The Gambling Evil by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 4, 1893

The Gambling Evil.

By Editor

One of the great evils of this country and the world is the gambling evil. Before us lies an appeal to the people on this question, signed by noted D.D.'s of various cities of the East. The power of the great gambling concerns of our country over various local, municipal, and State elections is marked, and the evil, says this appeal, "has been rapidly increasing in this country in recent years," and "it has already reached a magnitude hardly conceivable to those who have not investigated this subject. It has corrupted State Legislatures, courts, juries, and on municipal governments, and has defeated the ends of justice in countless ways." And all this and much more is true of this great evil. Those behind it are wealthy, bold, hazardous, and unscrupulous. Shame, sorrow, misery, disgrace, and ruin follow in its pathway. How many "trusted men" are ruined through this vice. Lotteries, race-track gambling, pool selling, bucket shops, roulettes, faro, fortune wheels, and other forms of gambling, are mentioned. It is recommended that organizations be formed against the evil, and especially to repeal all laws favoring gambling, educate the public, and enforce such laws as exist for its suppression.

We recognize the evil; we would that it did not exist; but it does, and the sad fact is that it is fostered and fed by our church fairs, festivals, and raffles, where the principle of gambling is as much in operation as existed in the Louisiana Lottery. Let reform begin in the churches. Law may make and suppress crime, but it cannot reform men, and their vices will but take another form, which will require a new law to make it criminal. It is not the business of the ministers of Christ to endeavor to promote morality by law. Let the gospel of Christ in its purity and power take hold of men's hearts, and gambling and all other vices will appear in their true colors. We are opposed to gambling. We do not believe in it as seen in the great gambling concerns of the country, in the numerous gambling hells, in the various prize articles and packages in common stores, shops, and groceries; neither do we believe in it in the church; and the only effectual remedy we know which the church can use with unsparing freedom is the gospel of Christ.