Fix this text
THE
Fix this text: /\ *
Fix this textf mgar %
Fix this textDIAMOND
Fix this textNo, 2. OCTOBER !, 1918. Price, 25 centimes.
Fix this textGambling in the Army
Fix this text(The first of a series of articles by the editor
Fix this texton army morals).
Fix this textAt the mention of the subject of gambling I
Fix this textfancy I see puritanical folk prick their ears.
Fix this textBut 1 contend that only men who are on active
Fix this textservice are competent to discuss this question
Fix this textfrom the soldier?s point of view. Men who
Fix this textstay at home and know nothing of the monotony
Fix this textof active service life are hardly justified in
Fix this textcriticising those who go out to tread the army?s
Fix this textthorny path. I would like to meet the man
Fix this textwho, remaining in his home town with its
Fix this textentertainments and comforts, has the effron-
Fix this texttery to say that men in a desert camp or on a
Fix this textshell-blasted battlefield, with nothing to engage
Fix this texttheir attention but the ail too frequent duty of
Fix this textdealing out death and taking their share of
Fix this textwar?s mortality, should be forbidden to amuse
Fix this textthemselves with their money so hard earned.
Fix this text1 am not defending gambling. 1 am giving
Fix this texta soldier?s view of the subject. I am not a
Fix this textgambler, but I do not claim to be virtuous on
Fix this textthat account. My reasons are purely econo-
Fix this textmical. If I were certain of success at gamb-
Fix this textling I am afraid I would be an earnest devotee
Fix this textof the business. Am I alone in my disposition?
Fix this textBo all non-gamblers eschew the habit on
Fix this textmoral grounds? I agree that a man who lives
Fix this texton gambling is a parasite, because he does not
Fix this texthelp to create the wealth which he seeks : he
Fix this textlives on other people?s labors. But if a man is
Fix this textprepared to work as well as gamble, and when
Fix this texthe gambles to do It honestly so far as morals
Fix this textin gambling go, why should he not be allowed
Fix this textto do so if he injures nobody by his specula-
Fix this texttions ? The fact that many people who gamble
Fix this textare robbers at heart barely affects the question.
Fix this textThere are people equally dishonest who never
Fix this textgamble, and a thief is no more welcome at a
Fix this textgambling house than he is in a bank.
Fix this textGambling is one of the chief recreations of
Fix this textmen in the armies engaged in the war. It is
Fix this textnot officially sanctioned, but it is never rigor-
Fix this textously suppressed, and where men have little
Fix this textelse to amuse themselves unless they go into
Fix this textmore harmful mischief, the practice is often
Fix this textopenly ?winked at.?
Fix this textA DESERT MONTE CARLO.
Fix this textAsk any man who was at Tel-el-Kebir at the
Fix this textbeginning of 1916 what was the outstanding
Fix this textfeature of that huge camp, and if he speaks
Fix this textthe truth he will tell you it was the propor-
Fix this texttions to which the element of gambling grew
Fix this textin that desert rendezvous. It was a Monte
Fix this textCarlo on the sands. : It was a picture an artist
Fix this textshould have painted.' For several miles along
Fix this textthe railway there was that city of tents, its
Fix this text?streets? busy with its own peculiar traffic,
Fix this textits fringe of roughly-built shops where native
Fix this textcivilians grew rich on their trade, its discip-
Fix this textlined and well-governed soldier inhabitants
Fix this textworking and training, and in their leisure
Fix this texthours seeking recreation which was difficult to
Fix this textfind. So here in the convenient spaces be-
Fix this texttween the camp and the railway we find them
Fix this textby the thousand every evening squatted in
Fix this textgroups around the dice, the ?crown and anchor?
Fix this textboard, the ?wheel,? the ?house? game, and
Fix this textevery conceivable form of gambling.
Fix this textBut it was not at any of these games that
Fix this textthe big money was found. The game of ?two
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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Australia. Army. Battalion, 24th. (1918). The red & white diamond Retrieved May 25, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-24482172
Australia. Army. Battalion, 24th. The red & white diamond [France?]: The Battalion, 1918. Web. 25 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-24482172>
Australia. Army. Battalion, 24th. 1918, The red & white diamond The Battalion, [France?] viewed 25 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-24482172
{{Citation
| author1=Australia. Army. Battalion, 24th.
| title=The red & white diamond.
| year=1918
| section=v. ; 21 cm.
| issue=No. 2 (October 1918)
| location=[France?]
| publisher=The Battalion
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-24482172
| id=nla.obj-24482172
| access-date=25 May 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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