THE GAMBLER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10926, 15 November 1913, Page 6

THE GAMBLER.

A LAY SERMON. Gambling is the most insidioi's vice, the most absurd infatuation to which the human race is prone. Your gambler is amongst the most credulous of men. The woman variety of him is more absurdly credulous still. Both believe in dreams, swear by coincidences, and put more trust in tho judgment of a saddle mannikln than they would in the word of the Lord Chief Justice. There never was a confirmed gambler yet who paid an honest dividend to the man who employed him. Such an individual is incapable of genuine service. His thoughts are always wool-gather-ing. His heart is not in his work. ♦ » * * * The thoroughbred horse is a noble animal, but the same cannot bo said generally of his human associates. How singular it is that nobility should always be cumbered by parasitic accessories. The gambler is an anti-social force because he invariably places more reliance on luck than on exertion, on chance than on skill, and on easy money than that which can be reputably earned. Think of the dozens of gamblers that you know and name one of them that you genuinely admire for his public spirit, or trust for his personal qualities. Nam© me one gambler whose demise would be the occasion for an expression of public regret. Name me one gambler with cards or on horses who can look the whole world in the face and say '" I owe not any man." Name mo one man who can demonstrate that he has made money out of bookmaking or betting with bookmakers over a series of years. There aro scores of rich bookmakers and sharps, but not one consistent gambler who is moderately well-to-do. When you hear the thirty-bob-a-week cub boasting of the double that he has wagered you can write him out as a serious competitor in the great human race. He may come to the post, but ho will never see the journey. Gambling is an infatuation which drives the winner to extravagance and the loser to dospair. It converts a man into a cringing and a credulous animal, and saps his moral fibre. Women it maddens and deteriorates. *«. • • » Dear money is not easy, -but easymoney is the dearest stuff you can buy. It injures him that gives and him that takes. \ AH men who visit racecourses are not gamblers, but consistent attendance at racecourses is demoralising because the gambling spirit is all-pervasive and fearfully insidious. Gambling is anti-social for the harm it inflicts on honest men outside the range of its immediate influence, and because an honest debt is the last thing the gambler pays. He has a code of his own and " a debt of honour" with him has a special significance. It. is an indication to his mind that all outside the gambling ring are the legitimate prey of those within that vicious circle. New Zealand has elevated racing to a fetish and has carefully fostered the gambling spirit, which grows on what it feeds on, . until it has made serious inroads into the morale of the race. Every year thousands" of dishonest sovereigns percolate through the totalisator—that is to say, sovereigns which have been- diverted from legitimate trade channels where the money was due , and owing • for services rendered, and placed in the hands of racing clubs to provide stake-money for the selfish pleasure of rich horse-ownere. • •*#«■ The community deliberately impoverishes itself in order that a few opulent sportsmen and jockeys may thrive, and a host of parasites may be nurtured and sustained. The names that are illustrious in the racing world-are notorious for the frugality of their relationship to national institutions. The horizon of such men is restricted to the spaces in which a courser may show his paces. Their conversation is of the horse horsey or the sheep sheepy, and they have neither wit nor competence for consideration of the larger issues of life. » • • • « The pendulum has swung to the full circumference, New Zealand under lunar influences 16 submerged in a gambling high-tide. When the public conscience awakens to the enormity of the sacrifice which the many are making in order that the few may be flattered and rewarded, this stacked house of cards will be shattered in a night. P.C.F.