sanction of the Corporation. Betting had increased all round, especially
street betting with the industrial classes. He spoke both from personal
knowledge and the complaints made to him by citizens. Betting was carried
on to a large extent in factories and workshops, the bookmakers sometimes
having their own agents employed in them. He would make the penalties
more severe, and would seize all money found on bookmakers and imprison
them. He believed public opinion would support such measures. He was
opposed to licensing bookmakers. Women were in the habit of betting with
bookmakers like men.
CHIEF CONSTABLE OF GLASGOW: He agreed with the evidence of the previous
witness. Licensing would only encourage the bookmakers. They ought to be
imprisoned. There was very great risk of the police being tampered with
by bookmakers. Some had already been bribed. Many Glasgow bookmakers did
business by telegram and letter. The Post Office had been complained to,
but could do nothing.
Mr. BRYAN THOMAS, Hon. Sec. of a Labour Organisation, said he had forty
years’ experience among the working men of East London. He would do away
with street betting entirely. He would treat the bookmakers as rogues,
and give them three months’ hard labour.
Rt. Hon. JAS. LOWTHER, M.P., a member of the Jockey Club for twenty-five
years, did not think that large bets had increased of late years, but
betting was more widely diffused, and not confined to sporting circles.
He considered that there had been a great increase of betting all round.
He could not suggest any way of reducing the misery caused by it. He saw
difficulties in the way of licensing bookmakers.
Mr. W. B. WOODGATE, the well-known aquatic authority, would license
bookmakers, and would fine any of them practising without a licence £500
or six months’ hard labour. The witness related a case of police bribing
which he had brought before the authorities at Scotland Yard, but it
ended in nothing owing to their careless handling of it.
Mr. EDWARD HULTON,[15] jun., of the Manchester _Sporting Chronicle_, was
against the prohibiting the publication of the odds, and in favour of
licensing bookmakers.
Mr. J. BAIN, formerly a member of Tattersall’s Club, also of the
Victoria, Beaufort, and Albert Clubs, gave evidence as to the poisoning
of race-horses for the purposes of the betting market, and how leading
bookmakers were laying heavily at the club against the poisoned horses
before the general public knew of what had been done. He also showed that
many of the prices quoted in the newspapers were mere bogus quotations to
induce the outside public to bet.
Colonel TANNETT WALKER, a large employer of labour at engineering works
near Leeds, said that betting was the very worst thing any one could take
to, and did a great deal of harm. The workman very often knew nothing
whatever of horses. His usefulness was destroyed by betting, however
skilful he might be, as so much of his time and thought were taken
up with it. He would favour anything that would put a stop to street
betting. The boys were encouraged to bet in the workshops.
Mr. LAMB, second secretary to the Post Office, said there were 82 special
telegraphists engaged at Doncaster Races; 30,000 private telegrams were
sent off. Gambling in any form was regarded as a most serious offence in
that Department, and any of its servants are thereby rendered liable to
dismissal. Employees were often tempted in the course of their duty while
attending to betting telegrams.
Sir ROBERT HUNTER, solicitor to the Post Office, explained that there was
not the same power over betting as over lottery communications, owing to
an interpretation of the Advertising Act of 1874 confining it to such
betting as was localised in a particular house or place.
The DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, Minister for Education, had been engaged on
racing for a considerable time. Thought that there was nothing wrong
or immoral in betting. He would very much regret its being stopped: it
would seriously injure the national amusement of horse-racing. He thought
betting the support of racing. Saw nothing wrong in the bookmaker’s
profession, and, in reply to a question as to their taking small sums
from children in poor neighbourhoods, he said he had no knowledge of that
sort of betting. He could not give any opinion about licensing. He did
not know at what point betting was too general.
Mr. ROBERT KNIGHT, J.P., Newcastle, for twenty-nine years secretary of a
Trades Union numbering 50,000 members, had thirty-two years’ experience
of the working classes. Betting was largely on the increase among them,
especially young men and women. In three and a half hours a bookmaker in
South Shields was seen to take 236 bets. Bookmakers went from door to
door inducing women to bet. Some took as little as sixpence. Employers
found that intelligent, concentrated effort cannot be got from minds
absorbed in betting. He would neither employ nor trust men who indulged
in it. The facilities offered by the press are largely responsible.
Betting among the young had become rampant. Lads of bright intellect were
found to develop cunning instead of character. If the betting craze
was not checked the sober youths of Germany would take the reins of the
commercial world. The odds, tips, and bettings news should be abolished
from the newspapers. The Trades Unions endeavoured to stop betting, and
would not appoint a man known to indulge in it to any place of authority
or trust.
Rev. J. W. HORSLEY, M.A., J.P., Rector of St. Peter’s, Walworth, for
ten years prison chaplain, during which time 100,000 people passed
through his hands, said betting was a frequent source of trouble. In one
gaol there was a whole wing set apart for these prisoners. It was now
increasing more than ever. He considered the example of the aristocracy
greatly to blame; and said that if the King would stay away from
race-courses where professional betting went on it would do more than
anything else to assist in putting an end to it.
IV
OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON BETTING AND GAMBLING
THE LATE CHIEF-JUSTICE RUSSELL.—“Street betting is a most undesirable
practice. A state of things exists which, if it can be stopped, ought to
be stopped.”
Mr. Justice WILLS.—“When I first came upon the Bench I used to think
drink was the most fruitful cause of crime, but it is now a question
whether the unlimited facilities for illegitimate speculation on the part
of people who have no means of embarking on it are not a more prevalent
source of mischief and crime even than drink.”
Mr. Justice HAWKINS.—“I know nothing more likely to ruin a young and
inexperienced man than the system of betting which goes on around us.”
Mr. Justice GRANTHAM.—“Gambling with bookmakers is the cause of more
crime and misery than anything else in the land.”
Mr. Justice DARLING.—“No one could attend the Civil and Criminal Courts
without knowing that many persons spent a much larger amount of time in
betting than they devoted to their own business.”
Mr. HORACE SMITH (London Stipendiary Magistrate).—“Nearly every case
of embezzlement I try has resulted from betting, and then to pay their
losses they rob their employers.”
Alderman SUTTON (Newcastle Magistrate).—“The working men of the north of
England put money on horses, and when they lose take their employers’
property.”
CHAIRMAN OF MAGISTRATES (Seacome Bank embezzlement case).—“The whole
secret of the wrongdoing seems to be in the systematic agency employed
all over the country to tempt men from the path of rectitude and virtue.”
Mr. BROS (London Stipendiary Magistrate).—“Betting is generally the
downfall of clerks and servants who are charged with embezzlement.”
CORONER FOR MID-SURREY.—“The poor lad, like many thousands of others,
was led away by the fallacious idea that he was going to make money by
backing horses. Men earning fifteen or twenty shillings a week cannot
afford to lose sixpence in betting.”
CHIEF-CONSTABLE OF SOUTHAMPTON.—“Street betting is a disgrace to the
town. One man is making £1000 a year by it.”
BIRMINGHAM OFFICIAL RECEIVER.—“Half of the bankruptcies which come before
me are due to gambling.”
General WAVELL.—“I have been speaking to an officer, who says it is
perfectly piteous to see the way our young soldiers, drummer boys,
trumpeters, and others rush off to get the halfpenny newspapers, not to
ascertain how their comrades are faring, but simply to get the betting
odds and nothing else.”
BRADFORD SCHOOL BOARD RESOLUTION.—“The attention of the Board having
been called to the general prevalence of betting and gambling, and
the appalling evils arising therefrom, it is hereby resolved that the
teachers be requested to take every opportunity to point out to the
scholars the injurious effect of the vice.”
Mr. CURTIS BENNETT (Marylebone Police Court).—“I am convinced from my
experience as a Magistrate that nothing is so productive of crime among
young people as street betting. It is an evil far worse than drunkenness,
and I agree with Mr. Justice Wills that it is the greatest curse of this
country.”
CHAIRMAN OF CROYDON BENCH.—“It seems a very good paying game. I think
the Government, as soon as they have time, will have to take into
consideration whether the law should not be altered.” These remarks were
called forth by a bookmaker who had been summoned, producing a handful
of sovereigns, and suggesting that it would save time for him to pay the
fine at once without the evidence being heard.
LUTON TOWN COUNCILLORS:—
Alderman OAKLEY, J.P.—“The Watch Committee reports show that
betting is much on the increase. It is even affecting school
children.”
Alderman DILLINGHAN.—“It breaks up many homes and leads people
to rob their employers. It is the forerunner of drunkenness.”
THE DEPUTY MAYOR.—“It is a grave temptation.”
Mr. WARREN.—“It is bringing a great calamity on the land. It is
one of the biggest evils England has to contend with. The young
people in Luton are led away to an alarming extent.”
Alderman Sir J. RENALS.—“Street betting has become an intolerable
nuisance in the city.”
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE (Lord ALVERSTONE).—“Sport never ought to be of
necessity associated with gambling or betting. Those who had to do with
the administration of the law knew that there was nothing in their great
towns—and he was afraid in the smaller ones too—that brought more people
in the humbler walks of life misery and ruin than the betting agents.”
BISHOP OF LIVERPOOL (Dr. CHAVASSE).—“He called upon them, in the name of
their Master Christ, to rise up and fight this awful foe of gambling and
betting, lest they ate the heart out of the Church and nation, and a just
God punished them with a righteous retribution.”
RECORDER OF BATH (Mr. H. C. FOLKARD).—“He was afraid that the pernicious
practice of betting and gambling was becoming very prevalent throughout
the country. Many gave way to the evil who were in good situations and
positions of trust. The bookmakers were a great evil.”
Lord CHARLES BERESFORD.—“The worst of all vices. On board a ship it is
particularly pestilent. Its practice has destroyed many fine characters,
and has been the means of causing unbounded misery to innocent and
deserving persons.”
Sir GEORGE WHITE (of Ladysmith).—“I know the evil effects of gambling.
Society in which gambling is promoted fails in all the higher aims.
Instead of its members being drawn into real friendship, they generally
dislike and distrust each other.”
Admiral Sir H. H. RAWSON.—“I have no hesitation in saying that next to
drunkenness I think gambling is one of the worst and most dangerous of
the vices. I have always set my face against it, as I have seen three or
four cases where it has led to most terrible consequences. It becomes a
regular mania and an absorbing business.”
Admiral SWINTON HOLLAND.—“It is ruining some of our finest English
sports, specially football.”
PRINCE LOUIS OF BATTENBERG.—“As regards a man-of-war, there is one aspect
which is not always borne in view. Two men of different service rank
gambling together; the senior loses money to the junior, perhaps more
than he can pay at once. Think of the effect on discipline.”
Mr. J. G. BUTCHER, M.P.—“I am disposed to think (though I have no
accurate information upon the subject) that the practice of betting
and gambling prevails amongst larger sections of the community than in
former times. If that be so, I regard it as a national calamity. Once the
practice is begun it is exceedingly difficult for those who engage in it
to limit their losses to such sums as they can easily afford to lose. The
best forms of sport—such as cricket, football, and even horse-racing—can,
in my judgment, be most fully enjoyed without staking money on the
result.”
Mr. RICHARD BELL, M.P. (Secretary Amalgamated Society Railway
Servants).—“There is nothing, to my mind, which is so damning to the
progress of the working classes as the gambling which is now practised
in every town in England. This is not, unfortunately, confined to
horse-racing, but it has now spread to football, cricket, and almost
everything else. During the period of prosperity, when a large number of
workers are earning good wages, it is regrettable to think that they do
not take care of the few extra shillings they then receive, but indulge
so freely in drinking and gambling, so that when they are meeting with a
little depression they are entirely at the mercy of the employers, and
have to put up with circumstances which they otherwise would not.”
ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.—“I heartily wish you success in your effort to stay
the progress of this terrible plague, which is bringing misery and ruin
upon thousands of our fellow-countrymen.”
Mr. Justice RIDLEY.—“The Gaming Act, though designed to prevent betting,
has not brought about that result.”
COMMON SERJEANT OF LONDON.—“Gambling in hopes of realising large profits
by chance, then when they lost instead of winning they were impelled to
reimburse themselves by dishonesty.”
Mr. Justice BUCKNILL.—“This betting curse, which is being carried on in a
shocking manner, has got to be put down with a severe hand, and, so far
as I am concerned, I will do so to the utmost of my power.”
JOHN HAWKE (Hon. Sec. National Anti-Gambling League).—“Gambling is
becoming a worse evil and a more serious cause of poverty than drink.”
Rt. Hon. Sir HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN.—“I long ago formed the opinion
that betting and gambling come next to drink (and doubt even if they come
below it) in the measure of the curse they bring upon society.”
The late G. F. WATTS.—“I look across our English world and see clearly
and distinctly the two vices which, more than anything else, are
obstructing the wheels of progress: drinking and gambling. They are
apparent to the least observant of men. You cannot take up a paper or
walk through the streets of a city, without realising the awful ruin
which these two evils are working in the world. But if this is the
general agreement of mankind, why is there no concentration of national
energy on the subject? Think how great a revolution would be wrought
in English character and in English health if legislation set itself
sternly to the task of preventing drunkenness and gambling. Just those
two things! Is it not possible for political parties to sink their party
differences, and to combine to fight against these two root causes of
national degeneration and national unrest? Surely, surely!”
V
A NOTE ON PEDESTRIANISM
The following notes may prove interesting, as showing how
attempts are made to corrupt one of the best and healthiest of
all sports.
MR. CHARLES SOUCH says:—“I am now groundsman for the Cheetham Cricket
Ground, Cheetham, Manchester, and I reside near the ground. I was for
several years groundsman for the Manchester Athletic Club, Fallowfield.
“I have taken a prominent part in sports and athletic meetings all over
the country for the past twenty-three years, and am still running. I have
fifty-five medals, watches, clocks, cups, etc., etc., which I have won to
any number.
“In 1892 I won the Northern Cross-country 10-mile Championship. I ran
second to Parry in 1888 in the National Challengeship. I could fill pages
of races I have taken part in and athletic meetings I have attended, but
you want my experience of the honesty or otherwise of persons competing
and taking part in these sports. Well, my opinion is, and I may say it is
perfectly plain to be seen by any one who likes to look, that wherever
there are betting men and bookmakers at athletic meetings then the
running is dishonest. It is true that I have attended amateur athletic
sports in a small way where absolutely no betting was done; then every
person competing tried his very best, but this is the exception.
“On one occasion, at a small meeting near Coventry, I was on the scratch
at a half-mile hurdle race. I was giving 100 yards limit. Just prior to
the race starting, a man—one of the competitors—came to me and asked me
to stand down,—meaning for me not to win,—and said he would make it all
right for me. I refused, and meant to try and win, as I may say I always
did. This was done in order to allow a certain man to win, and the man
who asked was in league with a bookmaker. During the race, and when at
the second hurdle, the man I have just referred to was in front of me.
Whilst jumping the hurdle he purposely tumbled in front of me and fetched
me to the ground. He detained me a little, and the result was his man got
first and I was second. This was a flagrant case, and I complained to the
officials, but nothing came of it.
“In 1889, on Whit-Monday, I went to Wrexham and took part in several
events at a meeting there, and in the three miles scratch race, when I
had run about the half distance, a bookmaker came on to the course and
caught hold of me; I wrestled with him and got away; I ultimately won the
race in spite of this obstruction. Nothing was done to this man, although
he was known.
“I have known in my time any number of men who called themselves amateurs
and who regularly attended athletic meetings, and after having won their
‘heats’ absolutely made no attempt to win the finals. Some of these men I
have known to be kept by bookmakers and never did any work, but attended
these meetings and worked in collusion with the bookmakers.
“I have often been stopped in the middle of a race by other runners
stepping in front of me, causing me to go round them.
“I could go on recounting similar experiences, but there is a sameness
about them all. There is not one quarter of the so-called amateur
athletes who try to win, and what I say is quite plain to be seen by any
one.
“Another common practice is when the runners are leaving the
dressing-tent to hear whispers that so-and-so is going to try and
so-and-so is not trying, and in many instances, to my own knowledge, the
thing is arranged before they leave the tent.
“During the time of a meeting certain men who have entered as runners
can be seen leaving the tent just as the runners are turning out and go
to the bookmakers, giving the tip as to who is to try and who is not.
Finally, my opinion—and, as I have already said, I have had twenty-three
years’ experience—is that the whole system is rotten. The same system
obtains in connection with cycle racing, only more so. I would add,
however, that if you clear the ground of betting men and bookmakers then
you will have more honest sport; as it is at present it is absolutely
dishonest. I have been afraid after a race to meet some of these people,
and usually got out of the way as soon as possible. As a matter of
fact, on one occasion when going for my prizes some fellow—no doubt a
bookie—struck me from the crowd a violent blow on the eye, making it
black, simply because I had refused to be bought. I have been offered
sums of money times and times beyond number to sell myself to them, but
I always declined. Perhaps if I had lent myself to that practice I would
have had more money now than I have.”
VI
TIPSTERS AND TIPSTERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS
LORD DURHAM, speaking at the Gimcrack Club Dinner in York on Friday
December 9, 1904, drew attention to the evil of the tipster in terms
which caused quite a commotion in the sporting press of the country.
He said that “representations were made to clerks of courses that they
should saddle themselves with impracticable duties, and race-course
managers were instructed how to conduct their meetings by people who had
not the slightest knowledge of race-courses, and paid no consideration
to the material factors that in many cases hampered their action. He
knew that some people paid very little attention to what sporting
writers said, but there were thousands of people who were unable to
judge independently, and if they believed what they read would gain a
false impression of the Turf, and of the habits and characters of its
supporters. His object in mentioning this matter was twofold. One was to
warn the racing public not to pay too much attention to those writers,
and the other was to suggest to such sporting newspapers that professed
to uphold the morality of the Turf—and he mentioned the _Sportsman_, the
_Sporting Life_, and the _Sporting Chronicle_, which he challenged to
prove their good intentions—a very desirable reform, and that was simply
to refuse to publish what was known as tipsters’ advertisements, those
scoundrels who exercised a most pernicious influence upon the Turf.
The representatives of the _Sportsman_, the _Sporting Life_, and the
_Sporting Chronicle_ were examined upon this very question before the
House of Lords’ Committee, and every member of that Committee knew very
well that the members of the Jockey Club and the owners and trainers
all expressed their utmost detestation of these tipsters. They knew
that there was not a trainer in England who could not tell them what
a curse these tipsters and touts were amongst their stable lads. They
attempted to suborn them and to bribe them to betray stable secrets.
What were stable secrets after all? He considered that they were merely
the fulfilment of his duty on the part of a trainer, whose business and
desire was to keep his employers informed as to the progress and the
wellbeing of their property committed to his care. Outsiders had no more
right to try to obtain by illicit means information on these matters
than a burglar had to break into a house and steal property. If these
sporting newspapers denied that these tipsters obtained information by
improper means he thought they would be on the horns of a dilemma. If
they did not obtain this information by corrupt means he should like
these sporting papers to explain why they accepted money from tipsters
for advertisements which professedly did claim to obtain this information.