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: BETTING FROTT THE ENGLISH ANGLE. Not all ot the people with puritanical Ideas as. to horse racing ami Iietting on contests between horses people with notions such as the Rev. A. S. Gregg, of Washington, entertains live in the United States. There are a few of them in England and elsewhere. Abroad as well as at home they have succeeded in agitating the subject until the patience of sensible,, liberal-minded people lias been sorely tried. They have ranted throngji the London press with so great a disregard for facts that "Old Blue," one of the best informed and most versatile writers on racing In England, lias seen fit to pen the foliowjng which was recently published in the- London Sporting Life, and which is apropos- to conditions iu this country: The abuse of sport is becoming quite an art nowadays, especially in connection with betting. It has been assailed more often than one cares to remember by writers eminent and otherwise. As a rule, sportsmen have hitherto regarded these tierce denunciations with pitying silence, but not always. Now and again they have felt constrained to expose the absurdity of some people describing betting as the sole and only object and aim of followers of the Turf. etc. Two distinguished writers. Mr. Holt Schooling and Mr. Guy Thome, have lately had a deal to say on the subject of betting. The first-named gentleman orates .on its folly. while Mr. Tliorne sighs; because "every branch of sport is Imperilled and besmirched by betting." Botli avoid any sort of the usual claptrap, and their words are their convictions. But as Mr. Thome rightly says "mealy generalities are of no use." What we want Is the convincing testimony of proof. Yet, in the main, lie lias dealt with, nothing but generalities, and forgotten to" supply the- proof At any rate.-, hp lias failed to convince most people that modern betting is anything more than the accessoire of sport. And the subtle way In which lie tries to discriminate between betting, wagering, and gambling is too rich for anything. As a matter of fact, essays upon sporting morality whether imbedded in the pages of a magazine or published independently, have never yet done any good. Nor was the elevation of a communitys purity ever yet effected either by Act of .Parliament or by the pen of a journalist. And it is certainly idle for any writer to deal with such a subject as the deterioration ot sporting" integrity without "verifying his facts." That is to say. it is necessary tor him to mention names and dates, to cry aloud and spare not, and to be precise In his particu-larisatiori of alleged evil deeds:. It is instructive-that both the gentlemen above-mentioned fall in these respects. Mr. Schooling, indeed, contents himself with denouncing betting as an evil of the worst kind, because it is begat of folly. It may interest him to learn that a few years ago the Calcutta Diocesan Conference with the Metropolitan at its head spent a whole day in trying to discover what wan wrong about gambling, but altogether failed. Exactly; Mr. Tliorne is bold, enough to avoid taking ja puritanical view of betting, but not so Mr. Schooling. This eminent statistician talks, as if to wagering any sort of bet Is simple sin. Nonsense. One of Englands greatest headmasters recently said: "I cannot see that it is wrong in Itself to bet. To say .that a man who plays whist-for threepenny points commits a Kin. is, in my judgment, to strain the law of morality almost to snapping." Wlio can, gainsay? And what is the difference between playing whist for 3d. points and backing a horse for a small sum? . As" regards betting being foolish, what does Mr. Schooling mean by "foolish?" Is Stock Exchange speculation foolish, or drinking, or smoking, or a hundred and one -other tilings many people do respecting which there Is much divergence of opinI6n? Clearly it depends upon which side you look at if. Some people tell us there is no happy .mean between strict teetotallsm and drunkenness; but who .believes this? By a parity of reasoning, therefore, the conclusions .reached in regard to betting largely depend on the temperament- and prejudices, of every individual. And It would be interesting" to know why Mr: Schooling inveighs against letting so heavily, but takes sedulous care to- leave Stock Ex. change gambling alone. One fears his very evident prejudices on the whole question of betting affects both ills arguments and ills conclusions. And I should- like to ask him this: "If you may buy cprii in hope of a rise, which is the essence of commerce; why may you not stake" 1 on a horse and sin not?" In either case the wroug turn may upset you,- of course, but there is. this difference the one transaction, supposing you can pay the" difference, is moral, and the other is ""not. Or, again, the racing man who goes in for shady tactics is promptly kicked out of- his club, but If the business man tells you what he knows will ruin you all in tho way of business; of course Is he equally tabooed? Not a lilt of it, lie is dubbed a sharp business man. Two blacksalp not make a white, I know, but, please, let the opponents of betting be fair and logical. To his credit be it said. Mr. GUy Thome, who has seen- men and cities, fights shy of such argument: He tells us, what we all know, that Irresponsible betting is the bane of sport. But lie forgets that sportsmen themselves have been agitating for years for reform. If either the Jockey Club, or even Parliament would cither give us a system of licensed bookmakers, or assist sportsmen to cleanse the Augean stable In a fitting manner, the evil Mr. Guy Tliorne waxes eloquent over would speedily dls appear, lie Is justified, perhaps, in exposing the. seamy side of sports, yet does not scandal and demoralising iulluiiiics obtain In every walk or galloji of life? The Bar. the Bench; the Senate. Literature, aye, even the Church Itself by his own showing are all more or less contaminated. Surely, it is no-compliment to ills fellow countrymen to tell them in effect that they are: so deficient-in strength as to .fall a prey to the temptations which thousands withstand daily. In other words, arc sportsmen to avoid a duty because it may be hampered with certain perils to the covetous, the weak, or the self-indulgent? Nor can I help thinking that he has grossly exaggerated the betting evil in connection with general sport, just as he did in relation to drink.- Being an enthusiast, he lets his pen run riot, so to speak. Anyway, he will find it difficult to bring proof In the majority of cases he mentions. Nothing will ever stop betting of some sort or the other. Man is unquestionably a gaming animal. The very energy which makes us strive to rise in life is twin-brother to the spirit which makes men gamblers. We have done nincli in England to suppress such dens of iniquity as still flourish at Baden Baden, Hoinburg,- Monte Carlo, etc., and the only open gaming which exists for sportsmen Is that which is decried by Mr. Guy Tliorne and others. Nor is-betting the unmitigated evil these well-meaning people try to make out. It certainly Is not to those who have seen trente et quarante played in Germahv, baccarat in Paris, monte in Mexico, and faro and bridge both in England. and America. Betting about the speed and endurance of men or horses, moreover, is unuestionably the noblest form of gambling betting. If you like in existence. All the same, sportsmen are by no means madly anxious to bet on every little sport and pastime, as alleged. To hear some people talk, it would seem they are constrained by a spell Hi that end. lrankly speak, ing. 1 do not believe general sport is contaminated by betting in half the degree mentioned. It Is easv to go in for platitudes, and to speak of such-and-such a sport beiug spoiled by ltetting, but. that is not proof. Not long since Mr. Thome spoke of golf clubhouses as "little better than shebeens." and asserted that these dens of wickedness Were in the south and southwest of England. When pressed to "verifv his facts," he preserved a discreet silence. And I think he would have even greater difficulty in verifying some of tlie assertions he makes iu connection with betting and sport. And it is amusing to note that both ho aud Mr. Schooling condemn betting in degree, so to speak. Making a wager is not an evil, according to Mr. Thome; and Mr. Schooling onlv condemns habitual and petty gambling. Itut, surelv, if betting is wrong per sc. people are little sinners "who even make an occasional wager. The fact is. the love of sport, of which betting is an inevitable accompaniment. Is an important national trait. Where a man can afford to bet no harm is done; if lie cannot, and still persists In doing so, he is a fool. Is not speculation the very essence of commerce? And what Is the difference between gambling on the Stock Exchange and on the turf? Adopting Mr. Schoolings logic woukl .deprive every man of every luxury, on the novel ground that his poorer neighbor might be tempted. AVe are continually being told that betting is a prolific source of crime, and so it very likely Is. Itut what alout Stock Exchange gambling? When are Mr. Schooling and Mr. Tliorne going to Indict this practice? I shall be told that a tu quoque rejoinder of this nature disproves nothhig, and is not argument, but is It not? If I were to .open a crusade against the commercial evils of today, icople. would Iatiglf nif? to scorn, yet pure gamblings such as goes on rftiy : day before luncheon Is not a bona fide elcmentili trade. Nor could it be stopped without injury being done to certain .important business people. Simi-larly. any law affecting betting could only be carried out unequally. Altolish office betUiig. for Instance; and -what would be the result? Simply the creation of secret betting places, plaeliig: a great temptation iti the way of the police to levy blackmail. For the rest, it is absurd to attribute much of the so-called concomitant, evils to bettin!;. A niiin "who "would be tempted to steal for gambling purposes wonhV be tempted to steal in any case and for any purpose. Uuaer this heading, wha did a well-known Metro- politan.- magistrate say only a short time ago? "Eight out of every ten culprits who attribute their downfall to betting really had nothing whatever to do with it," Betting has ever existed in some..form or other, and always will. It is part and parcel of human uaturo. . Knowing this. It is idle of anybody to take up their Sparable against betting. If, as alleged,, all kinds of sport are". in jeopardy from the practice, how reconcile- this-fact-with the amasing increase of most sports and pastimes . iu popularity since 1SS7? But arc they?. I for ono take leave to doubt it. Such conclusions have been discussed with absurd gravity by people who -.ought to have known better than to have accepted them seriously.
