Cards and Gambling

—

CARDS AND GAMBLING. BY ELBERT HUBBARD, AUTHOR OF "A MESSAGE TO GARCIA, AND THIRTEEN. OTHER THINGS," "LITTLE JOURNEYS," "CONTEMPLATIONS," ETC

[In 1899, people began talking about Elbert Hubbard, principally because of his "Message to Garcia," which had appeared in The Philistine, a little magazine printed for the Society of Philistines, in East Aurora, New York. Everybody has read the message since then, but the author is still saying things that are quite as good. In a recent number, in one of his "Heart to Heart Talks with the Philistines by the Pastor of his Flock," some thoughts on cards and gambling appeared. The editors of the Era were in hearty accord with the sentiments, and wrote Mr. Hubbard for permission to print the article in our magazine for the benefit of the young men of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Consent was kindly granted, and we commend the following to the members of the M. I. A. Editors.]

As a cold business proposition, let me give you this: I would not trust an amateur gambler as far as you could fling Taurus by

the tail. I will not do business with a man who plays cards for money, if I can help it. No individual in my employ — or anybody else's —who plays cards for money, can ever hope for promotion. A professional gambler may be honest, but your clerk or business man who indulges in a quiet game of draw, is a rogue, a liar, and a cheat. And the man he cheats most is himself. And the only man he really deceives is himself. And the man who deceives himself and cheats himself will get no chance to cheat me if the matter can be avoided.

504 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

Beware of the white face, the soft hands, and the impassive smile of the poker-player! The amateur gambler is not necessarily a bad man, —primarily his intents are honest. He plays first simply for recreation; then, to add interest, the game transforms itself into penny- ante; from this to betting all the money he has, is a very easy evolution when the fever is on. He wins. But to quit when you have won, and not give your opponents a, chance to win their money back, is more or less of a disgrace. He plays again — and loses.

Then he wants a chance to get his money back. He plays first only in the evening —an hour after supper. Then if he can get away from work at four o'clock and play until supper time, he will do so, just as scores of government clerks do at Washington. In the evening he plays again —excite- — — ment is in the air challenge is abroad he will come out even, and then quit. Men who have work to do cannot play all night and do business the next day, so midnight may end the game. But Saturday night the game goes on until daylight. Of the "morality" of gambling, nothing need be said — all I

affirm is, that it is simply absurd to enter on a habit where success is defeat, and to win is a calamity. The successful amateur gambler graduates into a professional: he has to, for business men shun him.

No man who plays cards for money can keep his position long. The fact is, none of us have a surplus of brains; and if you are going to succeed in business, all the power you have to your credit is demanded. The man who can play cards at night and do business in the day time, hasn't yet been born. Life is a bank account, with somuch divine energy at your disposal. What are you going to do with it? If you draw your — checks for this, you cannot for that take your choice. And above all, do not draw on the Bank of Futurity by breathing bad air,

keeping bad hours and bad company. The man who succeeds in business is the one who goes to bed before ten o'clock at night; and only one thing is he jealous of, and that is outdoor exercise.

—

CARDS AND GAMBLING. 905

Gambling robs a man of rest; and the keen edge of his life is lost in shuffling the pasteboards. All he gives to his employer or the world is the discard. Outside of his play he is a weak inefficient person, and his weakness is very apt to manifest itself in burdening his friends. The curse of gambling does not fall on the gambler alone, any more than does the drunkard alone suffer for his fault. Suffering falls upon every one within the radius of the gambler. If your gambler is on a salary, he very often comes around for his wages before pay day, then he, gets to discounting his salary

to a money shark; then, if he can, he will "borrow" his pay before he earns it, without first consulting you. He intends to pay it back— oh, yes! He wins and pays ifc back. This encourages him to borrow more the next time. He takes more in order to win more. He is now obliged to play heavily because his debts are accumulating. It is an old story, and dozens of men in Sing Sing can tell you all about it. One bad feature of the poker game is the poker-face —the impassive, white face with its cold smile. It reveals nothing

nothing but untruth. And the principal reason it reveals nothing is because there i3 nothing back of it to reveal: it does not token truth, talent, sympathy, kindness, love, nor intellect. Our actions and thoughts are building brain cells, and the gambler is building cells of folly. His face is as astute as that of David Harum. It gives nothing away. In time the habit of the man becomes fixed — he is a living lie. He lies to friends, family, employer, and business associates. He forever plays a part. Life to him is a game of bluff. And get it out of your head that the liar does not look you squrely in the eye. The pokerplayer is a scientific liar, running on the low gear, and his eyes look calmly into yours. He is astute. Astuteness is only valuable in protecting us from astute people. It adds nothing of value to the community. Astuteness adds no beauty to the world, nor does it make life for any man happier. In strict scientific economics the gambler is a parasite and a thief. He consumes but does not produce.

—

906 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

If four men start in to play poker with ten dollars each, or a thousand dollars each, it is just a matter of mathematical calculation before all of them will have nothing. All they have will

go to the rake-off and for cigars and drink, and the midnight lunch, which they would not need if they went to bed at a reasonable hour. No man can play the races continually and win. John E. Madden, who has made a million dollars out of horse racing, says that defeat and nothing but defeat awaits the bettor on cards or horses. And of all the fools, the biggest is the man who bets on "a sure thing." Madden has followed the business for a quarter of a century, and says: "I quit betting years ago, and if I ever bet again, it will be because the disease has gotten the better of my business judgment." The bookmaker gets it all — he has but to wait, and the whole thing is his. It is just like the game of stud-poker, where the dealer takes care of the bets, and gives the first booster an ace in the hole. If

the boosters don't get the "live one's" money, the dealer will —he gets all the others have, as sure as death, if they continue to play. Do not imagine that all the gambling is done in the cities — "man made the cities, God the country but the devil made the smaU towns." Hardly a village in America is free from the scourge. Gambling means blurred vision, weak muscles, shaky nerves. Loss of sleep, lack of physical exercise, irregular meals, bad air, excitement, form a devil's monopoly of bad things; and the end is disgrace, madness, death, and the grave. I am not a member of the Christian Endeavor Society, the Epworth League, the Baptist Union, the Knights of Columbus, or the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and all I say here is simply a little plain talk by one business man to others, with all soft sentiments omitted. Boys, we need all the brains we have, in our work. If by concentration, and cutting out folly, we succeed in degree, we do well. But 1 do not believe we can reasonably hope for success unless we eliminate the pasteboard proclivities— this as a cold business proposition! I am done.