like original sin. The beginning of every business is a gamble. If I
had $30,000 I would rather run my chance of doubling it at these tables
here than I would, for instance, by starting a new newspaper or putting
it on wheat or in railway stocks. Take a land boom, for instance, such
as there was in California or at Winnipeg--the difference between
putting your money in a thing like that or going in for legitimate
gambling is that, in the one case, you are sure to lose your cash,
while in the other you have a chance of winning some. I hold that all
kinds of gambling are bad, unless a man can easily afford to lose what
he stakes. The trouble is that gambling affects some people like
liquor. I knew a man once who----" but you can read the whole article if
you turn up the back numbers of the Argus.

Thompson told Mellish about McCrasky. Mellish was much interested, and
said he would like to meet the local editor. He thought the papers
should take more interest in the suppression of gambling dens than they
did, and for his part he said he would like to see them all stopped,
his own included. "Of course," he added, "I could shut up my shop, but
it would simply mean that someone else would open another, and I don't
think any man ever ran such a place fairer than I do."

McCrasky called on the chief of police, and introduced himself as the
local editor of the Argus.

"Oh," said the chief, "has Gorman gone, then?"

"I don't know about Gorman," said McCrasky; "the man I succeeded was
Finnigan. I believe he is in Cincinnati now."

When the chief learned the purport of the local editor's visit he