The tying up of profits for the Rowntree Social Service
Trust only shows that the evil has not been committed from the desire of personal gain. "But the moral and spiritual ruin, the poverty and crime that are produced remain the same." The argument that by continuing the publication of betting news the proprietors are placing themselves in a better position to advocate the legislative prohibition of such news is met by the scathing remark, "I am not aware that they have taken any steps to bring the matter before the Legislature, and it is difficult to conceive a body of reasonable men coming forward and affirming that their practices are so immoral that they ought to be prohibited by statute." The Friend, he observes, has burked discussion of the topic, and longer silence on the part of the Society will mean com- plicity. "If the Society be worthy of its antecedents it will openly and courageously condemn this evil, whatever excuses may be made by those who practise it. If our Society has not a high moral standard to put before the world, the sooner it perishes the better."
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