304 THE ABNORMAL MAN. 



tion of the acquisitive instinct is expressed in a 

 game of chance or some deceptive scheme. 



I recently studied a bright boy whose father 

 was a gambler and false financier. The boy was a 



Towjd<3amb- great success " as a money-maker. While in school 

 ling Inborn. he would make from $i to $3 a week by trading, 

 playing marbles and games of chance. He was 

 always planning some scheme to get rich quickly, 

 and it is safe to say that nine out of ten of them 

 were based on deception. Like most gamblers, 

 he never saved more than a living ; his mania -was 

 gambling; he cared little for .the spoils after he 

 got them. This seems to be characteristic of most 

 gamblers. They are like the hunter in the chase, 

 of Gamblers?* * eager and wild with enthusiasm until the game 

 is captured, but caring nothing for it afterward. 

 If gambling continues to increase it must of neces- 

 sity undermine legitimate business by destroying 

 the normal manifestation of the acquisitive 

 instinct. 



Class distinction is another evil resulting from 

 commercialism. We boast of our Democratic 

 principles, and on the Fourth of July loudly affirm 



that " al1 men are born free and equal," and then 

 proceed to observe class distinction everywhere. 

 This is noticeable not only between the rich and 

 the poor, but among all classes. Clerks and type- 

 writers feel themselves above common laborers 

 and domestics, teachers and professionals form 

 another class. Most people of wealth consider it 

 Class Distinction, beneath them to associate with the poor. The 

 result of all this is a mutual antagonism between 

 the two extremes. Out of this unnatural condi- 

 tion perverted, vicious, and even criminal tenden- 



