THE ETHICS OF GAMBLING.
pro ra. Enrroa or TM .8rscr.0....1 Sta,—Can we never have done with the absurd quibble that chance has no existence in reality ? When we say that phenomena are due to chance we mean that we cannot calculate them individually ; but we can often calculate them with great accuracy in bulk. My view on the matter of ethics. simply this : Betting in itself is neither right nor wrong. It is a thing that we all of us do every day in kind, if not in money ; as, for instance, when we decide what clothes to wear. But it becomes insurance on the one hand and gambling on the other, these two being direct inversions of each other. Considered morally, insurance is good because it is restful to the mind, and gambling bad because it is unrestfuL Con- sidered materially, insurance is good because it tends to equalize the distribution of wealth, and gambling is bad because it tends to concentrate wealth in a few bands. But degree must be considered, and also personality. In my own case, I flatly deny that I am doing an evil action if I play bridge for a penny a hundred, or a meritorious action if I
insure my life for five shillings. In some cases the stimulus of mild gambling may do good; in others the sedative of
small insurance may do harm.—I am, Sir, &c., R.
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