BETTING AND GAMBLING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-
-Excessive gambling, like excessive drinking and smoking, is a serious vice which ought to be eradicated. But just as there is no harm in smoking and drinking in moderation, so there is no evil in an occasional " flutter." Practically every man gambles, not only on horses; consider the Stock Exchange, card games, greyhound racing, &c., &c.
With the poor this harmless pastime becomes a dreadful vice. They are uneducated, and have not the control to stop when they have lost. Canon Green, in his article of November 21st, which condemned 'All gambling as a national disease, suggests the Church as the vanguard of the opposition. Surely the Church has opposed gambling for many past generations. Gambling continues as before. The power of the Church to do anything but quarrel amongst itself has gone. It is merely an organization, badly organized. Much as I deplore such a state of affairs, I cannot look to the Church with any hope. The work of the State, by education, is the only practical cure, and until the poor man's mind has been brought to a higher state, gambling in excess will continue.
Gambling is not a vice to the man who is fairly well off. He knows his means and bets accordingly. If he continually over-bets, his position is well-nigh as deplorable as the man who is habitually drunk. We do not refuse a man a glass of wine—why refuse to allow him to gamble with his own money ?
In neither class will gambling disappear ; why should it ? It is a natural instinct in most human beings, and a healthy
one at that. —I am, Sir, &c., G. C. N. MAKIN. Trinity College, Cambridge.
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