What's What in AmericaBrewster, Eugene V. (Eugene Valentine)
History
What's What in America
Brewster, Eugene V. (Eugene Valentine)
United States -- Civilization; United States -- Social life and customs
Now, it is quite true that gambling is a tendency to which most people
are prone, more or less, but that is no argument for increasing the
temptation, nor for encouraging the vice. Men are prone to steal, to
drink, to be dishonest, to lie, to cheat, to be immoral; but these
tendencies must be checked and suppressed, not encouraged. Because some
men will steal, should we license them and furnish them with ways and
means to carry out their brutal instincts? Civilization is striving to
eliminate man's brute passions. Thousands of institutions such as the
law and the church, the prisons and reformatories, the libraries and the
schools, are constantly combating man's animal tendencies. Shall we stop
all this and let man's passions have full sway? Mr. Romain says, yes. He
says, "In the name of liberty and equality, a brave battle has been
fought for individuality. Unjust and unwise interference by the state
has been ably resisted. It is demanded that private judgment be released
from the embrace of authority. The truth is, one man has no natural
right to make laws for another. True, he may repel another, when his own
rights are infringed, but he has no right to govern him." Of course,
this is anarchy. The doctrine of "no laws" is an exploded theory. By
common consent, the world has come to an understanding that the majority
of the people shall make laws to govern the whole, and there is no other
way. What is detrimental to the community must be suppressed, and the
law is the best suppressor.
While Fortuna may proudly enumerate her great votaries in America,
including Aaron Burr, Edgar Allen Poe, William Wirt, Luther Martin,
Gouverneur Morris, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, General Hayne, Sam
Houston, Andrew Jackson, Generals Burnett, Sickles, Kearney, Steedman,
Hooker, Hurlbut, Sheridan, Kilpatrick, Grant, George D. Prentiss,
Sargeant S. Prentiss, Albert Pike, A. P. Hill, Beauregard, Early, Ben
Hill, Robert Toombs, George H. Pendleton, Thaddeus Stevens, Green of
Missouri, Herbert and Fitch of California, Jerry McKibben, James A.
Bayard, Benjamin F. Wade, Broderick, John C. Fremont, Judge Magowan,
Charles Spencer, Fernando Wood and his brother Benjamin, Colonel
McClure, Senator Wolcott, Senator Pettigrew, Senator Farwell, Matthew
Carpenter, Thomas Scott, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Hutchinson of Chicago,
and Pierre Lorillard; think of the long list of greater men who were not
addicted to gambling. This list is fairly complete, yet it is by no
means representative. If these men had the passion, they no doubt felt
sorry for it and they would be the first to warn others of the vice.
Some of them were ruined by it. It is a folly to be ashamed of, not to
be proud of. It is a weakness, and all great men have their weaknesses.
Think of the great men who were inveterate smokers and drinkers; yet we
would not hold them up as examples for the young simply because they
acquired these bad habits. Are we to emulate the faults of the great, or
their virtues?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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