controlled and under direct uQrOvernmejit wherein punters desirous of speculating could in-vent;.#b,eir--..'.spare ca,sh m the sureaitd certain hope that wihen they stfilce a winner' they will be able to colleiot their divvy. If a man's means are such as to prevent him from indulging m a golden gamble m land, or 'shares,, or merchandise, let him have a chance to legitimately indulge m a silver gamble on the prowess of a racehorse. With properly constituted betting shops, there' could, if. ( heeded,' be. a wholesome check placed 'on' the 1 undue' juvenile speculation' which -undoubtedly obtains at the : present time, and for, which. 1 the. ■ so-called Christian churches are wholly responsible. Too often young, men who i have wasted-. their siibatanoe m riotious living and have_ augmented., their income by purloining sojne* of; their employer's cash, blame bettirig for their, downfall, hoping thereby to gain a little morbid sympathy m their wrong-do-ing , but m nine cases out of " ; ' • ten the fall, has been caused by .other influences; which would be evident it betting shops were legalised and piioperlv controlled. : We have legalised totalisators. . and having gone that far towards the 'legislation Of : bet-., ting ; on' horse-raciii"- let "vs ■ go the Whole journey and bring , the whole practice under a much-needed Govern- ' m ent departmental ; supervision. • The sincere anti-gambling advocate must realise the force of qv£] arguments, . and, doing so, should cease his' 1 present tactics and legalise that which." no human power can possibly abolish. ' • '' ' : ■-■ ■ : ■l ''