BETTING. 



87 



guage, but are grateful to them for their aid in 

 the struggle for Belgian independence, is mani- 

 fested on every occasion, The Socialists, for 

 instance, when forbidden to bear the red flag 

 in their proems-inns, carry the French colors 

 in its stead, and journalists and politicians of 

 Liberal views express distrust and alarm at 

 the aims of Germany, King Leopold is the 

 special object of Radical and Republican at- 

 tacks on account of his suspected predilections. 

 "When he visited Louviere in the summer a mob 

 of 25,000 workingmen gathered in the streets, 

 shouting "Down with the German! " 



Adjustment of the Netherlands Boundary. By the 

 treaty of November, 1842, and the boundary 

 convention of August, 1843, the rectification 

 of the frontier between Belgium and Holland 

 was left for amicable settlement between the 

 two countries. A convention was made on 

 Jan. 5. 1888, with reference to the exchange of 

 some villages on the frontier, and also relative 

 to the boundary, which was fixed in the canal 

 of Terneuzen. The communes of Baarle and 

 Hertog. in North Brabant, were transferred to 

 the Netherlands, because it was impossible to 

 enforce customs regulations within them, and 

 the situation had created difficulties for both 

 governments. 



International Congresses. An international in- 

 dustrial exhibition at Brussels was opened on 

 June 7, 1888. It attracted many exhibitors 

 from England, France, and other countries. 



An International Congress of Commercial 

 Law met at Brussels, on September 30, to elabo- 

 rate a project of international legislation in the 

 matter of bills of exchange and maritime law 

 in conformity with the principles approved at 

 the former session at Antwerp in 1885. 



An international conference having for its 

 object the co-operation of the principal states 

 in collecting and publishing information re- 

 garding their customs tariffs was held at Bras- 

 seisin March, and adjourned for six months after 

 adopting a draft convention, which it was ex- 

 pected the governments would accept. The co- 

 operation of customs officials in compiling such 

 information not only will save merchants from 

 trouble and losses resulting from ignorance 

 and misunderstanding, but may lead to the re- 

 moval of anomalies in the various tariffs. 



Offices have been established by the Belgian 

 Government for the purpose of supplying per- 

 sons intending to emigrate with information 

 of use to them that can be obtained through 

 the diplomatic and consular agents. 



BETTING. The modern practices of betting, 

 in their various forms, especially among people 

 who speak the English tongue, are so popular 

 and so dangerously demoralizing that their 

 reasonable restriction has become one of the 

 legislative problems of the day. The practice 

 is as old as the race, and, like gambling for 

 stakes and the nse of intoxicants, is so com- 

 mon to mankind in general that its complete 

 suppression can hardly be looked for while 

 human nature remains as it is. 



None of the lexicographers have discovered 

 or devised a satisfactory derivative origin for 

 the word '' bet." A bet may be defined as a 

 sum of money or its equivalent promised by 

 one person to another if some doubtful ques- 

 tion is decided in a specified way. The possible 

 variations upon this simple statement of the 

 case are nearly infinite ; the bet may be made 

 between two persons only on even terms, or 

 between any number of persons on uneven 

 terms. It may rest upon the result of a single 

 event or upon the combined result of any num- 

 ber of events. In short, it offers all the nn- 

 healthful excitement of gambling, without the 

 formalities that usually surround the card- 

 table. 



Betting has, until within a generation, been 

 more common among the upper classes, so 

 called, in Great Britain than among the cor- 

 responding classes in America. This is largely 

 due to the influence of New-England school's 

 and churches where it was taught that all bet- 

 ting was not only dishonest and dishonorable, 

 but sinful as well. That these teachings had, 

 and still have, a powerful restraining influence 

 is not to be questioned, but it is equally indis- 

 putable that the habit of betting on all man- 

 ner of events is rapidly gaining ground in all 

 classes of society. 



Probably there was never before so much 

 betting on the result of an election as during 

 the presidential canvass of 1888. It was es- 

 timated that in the city of New York alone 

 something like $2,000,000 changed hands within 

 a few days. Syndicates were formed by the 

 different parties for the placing of .bets. In 

 many instances odds were given and the money 

 placed in the hands of a stake-holder. One 

 somewhat notorious person in New York is 

 reported to have had nearly $70,000 in current 

 funds in his possession. 



All this is contrary to law, and the vote of 

 any person having a bet that might influence 

 that vote may be challenged. In most of the 

 States there are statutes more or less rigor- 

 ous against betting in various forms, but it 

 may be said that in general nobody minds them, 

 and pool-selling, book-making, and betting on 

 horse-racing, boat-racing, ball-matches, and 

 the like, goes on without apparent let or hinder- 

 ance. In the United States, laws against bet- 

 ting have been so long in existence that their 

 inefficiency has for the most part failed to ex- 

 cite comment. 



In Great Britain there lias been compara- 

 tively recent legislation, which has an interest- 

 ing bearing on the question. ^Vhile it is mani- 

 festly impossible to enforce a law prohibiting 

 private bets between individuals, however ob- 

 jectionable such bets may be, it is certainly 

 within the legitimate province of legislation to 

 make it dangerous for designing persons to ply 

 their trade in a public way. 



In Great Britain the evils of betting have 

 been recognized in the statutes at least since 

 Queen Anne's time, when if any one gained a 



