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I understand by way of humor that there
is a pool going around as to the number
of votes by which this will pass or fail. I
only say to you ladies and gentlemen, "put
your money on the green'.
(La n (j It t er.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dukes.
DELEGATE DUKES: Spoken like a
true hypocrite.
(Laughter.)
Mr. Chairman, I next yield two minutes
to Delegate Kirkland, who will explain to
Delegate Fox, Prince George's County is
not the same as it was in 1938.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Kirkland.
DELEGATE KIRKLAND: Mr. Chair-
man, certainly I see no justification for
the inclusion of such an article in the Con-
stitution, especially if it is on the premise
that we are helping the poor. I take this
because it seems like a great deal of em-
phasis was placed on the fact that lotteries
bear most heavily on the poor. Let me tell
you something, I am a school teacher and
I worked at the race tracks. I can guaran-
tee you that many of those poor people
found their way to the race tracks. So if
we are going to do something for the poor
people, I would say we ought to eliminate
all gambling because I think this is cer-
tainly the case.
On top of this, I hear a lot about bingo.
I am quite sure most of you belong; to
Republican or Democratic clubs. I am
quite sure that some of them could not
exist if it was not for the 50-50. I venture
to say that many of you have played the
game 50-50.
The same thing1 is true about Boys Clubs.
I .support the Boys Clubs, I support their
activities, and many of their money raising
activities come from lottery form activi-
ties.
So these are many of the reasons why I
support the exclusion of such an article.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sherbow.
DELEGATE SHERBOW: I yield four
minutes to Delegate Price.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Price.
DELEGATE PRICE: Mr. Chairman, and
ladies and gentlemen, I do not want to
rise in a tirade here. I believe gambling is
much like sex, very powerful, very neutral,
neither good nor bad, right nor wrong, de-
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pending on how it is used. 1 think for us
to use this means to raise money for the
State of Maryland would be using this
impulse to further deteriorate, if not to
prostitute, society.
I had to rise because I do not want us to
reach a conclusion without first considering
from where this whole idea comes, this
ethic that we have. We have been taught
by our ancestors that we should not try to
get something for nothing. That if a man
wants to get ahead, if a State wants to
survive, that the one sure way for that
man or the people of that State to get
ahead and to survive is by hard work, and
for any group anywhere to hold out to any-
body the prospects of getting something for
nothing, I submit, is immoral in itself. I
only refer to the cancer that has already
got its tentacles in our society and I think
it can very well strangle us.
It concerns me that some people feel that
the old adage is true that in every way,
every day, things are getting better and
better. I look at the history of art and I
see art reached its peak in the 15th Cen-
tury, in the Italian Renaissance. We have
great painters today but who can we stand
with da'Vinci and Michelangelo? Every-
thing just does not automatically get
better, better, and better every day in every
way.
We have philosophers today who are not
to be deprecated, Bertrand Russell, Jacques
Maritain but who can we put beside
Aristotle and Socrates and Plato who lived
-~>00 years before Jesus Christ. You see
tilings do not automatically get better and
better every day in every way. We have
great religious writers today but who can
be put against Amos, Hosea, and Jonah
who lived 2,700 years ago. The only area
in which we have surpassed our forefathers
is the area of applied science. We have
done very wsll.
The issue before us today is not to be
laughed off the floor. It is to be very seri-
ously considered. I do not believe that
every day in every way, things are getting
better and better. I think that we might
well apply this to the argument before us
to put it into the constitution to prevent
further erosion of society.
I say this from a point of view of moral-
ity because I do not believe in super-
imposing my morals or my principles upon
society. But I say it because it is a sound
business thing, I think, to put it into the
constitution.
I want to say one thing more.
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