unhesitatingly upon the right side, we should next seek to create _a
sound Public Opinion_. There is great need for the spread of information
regarding the extent of the evil, as the facts in connection with it are
at present but little known. Generally speaking, the public have not yet
realised that betting and gambling are wrong, or that the evil has spread
until it has become a grave national danger. Even the Churches have not
yet at all generally spoken out with regard to the question, and much may
be done in stirring them up in the matter. Although almost every Church
has some organised temperance society actively at work, how many Churches
have undertaken any organised effort for the suppression of gambling? In
how many cities of the British Islands does an anti-gambling society
exist? Here at any rate direct work may at once be started towards the
formation of enlightened public opinion. It is important that a branch
of the National Anti-Gambling Society should be formed in every town,
whether it be directly connected with the local Churches or otherwise.
In one town with which the writer is familiar, a society of this kind
was formed seven years ago. Its annual income, raised by subscriptions,
only averages about £30, but, nevertheless, it has been able to do a
large amount of steady work, which has undoubtedly resulted in the
creation in the town of a much sounder public opinion with regard to
this great question than existed previously. This society has prepared
fly-leaves and pamphlets, and distributed them from house to house once
or twice a year. It communicates with the clergy each year just before
the spring and summer race meetings, and bespeaks reference in their
sermons to the gambling then prevalent. It arranges to send speakers to
address various meetings held in connection with churches and chapels;
such, for instance, as P.S.A., Men’s Bible Classes, and special theatre
services. It has also organised many public meetings on its own account,
as, for example, during the week in which this article was written,
when an open-air meeting was held on a Sunday afternoon, at which about
1000 persons were present. As might be anticipated, the experience of
this society is that it is difficult to get to these meetings those who
themselves indulge in betting and gambling on any extensive scale, but
the committee feel that the meetings rouse interest in the question
among the more thoughtful members of the community, who, in their turn,
will personally influence other people, and probably at the present time
this is a more fruitful line of service than attempting to make a direct
appeal to gamblers.
We may derive encouragement in the slow work of leavening public opinion
as to gambling from the memory of the revolution that has taken place
in public opinion with regard to drunkenness. In the time of the later
Georges, it was no disgrace for a statesman to be seen drunk in public.
Now, even a workman would lose caste with his respectable companions if
he were seen drunk. We must at any cost enlist this compelling power of
Public Opinion. We want all classes to pass on confirmed gamblers the
same judgment as they pass on confirmed drinkers. We want, too, a public
opinion which will condemn commercial gambling just as much as betting
upon horses or anything else, or playing cards for high stakes. There
is, indeed, a healthy growth of religious opinion at the present time
with regard to raffles at bazaars, but there is much need for further
education even on this question. Some time ago the writer received a
request to take part in an enormous raffle which was being organised
on behalf of a religious institution in Ireland, the prizes in which
included a cameo of Leo XIII. (specially presented by the Pope himself),
and a motor-car valued at £300. Knowing that such transactions were
entirely illegal, he communicated with the police at Dublin Castle, and
asked whether they were intending to take action in connection with the
matter. He was, however, informed that, since the object was religious,
they did not intend doing so. He then requested a Member of Parliament
to put a question in the House with regard to the matter, but he was
informed that a question dealing with a similar case had been put two or
three weeks before, and that the responsible Minister had replied that,
although it was known that lotteries of this character were illegal, it
was not the custom to interfere when they were for a religious purpose!
Such an example indicates how inadequate is the appreciation on the
part even of those in high positions of the seriousness of the gambling
evil in this country, and of the necessity of taking all legitimate
steps for its discouragement and suppression. Indeed, the same apathy
and lack of intelligent interest is not infrequently to be found even
amongst dignitaries of the Anglican Church. On one occasion the writer
wrote to a clergyman of high station asking him to take the chair at an
anti-gambling meeting to be held after church hours on a Sunday night.
He received a reply to the effect that the clergyman in question could
not come, believing as he did that the “Sabbath was made for edification
and dedication, and not for demonstration and declamation”; and, further,
that probably his views with regard to the question were not those of the
Committee of the Anti-Gambling Society, as he considered that there was
no harm in gambling unless a sum were staked greater than the gambler
was prepared to pay if called upon to do so! Such an opinion is not
isolated, even among comparatively thoughtful people.
It is quite likely that with most gamblers any attempt to convince them
that gambling is wrong in itself will fail. Probably more impression is
made, especially on beginners, by exposing the folly of the practice. In
the case of boys leaving school and entering early manhood, who think it
smart and manly to bet, we can show them that, so far from this being the
case, betting with bookmakers is the hall-mark of an ignorant greenhorn.
We can show them how the bookmaker is a parasite upon society, preying
upon the ignorance of the foolish people who bet with him, and often
living uncommonly well at their expense, as was the bookmaker arrested in
Manchester, whose books showed that he had made £5846 in five months. The
extent to which gross ignorance of all that it is important to know in
estimating the chances of a horse passes for profound knowledge amongst
betting men is astounding. The writer remembers travelling one day from
Newcastle with a number of working men who were going to attend the races
at Thirsk. They were evidently men who habitually betted and closely
followed the betting news in the papers. To any one with the slightest
knowledge of horses, their discussion, although accompanied by airs of
profound wisdom, was in the highest degree amusing, the climax coming
when one man, whose opinion was evidently greatly valued by the rest,
gave as his reason for not backing a certain horse, “He wags his tail
ower much for me.”
For telling ridicule of the gambling folly there is nothing better than
Charles Kingsley’s _Letter to Young Men on Betting and Gambling_.[12] It
is probably well known, but the writer cannot refrain from quoting one or
two passages:—
“I hold, then, that betting is itself more or less wrong and
immoral. But I hold, too, that betting, in three cases out
of four, is altogether foolish; so foolish that I cannot
understand why the very young men who are fondest of it should
be the very men who are proudest of being considered shrewd,
knowing men of the world, and what not.
“They stake their money on this horse and on that. Now, judging
of a horse’s capabilities is an art, and a very delicate and
difficult art, depending first on natural talent, and next on
experience, such as not one man in a thousand has. But how many
betting young men know anything about a horse, save that he
has four legs? How many of them know at sight whether a horse
is sound or not? whether he can stay or not? whether he is
going in good form or not? whether he is doing his best or not?
Probably five out of six of them could not sit on a race-horse
without falling off; and then such a youth pretends to himself
that he is a judge of the capabilities of a noble brute, who
is a much better judge of the young gentleman’s capabilities,
and would prove himself so within five minutes after he had got
into the saddle.
“‘But they know what the horse has done already.’ Yes; but
not what the horse might have done. They do not know—no one
can, who is not in the secrets of the Turf—what the horse’s
engagements really are; whether he has not been kept back in
view of those engagements; whether he will not be kept back
again; whether he has not been used to make play for another
horse; and—in one word—whether he is _meant_ to win.
“‘Ah, but the young gentleman has sent his money on commission
to a prophet in the newspaper, in whom he has the highest
confidence; he has prophesied the winner two or three times at
least; and a friend of his sent him money to lay on, and got
back ever so much; and he has a wonderful Greek name, Lynceus,
or Polyphemus, or Typhlops, or something, and so he must know.’
“Ah! fool, fool! You know how often the great Polyphemus
prophesied the winner, but you do not know how often he did
not. Hits count of course; but misses are hushed up. And as for
your friend getting money back, if Polyphemus let no one win,
his trade would stop. The question is, not whether one foolish
lad had _won_ by him, but whether five-and-twenty foolish lads
did not _lose_ by him. He has his book to make, as well as you,
and he wants your money to pay his own debts with if he loses.
He has his bread to earn, and he wants your money to earn it
with; and as for sending him money, you may as well throw a
sovereign down a coal-pit and expect it to come up again with a
ton of coals on its back.”
A simple and effective way of exposing the folly of betting on horses is
to take some leading sporting papers for a week and to put an imaginary
pound upon each of the selected winners, and then count the losses and
gains at the end of a week. The result of such an operation was sent to
the _Daily News_ some time ago, and is given below.
The predicted winners were by “Augur” of the _Sporting Life_ and
“Vigilant” of the _Sportsman_, who are recognised authorities in racing
circles. An imaginary pound was put on each race. In the case where two
selections were made, 10s. was put on each.
SUMMARY OF WEEK
_Sporting Life._ _Sportsman._
Loss £12 10 11 £16 1 10
Gain 1 13 9 6 14 6
---------- ----------
Loss £10 17 2 £9 7 4
It is indeed astonishing how far men will go on the chance of a run of
luck when the probabilities are that they will lose. At Monte Carlo there
are eight gambling-tables, each of which averages a profit of £500 daily
from the public, yet players are always to be found.
Whilst the direct combating of gambling practices is important, it must
never be forgotten that betting and gambling are symptoms of a social
disease, and to get rid of the symptoms the disease itself must be
attacked. In this connection anything done on right lines to make life
less monotonous for the working classes, to improve the conditions of
employment, and to secure adequate wages will tend to diminish the evil
in question.
Take the _monotony of life_, whether amongst rich or poor. In so far
as betting and gambling are indulged in because of this, the efforts
of the reformer must be directed towards its removal. Perhaps the most
desirable way of accomplishing it is to get men interested in some great
religious, political, or social movement. Life ceases to be aimless even
for the wealthy man as soon as he begins to work in a great cause. We
have, fortunately, many instances of those whose every material want is
ready to their hands without any personal effort, and yet whose lives
are in the highest degree useful to the community owing to their efforts
in various social or political movements. People such as these have
probably no temptation to bet, their time and attention being occupied
with that which is vastly more interesting and satisfies more completely
the craving for fulness of life. The same thing applies to the workman
who seeks to break the monotony of his life by betting. Once get that
man really interested in political, social, or religious work, and it
will usually be found that the desire to bet will go, because, as in
the ease of his wealthier brother, his mind is filled with things which
interest him more. Social workers have no time to bet. And as almost all
social movements are suffering for want of workers, we shall be doing
a double good if, while meeting this want, we can at the same time be
helping some one to overcome a great temptation. It is not possible,
of course, to interest every one in movements such as those indicated,
but this is only the stronger reason for endeavouring to get the life
of the community so organised that every one has the opportunity placed
within his reach of introducing into his life interests suited to his
tastes. If this, however, is to be done, much more attention must be
given to the matter than has been the case hitherto. Consider, for
example, the lamentable absence of counter-attractions to those offered
by the publicans. Temperance reformers are now realising that no scheme
of reform is likely to be permanently successful which will not provide
such counter-attractions upon a scale far beyond anything existing at
present. Much the same conditions attach to the repression of gambling.
What is bad needs replacing by what is innocent. Fortunately, the
solutions of the two questions are complementary, and counter-attractions
provided against either temptation will be equally helpful against the
other. The lectures and religious meetings constantly held in our towns
appeal, unfortunately, to but a small section of the community. We want
more social clubs; we want free concerts, elevating although popular in
character; we want places where young men and women can meet socially,
apart from the public-houses, and yet where they have full liberty to
enjoy themselves without licence. We want, indeed, in every town people’s
palaces, where people can be thoroughly at home, and where they can spend
a social evening pleasantly and rationally.[13]
On similar lines the provision of an adequate number of allotments in the
neighbourhood of towns would undoubtedly do much towards reducing the
betting evil. Experience shows that the proportion of working men who
would find in gardening an absorbing interest is very considerable, yet
in most towns the supply of allotments is entirely inadequate. Considered
either as counter-attractions to the public-house and the bookmaker, or
as a benefit to the cultivators in point both of profit and of health,
there is no doubt that it would amply repay municipalities to provide
allotments far more liberally than is done at present.
It is clear, then, that the provision of better housing for the working
classes would tend to decrease the betting evil. Men who have a house of
which they are proud and a garden to cultivate, in which they may keep
poultry, rabbits, or pigeons, are much less likely to indulge in betting
than the inhabitants of an overcrowded town district, with small means of
spending their leisure. Nor will villages produced by the decentralising
of the towns suffer from the monotony of life that at present afflicts
many agricultural districts. Rapid transit will enable them to share in
the interests of the life of the adjacent towns.
The connection between the housing problem and the betting evil well
illustrates our position that betting is, to a large extent, a symptom
of a social disease, and that if we would be successful in eradicating
the symptom, we must seek to remedy the disease. The provision of a
more adequate education for the children of the poor would tend in
this direction. By teaching the children to read we make it easy for
them to follow the betting news in the newspapers and to keep their
betting-books, yet we take them from school before the thirst for
knowledge has really been awakened. Better education is especially needed
in the case of girls, who will be the mothers of the future. If their
mental horizon is limited, they cannot awaken in their children interest
in those various branches of knowledge which provide, in the case of
those who are better educated, the mental landscape which enriches their
lives. All such movements, therefore, as the Home Reading Union, or
anything which tends to the better education of the people, will tend at
the same time to decrease the monotony of life, and lessen the temptation
to resort to demoralising excitements.
There can be little doubt also that much of the monotony of life on
which we have been dwelling is due to the low wages paid to unskilled
labourers. The writer is convinced that upon the average the wages paid
in towns to such are insufficient for the maintenance of a man and a
moderate family in a state of merely physical efficiency, to say nothing
of any margin for developing the higher sides of their natures. It would
be out of place here to enter into detail on the subject of wages, but
the question has so vital a bearing upon the betting evil that it cannot
be altogether omitted. The nation should not be satisfied until the
wages of unskilled labour are such as will provide the necessaries of
physical efficiency for a family of moderate size, and, in addition,
sufficient margin to enable the members of a labourer’s family to provide
what is required for the development of the higher sides of their
natures. At the present time, as stated above, the average wages paid to
unskilled labourers in towns are insufficient for this purpose. So long
as this continues we cannot be surprised if large numbers of working men
live with the better sides of their natures undeveloped, and thus fall an
easy prey to the publican and bookmaker.
Increased wages, however, as we well know, will not by themselves achieve
the desired results. They must be accompanied by influences which will
help men to spend them wisely. In this connection it would be difficult
to lay too much stress on the responsibility which rests upon all
employers of labour to see that the tone in their shops, factories, or
offices is a good one. We scarcely realise how great is the power for
good possessed in this respect by an employer. We know that, when the
selection has to be made of a school for a child, the consideration of
the tone in the school is, in the case of all careful parents, regarded
as paramount, and no careful parent will knowingly send a child to a
school in which the tone is known to be bad. The tone in factories and
shops is an equally important factor in moulding the characters of those
employed in them. Probably much more beneficial influence upon the
character of the working classes may be exercised through the medium
of their places of employment than is at present exercised through the
churches. How few working people attend church or chapel for even one
hour in a week, yet perhaps for fifty hours every week they are under
such influences as are exerted in their factories or workshops. If those
influences are thoroughly good: if in the appointment of overlookers not
only proficiency in work or power of control is considered, but also the
moral influence which they will exert upon those working under them;
if only such foremen are appointed as will encourage all that tends to
elevate the employees, and discourage drinking, gambling, and all that
tends to degrade, the good that may be done is incalculable. To the
present writer it appears that there is no way of producing among the
working classes a sound public opinion on such a question as the one we
are considering, more immediately effective than through the appointment
of men of high character to positions of responsibility in factories,
offices, and shops. If any of us who are seeking to combat the gambling
evil could impress this single fact upon one large employer of labour, we
should probably be sowing seeds from which we might expect to reap a very
abundant harvest.
Whilst the influence of the employer and of his foremen is of widest
importance, we should not underestimate that of even one ordinary
workman, inasmuch as those who work alongside him are likely to be even
more influenced by his actions and opinions than by those of men in
higher position.
In conclusion, the writer may state his belief that the solution of the
gambling evil, as of many other social evils, will never be permanently
effected without a great deepening of the moral and spiritual life of
the nation. Our churches do well to bear in mind that they are not
ends, but merely means to an end. Nay, that religion itself exists for
the production of men and women of high moral character, strong to
resist temptation, strong in their desire after the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness. We want, in our churches, to develop persons with a
vigorous faith, who fully realise the social as well as the spiritual
character of this Kingdom. To this end let us keep the spiritual flame
burning. For a vital, religious faith—the faith that worketh by love—is
at the root of all true and permanent social reform.
APPENDICES
I
LORDS’ RECOMMENDATIONS
The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the increase of public
betting amongst all classes, and whether any legislative measures were
possible and expedient for checking the abuses occasioned thereby,
reported as follows in June 1902:—
1. After hearing much evidence, the Committee are of opinion that betting
is generally prevalent in the United Kingdom, and that the practice of
betting has increased considerably of late years especially amongst
the working classes, whilst, on the other hand, the habit of making
large bets, which used at one time to be the fashion amongst owners and
breeders of horses, has greatly diminished. Betting is not confined to
horse-racing, but is also prevalent at athletic meetings and football
matches.
2. Various suggestions have been made to the Committee in explanation of
the alleged spread of betting. It has been urged that the increase in the
practice is only proportional to the growth and increased prosperity of
the industrial population of the country, and that the operation of the
Betting Houses Act, by driving bookmakers into the streets, has brought
their business more to the notice of Magistrates.
3. The Committee are, however, of the opinion that even when due
allowance has been made, both for the increase in the population of
towns, and the rise in wages, betting is undoubtedly more widespread and
general than it used to be.
4. Although the Committee do not look upon betting as a crime in itself,
they yet deplore the spread of a practice which, when carried to excess,
they consider opposed to the true interests of sport, injurious to the
general community, and apt to degenerate into one of the worst and most
mischievous forms of gambling.
5. The Committee consider that the increased prevalence of betting
throughout the country is largely due to the great facilities afforded by
the press, and to the inducements to bet offered by means of bookmakers’
circulars and tipsters’ advertisements.
6. In support of this opinion, the Committee point to the great
increase of newspapers devoted entirely to sporting matters, and to
the publication of articles upon racing news, and of sporting tips or
prophecies.
7. There can be little doubt that the almost universal practice of
publishing in newspapers what are known as “starting-price odds” greatly
facilitates betting upon horse-races, and several witnesses have urged
that the practice should be forbidden by law. Others, however, have
expressed their conviction that the chief results of such prohibition
would be to facilitate and encourage dishonesty among bookmakers.
8. The Committee, having given careful attention to both of these
divergent views, are not prepared to recommend the prohibition.
9. The Committee cannot condemn too strongly the advertisements of
sporting tipsters and others which appear in the columns of many
newspapers. The Committee believe that such advertisements are a direct
inducement to bet, and that much of the news which they profess to give
could only have been obtained by inciting persons employed in racing
stables to divulge secrets. The Committee are therefore of the opinion
that all such advertisements are highly objectionable.
10. The Committee would point out that in France advertisements of this
character are forbidden by law, and several witnesses have urged that
repressive legislation on the same lines should be introduced into this
country. The Committee are of opinion that all such advertisements, as
also betting circulars and notices, should be made illegal.
11. The Committee are convinced that it is impossible altogether to
suppress betting, but they believe that the best method of reducing the
practice is to localise it as far as possible on race-courses and other
places where sport is carried on.
12. Four different means have been suggested of effecting this object:—
(1) The licensing of bookmakers.
(2) The establishment of the system of betting known as the
“Pari Mutuel” or “Totalisator.”
(3) More effectual methods for stopping betting in the streets.
(4) To make it illegal for a bookmaker to bet in any place of
public resort except at the place on which the sport is being
carried on, and there only in an enclosed space under the
control of managers who should be held strictly responsible for
the maintenance of order.
13. The plan of giving licences to bookmakers has been adopted in some of
the Australian Colonies, and, if it were introduced into this country, it
might possibly diminish street betting, and also do much to check fraud
and dishonesty both on the part of the bookmaker and of the backer.